Stills and Video
 

I've got a shoot coming up where the client wants documentary footage along with video stills of their product. I was thinking of shooting the stills all on one tape with the footage on others. Other than having to shuffle tapes, can anyone think of any problems this might present(especially for the editors)?

The budget is already set so renting another camera for this purpose isn't an option.

There's nothing "wrong" about shooting photos onto tape, but the (assuming they're using a computer based NLE) editor's would likely have much more flexability with digital copies of the photos (from a flat-bed scanner or even 3-5 megepixel digital photo camera)

Have fun.

Stills from standard-definition DV might print at 3" x 5" but they won't look that great. Are the stills going to be used in the final edit of the video presentation, or do they want them printed?

(Hey Nick -- you have a great website!)

Thanks, Chris!

I'm always frustrated at myself for not giving it enough time or even just keeping it up to date, so outside opinions are always great to hear about.

Given the fantastic content and following you've developed here on your own site, your compliment certainly means a lot.
Thanks again.

Have fun!

Cannon,

What camera will you be using for the shoot?

The GL2/XM2 has an SD port and I believe that it records the still images to an SD/MMC cards. I think it also takes pictures at a slightly higher resolution than standard DV i.e about 1megapixel? That being said you'll only get a half decent picture A4 size but a good A5 sized picture.

Remember a Video camera is for shooting video a stills camera is for shooting still pictures.

As long as your client understands that he won't get 'poster' sized prints then I guess it could work.

Do you know what he will be using the pictures for?

Cheers,

Ed

The stills are being used for video purposes. If they wanted prints I would use a still camera.

I don't know who is editing the footage or what they are using to edit with. I was wondering if switching tapes might cause any problems. It seemed to me to be the best way to keep track of the stills by having them all on the same tape, separate from the documentary footage.

Shouldn't be an issue as long as you're not switching tape brands.

I guess that's kind of an obvious/dumb question, but these people are paying me a lot of money relative to my experience and I don't want to make anything more difficult for them.

Thanks for the replies.