Is a single video 'frame' the same thing as a still photo?

I think the answer to this is "no", but say I purchase the 5DMII and shoot 10 seconds of video of a baseball pitcher pitching to a fastball hitter. If I want a shot of the ball hitting the bat, can i 'export' a single frame of video, and would that be the same as a still photo from the same 5DMII from a resolution, sharpness, clarity, exposure, etc. standpoint?

1080iAddict wrote in post #6624866
I think the answer to this is "no", but say I purchase the 5DMII and shoot 10 seconds of video of a baseball pitcher pitching to a fastball hitter. If I want a shot of the ball hitting the bat, can i 'export' a single frame of video, and would that be the same as a still photo from the same 5DMII from a resolution, sharpness, clarity, exposure, etc. standpoint?

It is technically a photograph, however, it will not be 21MP like the 5D2 takes normally. The still frame pulled from a video will be at a resolution of 1920x1080.

Resolution will not be the same, but everything else should be the same unless I'm missing something. Exposure should definitely be exactly the same if you were shooting at whatever shutter speed the camera is shooting at (a slowest of 1/60th I believe), and the rest have to do with the shutter speed and the capture (camera shake will add to a slower shutter speed).

I assume compression will be applied in camera which may degrade quality. We will just have to see!

no it is not...

Video is measured in Horizontal lines of resolution..

doesnt matter whether its interlaced or Progressive scan. if it's shot with anything less that 60fps (which is HD) then grabbing a still from motion will have extreme motion blur

beezwax wrote in post #6625748
no it is not...

Video is measured in Horizontal lines of resolution..

doesnt matter whether its interlaced or Progressive scan. if it's shot with anything less that 60fps (which is HD) then grabbing a still from motion will have extreme motion blur

Still is measured in Pixels

The resolution of the video is 1920x1080. Since it shoots 1080P, it's shooting at 1/60th at the very minimum, and it can expose faster than that to darken a bright scene with a wide aperture (like a normal videocam)... then again I am assuming that the 5d2 can do this but that's how most video cameras are.

no argument here

One thing though, 1/30th is still HD, just not "full" HD. 1/30th is 1080i, where it would shift the vertical lines one up and one down each frame (interlacing).

SolidxSnake wrote in post #6625770
The resolution of the video is 1920x1080. Since it shoots 1080P, it's shooting at 1/60th at the very minimum, and it can expose faster than that to darken a bright scene with a wide aperture (like a normal videocam)... then again I am assuming that the 5d2 can do this but that's how most video cameras are.

Nope.... slowest shutter speed of the 5D2's movie mode is 1/30 sec and fastest is 1/125 sec.

1080iAddict wrote in post #6624866
I think the answer to this is "no", but say I purchase the 5DMII and shoot 10 seconds of video of a baseball pitcher pitching to a fastball hitter. If I want a shot of the ball hitting the bat, can i 'export' a single frame of video, and would that be the same as a still photo from the same 5DMII from a resolution, sharpness, clarity, exposure, etc. standpoint?

The fastest shutter speed of the 5d2 movie mode is 1/125 sec, and that's too slow to freeze action.

I figured the answer would be no. And I personally feel this is great news. Photography is an art to its own and filming at 29.97 fps for a "series of photographs" and then picking the best one "takes away" from the art. I am NOT saying video on the 5MKII is a bad idea - but video is its own art, and this camera will make beautiful creative video art. But its a separate art - and should be a separate art.

so then my simple explanation was correct?

yup!

ha... well fathom that...

good luck to you

SolidxSnake wrote in post #6626167
One thing though, 1/30th is still HD, just not "full" HD. 1/30th is 1080i, where it would shift the vertical lines one up and one down each frame (interlacing).

Small nit pick: HD shot at a shutter speed of 1/30 is every bit as much HD as video at 1/60. As much as a photo taken at 1/30 is as much a photo as a photo taken at 1/60, 0r 1/100, or 1/8000.

However, as mentioned above, the 5DMkII is limited in it's shutter speeds so there will be motion blur in the original posters scenario.

Matthew Craggs wrote in post #6705724
Small nit pick: HD shot at a shutter speed of 1/30 is every bit as much HD as video at 1/60. As much as a photo taken at 1/30 is as much a photo as a photo taken at 1/60, 0r 1/100, or 1/8000.

However, as mentioned above, the 5DMkII is limited in it's shutter speeds so there will be motion blur in the original posters scenario.

I worded that wrong. I meant that HD displayed at 1/30 (30fps/30Hz Refresh Rate) isn't "full" HD because it is only 1080i. Of course, if the video is shot at anything slower than 1/60 the frame rate could just be adapted to fit into 60Hz.