Video users: How to extract stills from Video?

spraynpray

Hi Guys,

Those of you who know me know I don't 'do' video which is a problem for me because I want to be able to remove individual frames of 4K video (from a D7500) and turn them into some editable form for use as stills. Is this possible and if it is, what software do I need (I have Adobe CC)?

Ton14

Same here, but there is a LR solution, Note that you can only get a .JPG from a video, but you can edit .JPG's in LR of course, synchronize it with your video and bypass the video limited edit possibilities from LR.

https://photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/video-in-lightroom/

OK, not that "mindblowing" but very helpfull, Adobe Premiere is much better of course, but I leave that for the professional video editors, life is too short.

Have fun.

spraynpray

Hi Ton, thanks for your reply. OK, so I am not going to get a raw file with better editing possibilities via any kind of conversion from MOV or MP4 then? I am a dunce at this, sorry.

Ton14

Nah, .JPG to RAW (DNG) is impossible, .JPG is only 8-bit and very compressed as you know, the pixels we had in the RAW file are gone, we can get great .JPG photo's, only editing is limited compared to RAW, but we can still do a lot in LR with it, so for me it was a useful tip.

But this is the trick we want Andrew, get a RAW photo from video.

spraynpray

It would be cool wouldn't it!

Still, if I can get good enough .jpegs from the camera, it may still work.

Cheers Ton.

PB_PM

The quality will largely depend on the bitrate and shutter speed used when capturing the video. From in camera recording with Nikon DSLRs, it’s almost not worth it, the bitrate is low (under 50megbits, or in most cases under 25 for the high quality setting). That’s less than 1MB per second, so the image quality will be poor. If you use an external recorder, via HDMI you might get worth while results.

Since most video is primarily shot at 30-60fps, you are also dealing with slow shutter speeds 1/60 (30p) - 1/120s (60p). Not ideal for anything besides subtle subject movement. Shooting outside those ranges would cause issues for the video files (stuttering etc), but if all you care about is grabbing still from it, you could go for faster shutter speeds.

spraynpray

Have you looked at the D500/D7500 specs PB? Are they what you are talking about or better?

Ton14

Can you tell something about 4k video, is that any help for image quality?

PB_PM

spraynpray said:

Have you looked at the D500/D7500 specs PB? Are they what you are talking about or better?

I don’t know the exact figures for those cameras. Information on bitrate used to come out of the Nikon hacker community, but it’s not very active these days. The most up to date data I have is from the D810, and it was still under 40 megabits per second. I suspect the 4K files are more than that, but most likely due to the increase in megapixels required for 4K, rather than the files being of higher quality. Nikon tends to use a rather high compression ratio, which doesn’t tend to show up in video (still beats a phone), but it would be revealed in stills.

I don’t believe the D7500 has clean HDMI out, so using an external recorder would not help with it.

spraynpray

PB_PM said:

spraynpray said:

Have you looked at the D500/D7500 specs PB? Are they what you are talking about or better?

I don’t know the exact figures for those cameras. Information on bitrate used to come out of the Nikon hacker community, but it’s not very active these days. The most up to date data I have is from the D810, and it was still under 40 megabits per second. I suspect the 4K files are more than that, but most likely due to the increase in megapixels required for 4K, rather than the files being of higher quality. Nikon tends to use a rather high compression ratio, which doesn’t tend to show up in video (still beats a phone), but it would be revealed in stills.

I don’t believe the D7500 has clean HDMI out, so using an external recorder would not help with it.

Here is the relevant area of the spec pasted from the Nikon website, It says 'type 'c' HDMI connector - whether that is the clean HDMI you are talking about, I don't know.

Movie - metering:TTL exposure metering using main image sensor
Movie - metering method: Matrix, center-weighted, or highlight-weighted
Movie - frame size (pixels) and frame rate: 3840 x 2160 (4K UHD): 30p (progressive), 25p, 24p; 1920 x 1080: 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p, 24p; 1280 x 720: 60p, 50p. Actual frame rates for 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p, and 24p are 59.94, 50, 29.97, 25, and 23.976 fps respectively; high quality available at all frame sizes, normal quality available at all sizes except 3840 x 2160
Movie - file format: MOV, MP4
Movie - video compression: H.264/MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding
Movie - audio recording format: Linear PCM, AAC
Movie - audio recording device: Built-in stereo or external microphone; sensitivity adjustable
Movie - ISO sensitivity: Mode M: Auto ISO sensitivity control (ISO 100 to Hi 5) available with selectable upper limit; manual selection (ISO 100 to 51200 in steps of 1/3 or 1/2 EV) with additional options available equivalent to approximately 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 EV (ISO 1640000 equivalent) above ISO 51200 Modes P, S, and A: Auto ISO sensitivity control (ISO 100 to Hi 5) with selectable upper limit Night vision (EFFECT) mode: Auto ISO sensitivity control (ISO 100 to Hi 5) Other modes: Auto ISO sensitivity control (ISO 100 to 12800)
Other options: Index marking, time-lapse movies, electronic vibration reduction
Monitor 8 cm (3.2–in.) diagonal; tilting TFT touch-sensitive LCD with 170° viewing angle, approximately 100% frame coverage, manual monitor brightness control, and an eye-sensor controlling display on/off; Approx. 922k-dot, (VGA)
Playback
Full-frame and thumbnail (4, 9, or 72 images or calendar) playback with playback zoom, playback zoom cropping, movie playback, photo and/or movie slide shows, histogram display, highlights, photo information, location data display, picture rating, and auto image rotation
USB
Hi-Speed USB, with Micro-B connector; connection to built-in USB port is recommended
HDMI output
Type C HDMI connector

spraynpray

@Ton14 4K is 3840 x 2160 (4K UHD).

Ton14

spraynpray said:

@Ton14 4K is 3840 x 2160 (4K UHD).

Yes I know, but I wonder if that results in better .JPG captures from video.

PB_PM

Those specs don’t tell you anything relevant to what I was talking about. Nikon never mentions bitrate or anything like that. It’s still using the highly compressed H264 format, so without clean HDMI out, which only the higher end models have D5/D850/D810, D500, nothing changes.

PB_PM

BTW Clean HDMI out means that the camera sends out an uncompressed signal, the connection type (HDMI, Mini-HDMI, type C HDMI) makes no difference. The version of HDMI would, but if the camera supports 4K output, then it would have a newer version of HDMI anyway.

spraynpray

Oh right, OK. So the D500 has this clean HDMI output then, good. I will have to wise up on video.

Having handled the D7500 and D500 now, I am thinking D500 for a few reasons, but not the memory banks. I will just save some standard sets of settings to the SD and reload them.

It will be bye-bye D750 and D7100 hello D500 sometime soon. I have decided that for what I do, full frame has no advantage now. Noise wise, the D500 and D7500 are amazing too.

Ton14

OK, clear to me.

spraynpray

So I tried to stack a selection of images captured on video yesterday, but got poor results. Even at 30fps and moving the camera slowly, there were still areas of the final image that were blurred so that idea is binned. I am surprised how poor some frames look and yet the overall video quality looks good.

HankB

spraynpray said:

So I tried to stack a selection of images captured on video yesterday, but got poor results. Even at 30fps and moving the camera slowly, there were still areas of the final image that were blurred so that idea is binned. I am surprised how poor some frames look and yet the overall video quality looks good.

The way we humans process moving pictures masks the flaws of individual frames.

(I have been told by researchers in Roswell that some aliens — you know the ones who have been capturing our friends for in depth "probing" — process video differently and are more critical of individual frame quality).

PB_PM

spraynpray said:

So I tried to stack a selection of images captured on video yesterday, but got poor results. Even at 30fps and moving the camera slowly, there were still areas of the final image that were blurred so that idea is binned. I am surprised how poor some frames look and yet the overall video quality looks good.

Yes, as mentioned video is recorded at slow shutter speeds (30p = 1/60s), on purpose. If each frame were actually tack sharp the video files would look stuttered and lack smooth movements. The only way around it is to shoot video in manual mode and force shorter shutter speeds, as you typically would for still image shooting. Even then it wouldn’t be as good as a purposely shot still. Good enough for a newspaper or news website? Yes, but good enough to sell to a decerning client or a pixel peeper, no.

For image stacking, it’s not a good idea, at least not without a rail/slider to insure there are no side to side or up and down movements.

spraynpray

PB_PM said:

spraynpray said:

So I tried to stack a selection of images captured on video yesterday, but got poor results. Even at 30fps and moving the camera slowly, there were still areas of the final image that were blurred so that idea is binned. I am surprised how poor some frames look and yet the overall video quality looks good.

Yes, as mentioned video is recorded at slow shutter speeds (30p = 1/60s), on purpose. If each frame were actually tack sharp the video files would look stuttered and lack smooth movements. The only way around it is to shoot video in manual mode and force shorter shutter speeds, as you typically would for still image shooting. Even then it wouldn’t be as good as a purposely shot still. Good enough for a newspaper or news website? Yes, but good enough to sell to a decerning client or a pixel peeper, no.

For image stacking, it’s not a good idea, at least not without a rail/slider to insure there are no side to side or up and down movements.

Yes, I see that now. I will try manual video at some point, but I don't expect it to work.

As for stacking without a rail, here is a shot that I took in unbelievable circumstances a while back. A 50 MPH onshore wind had this Emperor Dragonfly looking for a sheltered roost. The shot was taken between two shed on some old pallets. The wind funnelled in there and made the insect flick around amazingly. I only had a minute so I quickly threw in some quick and dirty .jpeg settings (D7100 poor buffer) and shot with a large aperture of around f4 to use less flash power. Out of a dozen shots I got four or five that stacked even though the insect was moving a ridiculous amount and so was I! They are large insects so I was pleased to get that many. It seems Photoshop aligns well.

PB_PM

Yeah it works. In regards to the rail, I meant if you wanted to get stacked images from video files, not stills. Just moving the focus ring with video would add a lot of camera shake, which would be missed in continuous bursts of stills.

spraynpray

I'll bear that in mind when I try, ta.

BVS

spraynpray said:

Those of you who know me know I don't 'do' video which is a problem for me because I want to be able to remove individual frames of 4K video (from a D7500) and turn them into some editable form for use as stills. Is this possible and if it is, what software do I need (I have Adobe CC)?

The D7500 has the ability to save selected frames of a video as JPG in camera (page 200 of the manual). Basically, just play the movie and pause where you want to save the frame, then press the i button, select "Save Selected Frame" and then press the OK button.

Also, the D7500 does appear to have clean/uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 4K output using HDMI according to the Nikon website.

spraynpray

Sounds encouraging, I wonder if you can advance frame by frame though because I am seeing a lot of soft frames when I advance frame by frame on the PC?

BVS

spraynpray said:

Sounds encouraging, I wonder if you can advance frame by frame though because I am seeing a lot of soft frames when I advance frame by frame on the PC?

On my D7100 pressing left or right on the multi selector when a video is paused appears to advance frame by frame. I'm not positive about the D7500, but the video controls appear to be similar.

Interestingly, the D7100 also appears to have the "Save Selected Frame" feature. Never noticed it was there before.

spraynpray

Cheers All.