4K Still Photo Mode and Time Lapse - please?

Greg Voevodsky

Greg Voevodsky

Active member
I have 2 ideas here.

1. 4K STILL PHOTO MODE (4k, 2k, 1080p, 720p) for still photos and stop frame animation (like Tim Burton's films).

2. Time Lapse mode - (4K, 2K, 1080p, 720p) at user set intervals, along with an auto-exposure mode to capture sunsets.

Why should I buy a new $1800.00 Nikon D200 / 10.2 MP or $3000 Canon EOS D5 / 12.8MP when in theory, I can shoot a 12MP RED still photo? It would save me a lot of time and money not to have to carry a seperate still photo camera when I shoot.

I plan on using my AF-S NIKON 17-35mm still lense from my old (NIKON D100), to normally shoot 2k or 1080p movie footage. However, I'd really like to hit a switch to change from 2K movie mode to 4K STILL PHOTO MODE and shoot my production and stock photo shots. I'd like to save them in RAW, .tiff or jpeg to a separate Flash Card (like my Sony PD-150) along with my Red still and movie camera settings. Multiple shots 3-5 frames per second would be great too, but not necessary as that may cost more.

Any chance of this happening? Please?
 
Stills and Time Lapse

Stills and Time Lapse

Well, RED_ONE uses 10 bit wavelet based encoding - the basis of JPEG2000 - and HD or 2K RGB recordings are all converted from a 4K RAW original. So lets call this "SuperJPEG"

Then, as we are already capable of encoding and recording up to 24 frames of 2K "SuperJPEG" per second, from a technical point of view slowing down the capture and recording to a single frame, or to a burst mode of 5 - 6 frames per second is not too difficult.

If Animation can be considered a special condition of a Time Lapse record mode, the main item you are asking for is a modification of where and how this information is recorded to the digital media.

No promises, but requests understood.
 
it would be really nice if you could do 4k raw stop motion single frame shooting on the reddrive or redflash mags because it wouldn't require the bandwidth of 24 frame shooting. it would also be nice if you could do single frame (still camera style) shooting that would record just an image file and also do stop motion shooting that would record to a movie file that could be played back in camera.
 
Let me add to this suggestion, if I could be shooting in a mode like 2k or 1080p (or whatever) and then with a second button press store a full 4k image to a file without interrupting my filming, you would have just made the ultimate event camera. I have been a wedding videographer for several years and if Red could do this for me I could be a videographer and photographer, at the same time, with the same piece of gear!! Oh sweet goodness that would be incredible. I have done video and photo at the same time and it usually involves having my Canon 20d slung over my shoulder and my PD170 in front of me, basically it makes me bad at both. But if I could get 12mp images whilst shooting HD it would be great. No longer would people talk about hiring a "photographer" or a "videographer", because it would be one and the same with the same gear!! You could then legitimately be a "Videophotographer", lol.

My dad and I are already Red #27 so please put this in. :-)
 
interesting Idea Deadmike.. but it would still require an internal buffer to capture that entire frame then offload it. .. i guess it all depends if there already is one in the camera to start with or not.
 
I guess this is in a similar vein, but has anyone heard whether or not the camera will be able to do continuously variable framerate capture (to the limits of the 120fps/60fps depending on resolution)?

One of the oft touted benefits of a real film camera to a digital movie camera is the ability to ramp the framerate up and down using a rotating dial in real time, to get those funky speed ramp shots you see a lot of in sports footage and advertisements.

This would be a very welcome addition to the Red One and would serve the stop motion animation concept as well as time lapse photography, because you could theoretically dial it down under 1fps to say 1 frame per minute etc. The other advantage, being digital, might be that you can at the same time digitally adjust the "T-stop" in camera to keep the same overall brightness in the image?

I wouldn't mind paying for an addon device which implements such a feature (via USB plug or whatever).
 
Since every image format RED shoots is frame independent (except 1080i), it has adjustable shutter speed, adjustable iris/aperture, a 12 MP CMOS sensor, and variable frame rate up to 120fps, the "frame grabs" from regular footage shot with RED should essentially be 12 MP digital stills.

Gibby
RED #8
www.cut4.tv
www.4umat.com
 
Gibby said:
Since every image format RED shoots is frame independent (except 1080i), it has adjustable shutter speed, adjustable iris/aperture, a 12 MP CMOS sensor, and variable frame rate up to 120fps, the "frame grabs" from regular footage shot with RED should essentially be 12 MP digital stills.

Gibby
RED #8
www.cut4.tv
www.4umat.com
Click to expand...
That's essentially what the original poster said - but he was wondering if there would be a function that could save individual frames independently as well (and I would assume in a different format than REDCODE). For instance, since all the data is just going to a drive or a flash system, it would make sense that an individual JPG/TIFF/BMP could be saved separate from video content (with audio, etc).

I don't intend to use RED as a digital still camera, but I could see the motivation to do so given the sensor specifications.
 
Haakon said:
That's essentially what the original poster said - but he was wondering if there would be a function that could save individual frames independently as well (and I would assume in a different format than REDCODE). For instance, since all the data is just going to a drive or a flash system, it would make sense that an individual JPG/TIFF/BMP could be saved separate from video content (with audio, etc).

I don't intend to use RED as a digital still camera, but I could see the motivation to do so given the sensor specifications.
Click to expand...

I understood his original post quite well. He mentions wanting a button for still photo mode, time-lapse switch, etc. My post approaches getting a RED still frame from a different process - even if there is no still photo mode button, or a function to direct a simultaneous JPEG/TIFF/BMP frame separate from the video, the camera has all the features I listed in my post, thus we always have the option to pull 12 MP frame grabs from the motion footage in post.

Every image on my Cut4 Media Group web site is a frame grab from regular video that I shot. Every image on my MAT web site was shot with a DSLR because I knew that I'd also need some frames for higher than web resolution (print work). As a sidelight to my normal business, I produce the development of web sites for certain clients, and my own web sites. Historically I've never taken a video camera and a digital still camera on location for a project where I know the only use of the still images I grab from the video was going to be for a web site. Medium to low-resolution frame grabs is all you need for that. Enter RED. With frame independent, 12 mp, images, and adjustable iris/frame rate/shutter speed, even if RED doesn't have a dedicated Still Mode button, the frame grabs from RED motion footage that we grab in post using our NLE should be great looking still photos.

Gibby
RED #8
www.cut4.tv
www.4umat.com
 
Gibby said:
With frame independent, 12 mp, images, and adjustable iris/frame rate/shutter speed, even if RED doesn't have a dedicated Still Mode button, the frame grabs from RED motion footage that we grab in post using our NLE should be great looking still photos.
Click to expand...
Oh no doubt... I kinda thought that was a given. :) I think he was just curious if there would be some sort of dedicated system for stills, so one wouldn't have to go into an NLE and extract individual frames, etc. Since you won't likely want your shutter speed to be 1/48 for taking still pictures a lot of the time, a dedicated system could be nice... but I don't think that's a major priority for most people buying the camera.
 
Thanks Stuart!

Along with the wedding photographer/videographer, I too would like to grab stills with higher shutter speeds - 200 to 1000 and save them seperately from the main footage in a format that I can bring directly into photoshop. Jpeg2000 sounds fine, but maybe a RED RAW plug in would act much like Nikon's RAW - preserving all the info and allowing more latitude and manipulation without harming the RED RAW 'negative' - then we just save them as a .tiff version. Also, real slow shutter speeds for that misty blur effect would be great to - I've had fun shooting at 1/15th and slower for a dreamy effect.

You know if RED becomes a great still camera too, you might get more great photographers like Herb Ritts (we'll miss him) shooting more movies with a flick of a switch! Maybe those 'boring' still photos on the web, will become a 5 second quicktime movies with sound with a simple click! Maybe we should open a new RED user website called REDtube.com.
 
Gibby said:
even if there is no still photo mode button, or a function to direct a simultaneous JPEG/TIFF/BMP frame separate from the video, the camera has all the features I listed in my post, thus we always have the option to pull 12 MP frame grabs from the motion footage in post.
Click to expand...

But that forces you to shoot 4K all the time, something that many Red owners will not be able to do if they've opted for a storage solution that won't support that data rate. And I would think very few wedding videographers are going to run around all night chewing up storage shooting 4K, especially when they have no way of delivering anywhere near that quality to customers.

The "one-shot" still idea is kinda interesting.

For time-lapse and stop-motion, though, a digital SLR is still a way more convenient and less cumbersome (and less expensive) way to go.
 
Excellent point 'stack. A dedicated photo button would be much more useful for 4k photos. If they don't include a photo button, and you usually shoot 2k and 1080p, both of which can be recorded to internal recording options (RED Drive and RED Flash), those frame grabs should still look pretty good for certain uses.

Gibby
RED #8
www.cut4.tv
www.4umat.com
 
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Another button? :(

Added complexity, no matter how cool it may be, is still added complexity.

If you want to take photos, buy a stills camera. Otherwise grab the frame you want in post.
 
YES!!! Another button, or an option for the programable buttons. Many of us dual use photo/videographers would love to shoot still and video together either at the same time in 2k or (4k still photos ideally) or separate (switch to 4k photos and save separate files from our 1080p or 2k video).

RED will create the first professional version of the consumer version hi-bread. (Much like Firewire moving from amateur to pro). Most pros love firewire now, but it took 5 years to happen... lets hope RED creates a new professional hi-bread (4K PHOTO / 2K VIDEO SWITCH) that will create many new applications.

All wedding videographers will be happy to compete with wedding still photographers... and many news videographers could someday sell their photos too along with their video.

Please give us the tools. Let's start the REVOLUTION and we will show you new stuff in TIME, NEWSWEEK, BUSINESSWEEK and on CNN, FOX, from the same shoot with the same camera. LET THE RED REVOLUTION BEGIN!
 
YES!!! Another button, or an option for the programable buttons. Many of us dual use photo/videographers would love to shoot still and video together either at the same time in 2k or (4k still photos ideally) or separate (switch to 4k photos and save separate files from our 1080p or 2k video).
Click to expand...

Great point Greg. I love the idea that you could easily, at the press of a button get a 4k photo out of Red whilst filming. I am sure Red will deliver something like you suggest (thats just me guessing) though.

How important is each botton going to be? That extra facility must be a huge draw to those who are trying to film news media AND trying to take a photo at the same time! Photography/videography. Red does both= greater valued camera.

How many buttons will Red one have? How many extra cool things will it have. The more buttons the more extras the more to go wrong is a reasonable point to make.

When you look at the number of good ideas that have been suggested for Red, how many of us would'nt sacrifice the added risks of more buttons if they performed a needed task?

Michael
 
Still Photo Modular Idea?

Still Photo Modular Idea?

maybe this has been talked about already. but if you wanted to use RED as a still camera, and since the newest design is all modular, maybe there is a way to take out the recording sections of the camera and make the camera much smaller, and made to take still photos, just using the front end and the sensor and maybe a little flash memory thing for the photos. obviously its more complicated than this but has anyone mentioned something like this already?
 
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