ray

Hi everybody. I'm curious to see if any of you have ever taken still captures from your digital camcorders. How are the quality of the images you can extract from the video? I assume they are capable of posting on the internet, but what about printing at larger sizes?

Also, does anybody know of a website where I can read about this a bit more in detail?

DarkFury

Honestly... I have a digital camcorder (a Panasonic SDR-H200) which takes awesome video... however for digital photos, it don't hold a candle to my camera (Canon Rebel XT).

Pretty much I wouldn't sacrifice the quality of a good camera in favor of the camcorder.

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ray

I would never use a camcorder to replace my camera, but for certain events it's a pain in the ass to carry both around and keep switching between them.

Also, I wouldn't use the still camera function of the camcorder to take photos, instead i would do some kind of screen capture of the video to get a still photo. Have you ever done that DF?

Devhux

If you wanted to do that, forget about printing the images. Even an HD camcorder shoots up to 1920x1080 video, which really isn't enough resolution for a good-sized print (not to mention the aspect ratio would not help things).

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Jeffbx

Yeah, it's bad. Halfway decent to look at, but forget about printing, unless you only need wallet size. Resolution will be too low.

DarkFury

Like I said... I wouldn't do it. I've done it before and regretted it.

For example... I was thinking like you when I went to the graduation ceremony of a friend. I didn't want to take my camera and my camcorder... so I just took the camcorder.

Of course photos were taken of the event in addition to the video that was shot. I tried to get a "video cap" of the moment when she recieved her diploma from the video and honestly, the image was quite grainy and of a much lower quality than would have happened if I would have had my camera.

The camcorder was sitting on a tripod, so I could have shot the moment with my camera had I had it... but now, it is lost forever. I regret not taking my camera that day and I won't do that again for any future "important moments".

Pretty much you have to decide how important the shot is. If it is important... take the camera. If it isn't... the camcorder may do, but be prepared to accept what it gives in the end.