dji phantom 3 standard - still from video

Joined
Apr 1, 2019
Messages
40
Reaction score
10
Hi sorry for the stupid question, is it possible to extract a full quality ‘still’ jpeg image from a 2.7k video or 1080p? Do you need certain software if you can?
 
Hi sorry for the stupid question, is it possible to extract a full quality ‘still’ jpeg image from a 2.7k video or 1080p? Do you need certain software if you can?
It is not a stupid question. In my 3 years of flying my drone - I have never taken a single picture - as I am a videographer.
If I need a picture - I have various video software programs that enable me to capture a screenshot/snapshot from the video footage. Your capabilities will depend on your FPS setting, i.e - frames per second. I sometimes shoot at 60fps on my P3S - which means compromising 1080p for 720p - because the higher FPS comes in extremely handy for a smoother "slow motion" effect in post production software. I use Corel Videostudio Ultimate and Cyberlink Powerdirector Ultimate - depending on what specific task I need to accomplish. I also use Sony Vegas Pro when I am editing multi-cam concert video shoots because that software enables me to synch several cameras together so that I can view them all at once and it gives me the choice as to what camera I wish to select next - "on the beat". (My Youtube Channel is WEMWUSA)
 
Download vlc. It’s free. Under Tools is the capture stills. I’ve used it a bunch and it works great!
 
If you're using a Mac, and you play the video with Quicktime, simply pause on the frame you wish (using the Left Right arrow keys to get the exact frame) then hit the CMD-C keys to copy the image. In Photoshop or Photos or other imaging softwares, select File New, then enter, then Paste. Your image will be ready to edit. (note, whatever the video resolution you're using, that's how large the Still capture will be.) HTHs
 
It is not a stupid question. In my 3 years of flying my drone - I have never taken a single picture - as I am a videographer.
If I need a picture - I have various video software programs that enable me to capture a screenshot/snapshot from the video footage. Your capabilities will depend on your FPS setting, i.e - frames per second. I sometimes shoot at 60fps on my P3S - which means compromising 1080p for 720p - because the higher FPS comes in extremely handy for a smoother "slow motion" effect in post production software. I use Corel Videostudio Ultimate and Cyberlink Powerdirector Ultimate - depending on what specific task I need to accomplish. I also use Sony Vegas Pro when I am editing multi-cam concert video shoots because that software enables me to synch several cameras together so that I can view them all at once and it gives me the choice as to what camera I wish to select next - "on the beat". (My Youtube Channel is WEMWUSA)
Fantastic detailed answer! ? Thank you very much ? so the still quality from the video is of acceptable quality for pixel peepers and printing? I do have Photoshop Premiere Elements video editor just remembered so hopefully I could use this for editing. Cheers for advice superb
 
If you're using a Mac, and you play the video with Quicktime, simply pause on the frame you wish (using the Left Right arrow keys to get the exact frame) then hit the CMD-C keys to copy the image. In Photoshop or Photos or other imaging softwares, select File New, then enter, then Paste. Your image will be ready to edit. (note, whatever the video resolution you're using, that's how large the Still capture will be.) HTHs
Much appreciate the advice. Yes I use QuickTime on a PC and also Photoshop. I’m a traditional still shooter on Canon so new to extracting stills from video especially on a drone - all great advice! Are you always happy with still photo quality after processing? Is it similar as if using the normal camera shot mode on the drone? Thanks again
 
There is one thing not mentioned. If you wish a good quality picture you need to shot video in 4K resolution and P3S is not capable to do that.
Of course all depends on the reason you need pictures for.
 
Much appreciate the advice. Yes I use QuickTime on a PC and also Photoshop. I’m a traditional still shooter on Canon so new to extracting stills from video especially on a drone - all great advice! Are you always happy with still photo quality after processing? Is it similar as if using the normal camera shot mode on the drone? Thanks again
The image from a still should be about the same as the image from your camera sensor at 2.7K video, or 2704 x 1520 @ 72 ppi, or 11.267 x 6.338 @ 240 ppi. Which produces fine photos (you may need to Sharpen them slightly if the video image was noticeably moving)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Geodude
The image from a still should be about the same as the image from your camera sensor at 2.7K video, or 2704 x 1520 @ 72 ppi, or 11.267 x 6.338 @ 240 ppi. Which produces fine photos (you may need to Sharpen them slightly if the video image was noticeably moving)
Thanks for the reply, the images sound more than acceptable will be giving it a go! Cheers
 
Most Video editors will allow you to take snapshot frame.

Even Windows Live Movie Maker, the most simple editor you can get can do it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Geodude
Hi sorry for the stupid question, is it possible to extract a full quality ‘still’ jpeg image from a 2.7k video or 1080p? Do you need certain software if you can?
Despite the optimistic answers no-one has given you the correct information.
You can save frame grabs from any video ... but you cannot extract a full quality ‘still’ jpeg image from a 2.7k video or 1080p.
If you were to shoot stills with that drone your image resolution would be 4000 x 3000 = 12MB
From video the higest resolution will be 2704 x1520 = 4.1 MB
Besides the big difference in resolution, with video you are likely to be dealing with much slower shutter speeds than you'd use if shooting stills.
So you can get low-res images that might be unsharp due to motion blurring, but you can't get a full quality ‘still’ jpeg image from your video.
If you want quality stills, you should shoot stills.
 
  • Like
Reactions: quaddamage
Fully agree with @Meta4. Also, there's a matter of bitrate used in the video - that single video frame only holds fraction of the data a photo would have.

For some explanation, you may watch Captain D on video compression:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

His explanation is very simplified, doesn't even mention specific codecs. But I'm not willing to put an essay here.
And yes, the codecs used by DJI do use P-frames.
 
Last edited:
Despite the optimistic answers no-one has given you the correct information.
You can save frame grabs from any video ... but you cannot extract a full quality ‘still’ jpeg image from a 2.7k video or 1080p.
If you were to shoot stills with that drone your image resolution would be 4000 x 3000 = 12MB
From video the higest resolution will be 2704 x1520 = 4.1 MB
Besides the big difference in resolution, with video you are likely to be dealing with much slower shutter speeds than you'd use if shooting stills.
So you can get low-res images that might be unsharp due to motion blurring, but you can't get a full quality ‘still’ jpeg image from your video.
If you want quality stills, you should shoot stills.

I agree that FULL quality stills are not available from a video grab ... never said they were.

But the grab can be sufficient to provide a Title / Intro still for a video .... as I often do.

Many times I have no full quality still photo of a new model or subject. I then use the video to provide such a grab.
Comes down at end of day to : Convenience, practical .....
 
As I already said still photos from 4K video are quite good, usually as good as stills from the camera.
While from 1080 HD video stills are only enough for the phone display.
 
The issue of what is good enough depends on the purpose, and the viewer’s standards. For print, the guidelines for a full res high quality picture is 300 pixels per inch for a print viewed at 10 inches from the viewer. Take the capture’s horizontal pixel dimension and decide it by 300. For video, divide it by 72 or 96.

These are standards that have been developed over a long period based on lots of photographic projects. They can serve as a starting point for your experiments.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Geodude
The issue of what is good enough depends on the purpose, and the viewer’s standards. For print, the guidelines for a full res high quality picture is 300 pixels per inch for a print viewed at 10 inches from the viewer. Take the capture’s horizontal pixel dimension and decide it by 300. For video, divide it by 72 or 96.

These are standards that have been developed over a long period based on lots of photographic projects. They can serve as a starting point for your experiments.

Exactly .... if you want award winning quality ...then its dedicated stills image ...but if a snapshot from a video is sufficient -then thats solved.
 
Not exactly. Resolution is determined by the pixel dimensions. The pixel dimensions between astill picture and a video frame are very similar. X dimensions are identical, the Y dimension varies with the aspect ratio.

A whole different consideration is if you shoot raw still images and then post process. This will give more flexibility in tonal and color adjustment, but no more resolution.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,356
Members
104,934
Latest member
jody.paugh@fullerandsons.