movies on a still camera

[alcina]

I have been looking at some Canon cameras and am wondering exactly what the following means and/or what I should be looking for if I want a camera to also be able to take small video clips:

fps...some say 15 & some say 20...I assume more is better?

Some say something like "20fps or 48 seconds" or "15 fps or 3 minutes"...is this total no matter what card you have? Or is it at one time? Or is it on the supplied card?

What are your experiences with how many pictures (assume highest res and superfine compression - highest quality) you can take if you also a bit of video clip...on say a 256 card, or do I need a bigger one?

Thanks.

 

[Charlie99]

Some say something like "20fps or 48 seconds" or "15 fps or 3 minutes"...is this total no matter what card you have? Or is it at one time?

I think you probably saw a camera that said 20fps For 48 seconds. My Olympus Stylus 400 camera is limited to 16 seconds of 320x240pixel 15fps movie mode before filling up the temporary storage (RAM). Then it needs to pause and save the data off to the memory card.

Even with a 256MB card it can only record movies in 16 second chunks. The total 320x240 15fps video storage capabilityfor a 256MB card is about 15 minutes.

There might be cameras that can store data fast enough to keep taking a movie for 15 minutes total, but mine won't.

 

[alcina]

Went back coz once you mentioned it I couldn't be 100% on the "or" or "for" - especially this week! But it does say "20 fps or 48 seconds"

Is the 16 second video session about average, all other camera users? Specifically for the Canons? What does play back look like on the computer and on the tv?

 

[WillAbbott]

Went back coz once you mentioned it I couldn't be 100% on the "or" or "for" - especially this week! But it does say "20 fps or 48 seconds"

Is the 16 second video session about average, all other camera users? Specifically for the Canons? What does play back look like on the computer and on the tv?

Okie dokie... first off... TV's "resolution" is 720x480 (or darn close)

SO.... at 320x240 you are at roughly half the resolution... so it's not going to look fabulous... but it will be decent... probalby about like, oh say an old VHS camcorder, or a little lower quality... it will be a little better than a webcam of similar resolution, just due to the better optics, focusing system, and CCD

NOW... I own a Canon PowerShot A40 (not a high end, but nice canon) it's the 2MP line... I think they stopped selling it now, and the A60/70 is the bottom end now, or something like that... I love mine... it could have more features, but hey it works for the purpose I bought it for... and for $200 I can house the sucker for U/W....

mine does the 320x240 as well as 160x120... my dad also has an S30 I think for work, and if memory serves it has one higher resolution setting for video.

I just tested and got 18seconds of video on the higher setting... I could grab the S30 it's at home for the holidays, and I think it does a longer amount at the same resolution.

I can do about 300+ seconds on the 320 resolution, and around 800seconds on 160 thats with about 8photos already on the card, and a 128MB card in the camera.


As for the FPS, that is Frames Per Second... Video (TV, VHS,etc) is ~30fps... film (theater) is actually like 28.85 or something, but is basically the 30fps... ~30 is considered FULL motion... anything less and it begins to look like stop motion, anything above and the human eye see's no difference. I haven't used mine much for video as I have a HI-8 video camera (Hi-8 was broadcast quality standard until digital came around... and it still is broadcast quality, just they've uped to better things now) and can capture it to my computer with a card I have, with still better quality and full resolution for putting to tape.

I would be glad to either try and dig up a video shot with the camera... OR shoot one for you to see the quality... in fact I could probably even shoot with the camcorder and camera at the same time for a comparisson.

I haven't really had a use for the video function yet... My dad told me they've used it a couple of times, I suppose it is nice for like a vacation to have the ability to shoot a clip suitible for internet/e-mail with you waiving while crusing on the cruise ship, or something....

It's perfectly acceptable for e-mail and internet, since many webcams aren't much higher res....


Hope that helps, feel free to drop me a PM/e-mail if you want regarding any of this... specifically canon questions I might be better able to answer being an owner and all.

 

[SimonJ]

Personally I love the video clips that my Canon S400 can take...I have a 512Mb card and have never had an issue mixing still and moving images. If you look at http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/s400/specs.html#time it tells you how much video you can store on different CF cards. The S400 is limited to 3mins of continuous movie mode...which is more than I have ever needed.

There are some examples of movies I shot underwater at http://www.simonandmerith.com/divevids-grenada2003/index.html and
http://www.simonandmerith.com/divingvids-turkey2003/turkeydivemovies.htm

Windows XP comes with a program called Movie Maker which is good enough to do the odd bit of post editing on the movies.

Hope this helps....happy Christmas.

 

[MonkSeal]

TV's "resolution" is 720x480 (or darn close)
SO.... at 320x240 you are at roughly half the resolution...

320x240 is quarter of 720x480 ;-)

 

[norcaldiver]

I haven't been too impressed with movies on my nikon. The pics are great, but it's not the right tool for the job. I also have a sony Hi8 that I use if I want for video. OTOH, the sony sucks big time if you want to capture a still image from that footage-again, not the right tool for the job.

 

[alcina]

Thanks for the input so far.

Can anyone answer this:
Is it going to make much of a difference between the 20fps and the 15fps cameras? Seems most are 15fps.

 

[seabat]

For what its worth, I have the Sea&Sea DX3000G with a 256mb card. The camera can shoot either a 30 second or a 2 min video that is saved as an avi. I shot 3 - 30 second videos and one 2 minute video and still had 478 still shots remaining (according the the camera). That number takes into account about 25 still shots also on the card at the time. The 30 second videos looked good on my TV, the 2 min looked bad. Downloading to my computer the 30 second file was 8 mb, the 2 min was about 7.5 mb.

 

[Nessy]

I have a Samsung Digimax V4 which I recently took out to the Red Sea. Got a load of brilliant movie clips. I have a 256MB card and it allows me to take a continuous movie clip up to the max of the memory chip, on this card I can get 30 minutes of video without any probs, its great!