Using camcorder for stills?
 

can i get decent quality? What attributes should i look for in a camcorder if id like it to also take decent stills?

I saw a camera on QVC where it is constantly focusing, so the SECOND you hit the button, it grabs the image. No delay for focus at all.

this is important to me, so what should i be looking for when shopping this?

thanks if you can help.

I bought a facial tanner from QVC :thumbsup

:1orglaugh

THIS SONY looks nice

:/

damnit i really want one, and dont know wtf to get ... ill be shopping for 2yrs at this rate, lol

i would have already bought it but i did that with my digital camera and regret it since there are features id like to have that it didnt come with.

Basically...

Not really.

I use a GL2 and the still's come out pretty good. If your trying to get still's from the video.... No good! Could never get the same quality as a digital still camara..

:)

video is interlaced.... basically it takes one image which comprises half the total image and then another image and interlaces them... what does this mean? well anything with motion in it will get artifacts that look like jaggy little lines

also the resolution sucks 690000 pixels on the CCD vrs 5m... big difference

also the color space is different between the a digital stills camera and a video camera (video cameras will capture less color information especially with NTSC)

that about sums it up

I knew it!!!!
How often you use it??

:1orglaugh

btw you will get very crappy pics with a 690000 pixels, thats not even one megapixel.
Pix will prolly be grainy at best..

:2 cents:

dont use a camcorder for digital stills
buy a fucking digital camera

very nice man, thanks!

so your saying even if i managed to find a 5megapix camcorder, stills would still come out grainy due to the fact that each frame is interlaced. correct?

Is this on every camcorder? Or did i manage to choose a $700 shitty one, lol

Anything you can recomend in same price range?



I have one, but still want to pull stills off video.

http://www.partycontent.com/ass/ass1/sample2.jpg

This is a screengrab. No matter what camera you will buy it will always look like this. About 640x480.

But lately the newer cams can make decent pictures and write it on the memory stick. I believe a buddy of mine has a sony video cam which can take likr 1600x1200 still.

The Sony DCR-PC330 offers the best stills:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...der-review.htm

But they still suck compared to a modest dedicated stills camera.

a bit too pricey (and ugly) heh

but thanks for the info, it will give me some guidelines to look for when im looking at other models.


BTW the pic from above doesnt seem too bad ...