How to get highest res stills from FCP5 HD? at DVinfo.net

Kat Phillips · June 7th, 2006, 07:36 PM

Everytime we export stills from FCP5 HD from our HVX200 shoot we only get 72dpi resolution even though we supposedly got 960x720 from our 720p/24PN capture. Surely that's not the best we can do! I thought ending up with only 960x720 in the footage was bad, but I can't make a poster out of 72dpi. Yikes. Anybody know how we can get the highest resolution from the export?

Nate Weaver · June 8th, 2006, 03:27 PM

The pixel resolution from the HVX is 960x720. That's it. there's no way around it. That 960 horizontal figure is stretched to 1280 upon playback.

It seems that you might be a little fundamentally confused about what DPI means...it's a figure to connect printing sizes to real pixel dimensions. But the pixel dimensions in this case are not adjustable or variable.

FCP will always export HVX footage as stills as 1280x720. There is no better.

Glenn Chan · June 8th, 2006, 04:55 PM

The HVX only captures so much resolution... if you want a high DPI, just print into a smaller area. The frame can be 150dpi (or higher) if you want... it'll just print onto a smaller area.

In Photoshop, you can fake a little extra resolution by:
Resizing in 10% steps. i.e. 110%, 110%, 110%, ...
instead of doing ~130% in one shot

And then apply a little unsharp mask.

Other than that, that's about all the (apparent/fake) resolution you're going to get. It's not going to print well more than a few to several inches. If you need more, use a digital or 35mm still camera.

2- If you can draw / have some artistic intuition, you can sketch the image and make it stylized. Use the video frame as a reference.

Dave Perry · June 9th, 2006, 06:05 AM

Yes, 72dpi is the standard screen resolution for digital photography. As the previous posts have explained, high resolution is a function of how you tell the printer to print. IE, a 1200x900 picture will be a low res print at 72dpi of 16.66"x12.5" and a hi res print at 300dpi of 4"x3".

June 7th, 2006, 07:36 PM	#1
Kat Phillips Tourist Join Date: May 2006 Location: Philly Posts: 1	How to get highest res stills from FCP5 HD? Everytime we export stills from FCP5 HD from our HVX200 shoot we only get 72dpi resolution even though we supposedly got 960x720 from our 720p/24PN capture. Surely that's not the best we can do! I thought ending up with only 960x720 in the footage was bad, but I can't make a poster out of 72dpi. Yikes. Anybody know how we can get the highest resolution from the export?

June 8th, 2006, 03:27 PM	#2
Nate Weaver Wrangler Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 2,100	The pixel resolution from the HVX is 960x720. That's it. there's no way around it. That 960 horizontal figure is stretched to 1280 upon playback. It seems that you might be a little fundamentally confused about what DPI means...it's a figure to connect printing sizes to real pixel dimensions. But the pixel dimensions in this case are not adjustable or variable. FCP will always export HVX footage as stills as 1280x720. There is no better. __________________ My Work: nateweaver.net

June 9th, 2006, 06:05 AM	#4
Dave Perry Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Roanoke, VA Posts: 796	Yes, 72dpi is the standard screen resolution for digital photography. As the previous posts have explained, high resolution is a function of how you tell the printer to print. IE, a 1200x900 picture will be a low res print at 72dpi of 16.66"x12.5" and a hi res print at 300dpi of 4"x3". __________________ Dave Perry Cinematographer LLC Director of Photography • Editor • Digital Film Production • 540.915.2752 • daveperry.net

June 8th, 2006, 04:55 PM	#3
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	The HVX only captures so much resolution... if you want a high DPI, just print into a smaller area. The frame can be 150dpi (or higher) if you want... it'll just print onto a smaller area. In Photoshop, you can fake a little extra resolution by: Resizing in 10% steps. i.e. 110%, 110%, 110%, ... instead of doing ~130% in one shot And then apply a little unsharp mask. Other than that, that's about all the (apparent/fake) resolution you're going to get. It's not going to print well more than a few to several inches. If you need more, use a digital or 35mm still camera. 2- If you can draw / have some artistic intuition, you can sketch the image and make it stylized. Use the video frame as a reference.