Videos vs. Photos?

[MikeA]

I always make photos up to just recently, when I tried my first few videos on my last trip to Yellowstone. I also tried out iMovie for the first time, mixing photos and videos for my showing to family and friends. I had the feeling it was more interesting for the audience by also including compelling music.

I was just curios - on this site one gets the impression everybody (like me up to now) is shooting photo images and no videos, even though our cameras (like my D850) can do both. It is a question of quality, photos vs. video on these cameras? Or just the preference for photos?

 

[Lee R]

I shoot video all the time and constantly remind myself to take 10-30 second clips when shooting stills. I edit them right on the phone into a short video around 2 minutes usually as a concise video story of whatever subject. My family is way more interested in video than stills. Also my video recording has turned out to be way more valuable than my stills for my dogs that both passed away in the last few years so with a new pup on the way this spring I’ll be sure to record a lot more video than I did in the past.

I use YouTube set to private to store videos.

The Z cameras espiecially the recent ones are very good for video. Right up in the top for the Z8/9.
The video switch makes it fast an easy once you get in the habit of recording a clip while shooting a still.

 

[jeffnles1]

I always make photos up to just recently, when I tried my first few videos on my last trip to Yellowstone. I also tried out iMovie for the first time, mixing photos and videos for my showing to family and friends. I had the feeling it was more interesting for the audience by also including compelling music.

I was just curios - on this site one gets the impression everybody (like me up to now) is shooting photo images and no videos, even though our cameras (like my D850) can do both. It is a question of quality, photos vs. video on these cameras? Or just the preference for photos?

I shoot both. One caution on including music, if you are posting to Facebook, YouTube, or even this website, beware of copyright violations. I get music from Youtube's library which is OK to use there but not necessarily other places. I have also included some original stuff I recorded to which I own the copyright. Heck, I had a video of Wood Frogs singing and got a copyright violation. The violation was removed after I contested it. I've also had comments on some of my videos that the music was distracting. Chalk that up to you cannot please everyone.

I, too, use iMovie. It is powerful enough for what I do with video. I'm not making cinematic productions and have no desire to work hard enough to get a million subscribers on YouTube. I just shoot video for fun, put it on my YT channel mainly for friends and family. I was shocked the other day to see I have over 400 subscribers which is about 398 more than I ever thought I would have.

Video was the primary reason I sold off my D500 and a few F Mount lenses to fund going Mirrorless.

Best wishes as you move forward.

 

[TurtleCat]

I prefer photos over movies. Photos take a lot less work to put something together. I also visualize stills a lot more than moving images. I'll take some videos of something for fun now and then but usually not a coherent "story" that one would expect with a video.

 

[GregT943]

I really need to start doing video. I think I would enjoy it, but learning how to edit them and also file storage has discouraged me from trying. Also I do most of my wildlife shooting handheld so I often don't have a tripod with me, and a tripod is a must for video.

 

[jeffnles1]

I really need to start doing video. I think I would enjoy it, but learning how to edit them and also file storage has discouraged me from trying. Also I do most of my wildlife shooting handheld so I often don't have a tripod with me, and a tripod is a must for video.

I rarely use a tripod for my videos. With IBIS and in lens stabilization combined with post processing stabilization it works OK. Tripod would be better but, as I said earlier, I'm not trying for cinematic perfection. I consider my video more or less "snapshots" and don't even try for "high art".

Give it a try and see how much you enjoy it (or don't enjoy it as the case may be). Usually I will intermix my stills and video into a video project. Sometimes a little video vignette shows context around the stills.

 

[MikeA]

I shoot video all the time and constantly remind myself to take 10-30 second clips when shooting stills. I edit them right on the phone into a short video around 2 minutes usually as a concise video story of whatever subject. My family is way more interested in video than stills. Also my video recording has turned out to be way more valuable than my stills for my dogs that both passed away in the last few years so with a new pup on the way this spring I’ll be sure to record a lot more video than I did in the past.

I use YouTube set to private to store videos.

The Z cameras espiecially the recent ones are very good for video. Right up in the top for the Z8/9.
The video switch makes it fast an easy once you get in the habit of recording a clip while shooting a still.

I think that will be my way to go too in the future.

I shoot both. One caution on including music, if you are posting to Facebook, YouTube, or even this website, beware of copyright violations. I get music from Youtube's library which is OK to use there but not necessarily other places. I have also included some original stuff I recorded to which I own the copyright. Heck, I had a video of Wood Frogs singing and got a copyright violation. The violation was removed after I contested it. I've also had comments on some of my videos that the music was distracting. Chalk that up to you cannot please everyone.

I, too, use iMovie. It is powerful enough for what I do with video. I'm not making cinematic productions and have no desire to work hard enough to get a million subscribers on YouTube. I just shoot video for fun, put it on my YT channel mainly for friends and family. I was shocked the other day to see I have over 400 subscribers which is about 398 more than I ever thought I would have.

Video was the primary reason I sold off my D500 and a few F Mount lenses to fund going Mirrorless.

Best wishes as you move forward.

I am in the try out phase of Epidemic Sound - this music is then free and ok to use if you pay the subscription fee.

 

[Steve]

My problem is that although I'd like to shoot movies at times, it can cause you to miss great opportunities with stills. In fact, when I have played with movies in the past, invariably something happens and I wish I had been shooting stills. That's my main reason for not taking more movies - fear of missing a great shot.

 

[RikWriter]

I shoot videos sometimes. But it's not my passion and I lack both the software and the skill to edit it.

 

[ssheipel]

As a shooter I have an interest equal to less than zero in shooting video I tend to bore people with the fact that I've shot a couple of seconds of video on my D6 (of a still object LOL) when I first unboxed the camera. I'm pretty sure I've not even so much as clicked the switch over to video from stills on my Z9. Unless wildlife is doing something of particular best 'captured' by video behaviour, I much prefer stills shots; even often find myself wishing while watching a video that the shooter had captured stills of the animal, too. FWIW

 

[Rascasse]

To me video and still images is comparing apples to oranges. They are 2 completely different genres and require 2 different skill sets.

 

[Woodyg3]

I have never shot a single video on any of the cameras that I currently own. I don't really know why, but it just doesn't interest me. I like capturing that one little instant in time that a still photograph affords.

That said, I very much enjoy watching videos.

 

[jeffnles1]

There have also bee a lot of times when photographing some action, after it is over I think "gee, I should have captured that on video!" I shoot well over 90% stills. Mainly because video is not top of mind. One of my goals moving forward is to shot a little more video than I have in the past.

 

[Lee R]

My problem is that although I'd like to shoot movies at times, it can cause you to miss great opportunities with stills. In fact, when I have played with movies in the past, invariably something happens and I wish I had been shooting stills. That's my main reason for not taking more movies - fear of missing a great shot.

What do you think of shooting 8k60 clips that way if something does happen you can pull stills? I don't know the quality of something like that but it's something I want to investigate. There should be 60FPS NRAW stills at 38mp off the Z8/Z9 which in theory would be pretty decent quality.

It's something I want to try, it's also potentially a hack to get 60 FPS out of a Z8/9 with some compromise but still possibly much better than using JPEG precapture.

For wildlife shooting both would be tough as it's such a focused activity. Even with the switch which is basically near instant on the Z8/9 it's still a wrong place at the wrong time action if an extraordinary event happens. Unless that frame capture really could work?

 

[Lee R]

I shoot videos sometimes. But it's not my passion and I lack both the software and the skill to edit it.

It may sound silly but give the GoPro quick app a try, feed it 10 short clips and see if you like the results. It takes very little effort and for a short story of a location it can work quite well with some captions. It's pretty low effort and learning curve. Just feed it some 1080p/4k video and it's going to auto edit.

 

[ricardo00]

I always make photos up to just recently, when I tried my first few videos on my last trip to Yellowstone. I also tried out iMovie for the first time, mixing photos and videos for my showing to family and friends. I had the feeling it was more interesting for the audience by also including compelling music.

I was just curios - on this site one gets the impression everybody (like me up to now) is shooting photo images and no videos, even though our cameras (like my D850) can do both. It is a question of quality, photos vs. video on these cameras? Or just the preference for photos?

I shoot video when I am trying to capture the sound (ie. coyotes howling, owls calling, etc) or when the quality is going to be low (ie. very low light or when the subject is very far like the wolves in Yellowstone). Also, like Jeff, when there might be some action. The best videos I have gotten IMO are when things happen. Of course, this is not predictable. I also went to the Z9/Z8 to improve my videos and mostly take my videos handheld though do on occasion use a tripod.
PS. To get a "frequency" of how much video versus photos I shoot, I have 200 videos in my Flickr and 4,100 photos.

 

[MrFotoFool]

I have never shot video and almost certainly never will. I wish they made an alternate Z8 with no video button; I would buy it even if it costs the same as the one with video.

Then again, I don't own a television, don't subscribe to any streaming services like Netflix, and don't go to movie theatres. So there must be something wrong with me.

 

[Lee R]

There have also bee a lot of times when photographing some action, after it is over I think "gee, I should have captured that on video!" I shoot well over 90% stills. Mainly because video is not top of mind. One of my goals moving forward is to shot a little more video than I have in the past.

This kind of comment makes me really wonder how much quality a result I can get out of 8k60 NRAW frame captures.

 

[Lee R]

I have never shot video and almost certainly never will. I wish they made an alternate Z8 with no video button; I would buy it even if it costs the same as the one with video.

Then again, I don't own a television, don't subscribe to any streaming services like Netflix, and don't go to movie theatres. So there must be something wrong with me.

One thing I wish they would do is allow the video switch to be an FN switch if desired. Like being able to set up up as a "monochrome" switch like the Zf uses. Or whatever use we choose. At least give it functionality for those who don't shoot video whatsoever.

 

[ricardo00]

What do you think of shooting 8k60 clips that way if something does happen you can pull stills? I don't know the quality of something like that but it's something I want to investigate. There should be 60FPS NRAW stills at 38mp off the Z8/Z9 which in theory would be pretty decent quality.

It's something I want to try, it's also potentially a hack to get 60 FPS out of a Z8/9 with some compromise but still possibly much better than using JPEG precapture.

For wildlife shooting both would be tough as it's such a focused activity. Even with the switch which is basically near instant on the Z8/9 it's still a wrong place at the wrong time action if an extraordinary event happens. Unless that frame capture really could work?

To pull stills from videos, I would think you want 120 FPS or even 240 FPS (like the Sony a9iii or Z6 iii). That way the shutter would be 1/ 240 or 1/480. I always shoot my video at 120 FPS (the max on my Z8/Z9 in case there is action) but the stills pulled out of an action video taken at 1/240 are never very good (one needs a much higher shutter speed).

 

[Lee R]

To pull stills from videos, I would think you want 120 FPS or even 240 FPS (like the Sony a9iii or Z6 iii). That way the shutter would be 1/ 240 or 1/480. I always shoot my video at 120 FPS (the max on my Z8/Z9 in case there is action.

120fps is 4k though correct? 8mp. That's what I was thinking 8K60 for, 38MP at 60FPS. Which if NRAW can hold some RAW editablity (It's 12 bit RAW) would exceed the A9iii resolution at 60FPS or the A-1ii.

I'm pretty curious to try it. Shutter speed will have to be set high.

 

[PhilcTx]

I used to shoot only photos. But a few years ago began learning how to shoot video. Now - its probably more video than photos over all.

Recently however I have become interested again in working more with long-exposure black and white images.

 

[Nimi]

What do you think of shooting 8k60 clips that way if something does happen you can pull stills? I don't know the quality of something like that but it's something I want to investigate. There should be 60FPS NRAW stills at 38mp off the Z8/Z9 which in theory would be pretty decent quality.

It's something I want to try, it's also potentially a hack to get 60 FPS out of a Z8/9 with some compromise but still possibly much better than using JPEG precapture.

For wildlife shooting both would be tough as it's such a focused activity. Even with the switch which is basically near instant on the Z8/9 it's still a wrong place at the wrong time action if an extraordinary event happens. Unless that frame capture really could work?

You run into shutter speed dilemma. For good video you have to shoot a shutter angle of 180, so even if you shoot 120fp, your shutter speed is only 1/240. If you diverge from 180 shutter angle and jack up shutter speed to 1/2000 you might be able to pull good stills, but the video will be unwatchable.

 

[Lee R]

You run into shutter speed dilemma. For good video you have to shoot a shutter angle of 180, so even if you shoot 120fp, your shutter speed is only 1/240. If you diverge from 180 shutter angle and jack up shutter speed to 1/2000 you might be able to pull good stills, but the video will be unwatchable.

What's the maximum shutter speed we can run? I'm thinking of stills at 60 FPS and RAW editablity since Nikon hasn't got there yet for precapture.

Am I way off in using 12 bit NRAW stills as reasonable quality 60 FPS output?

 

[Nimi]

What's the maximum shutter speed we can run? I'm thinking of stills at 60 FPS and RAW editablity since Nikon hasn't got there yet for precapture.

Am I way off in using 12 bit NRAW stills as reasonable quality 60 FPS output?

Is the goal to have video, stills, or both? What's the subject?