How to capture, acquire, take stills, images, photos during video recording

[DrCarl]

Greetings!

Like the title says...I am interested in at least knowing how to take a still while shooting video.

Note 4, Nova launcher...

Additionally, or for extra credit (lol) I'd like to know what search term I might have more effectively used online...here's the one I used and was returned way too many about how to extract a still from video already shot...

(take OR capture OR get) (stills OR "still picture" OR photo) +"during video recording" +"galaxy note 4"​

Thanks for being here,

Dr Carl

 

[nahoku]

While taking video, just press the camera icon in the lower left to capture stills.

The Note 4 is also capable of capturing frame by frame stills from video. Just play any video, then pause the video. Then press the three dots at the top right and go to Settings. Put a check mark in "Capture" and hit close. What you will then see are three new icons at the top of the video. Right and left arrows and a center camera icon. With the video paused, you can move through the video frame by frame using the right and left arrows, and then capture a still photo by hitting the center camera icon. Or, while the video is playing, you can just press on the center camera icon to take random stills. Note that the stills captured from video will be of lesser resolution than if you were to take a real photo, but they'll be very much good enough for sharing, or whatever.

 

[DrCarl]

Mahalo Nohoku.

Awe. Da camera icon. Hiding in plain view - lol.

Now I can experiment to see what the stills while capturing video look like. Generally, I am rather blown-away by the pictures that can be made with this phone (as long as I stay off of the zoom which is only digital, not optical)

I am playing with the native camera, the Google camera (a teeny bit), and now with [paid] CameraFV-5 <--for some manual controls like my DSLRs. I wish I already knew what is the preferred position to hold the phone in while taking videos and/or stills so that mass post-production rotating becomes unnecessary. I'd like to use the volume for zoom controls, yet not if that'll cause a lot of upside-down action.

Majalos again for the d'kine.

Aloha No,

Big Island Boy on da Mainlans
Seattle, WA

 

[nahoku]

So what... the eyeball pilau so no can see da camera icon?! LOL! You very welcome, brah!

I wish I already knew what is the preferred position to hold the phone in while taking videos and/or stills so that mass post-production rotating becomes unnecessary. I'd like to use the volume for zoom controls, yet not if that'll cause a lot of upside-down action.

It's a problem with the camera software. When I look at the EXIF data for both photos and videos, it indicates that anything shot in portrait mode is rotated 90 degrees. Selfies indicate 90CW. Stupid software, but it's not just the Note 4, it's all over Android. The phone wants you to shoot in landscape mode and unless you do, photos and video will be rotated. Unbelievable they can't fix this simple problem!

I don't know what you're using for video post-production, but VLC can do rotation of videos if you don't own stuff like Premiere. Actually works very well. Watch this tutorial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqJmWqnddeU



Anyways brah, Aloha to you too!

 

[DrCarl]

Holy Smokes! VLC can do a sure lot more than I imagined! Thanks!

My knowledge of Adobe After Effects is limited to what familiarity I have of Photoshop (<--where I sometimes live; self-taught) ... since some familiarity transfers, (in other words, I don't know After Effects very well yet), I was probing After Effects as I was interested in convering a WMV toa MOV. Next I moved over to explore my copy of VLC - software I prefer for most video playback. After poking around in VLC for the conversion possibility, I hit a roadblock. Now that I have the site you shared, and have watched the vid you shared, I can see that the roadblocks were simply my not knowing about, nor noticing a drop down menu in the convert button! Sheesh. Right there again! So much to learn.

So, I have a bunch of software and a new phone. I am blown away by the quality of images this phone is capable of. I want to form shooting habits that create the fewest number of post steps. I can rotate things, yet it'd be nice if I shot it "right" in the first place.

Personally, the only time I use portrait is when I am in bed. Otherwise, my phone is my little 16:9 screen for everything. As you probably know, the note 4 can do selfies in Landscape - wide ones, too... I don't take many selfies...I shoot more landscapes - lol.

So many variables...I suppose I'll just have to experiment to see how my setup/workflow displays my images (still and moving) in my software from my phone. I was kind of hoping for some "common wisdom" (which you actually did share some of) that'd say something like "all portrait stills and videos will display as rotated 90 degrees CCW"....and "on the Note 4 shoot with the power button on the top..." you know....something lidat.

Anyways, many mahalos.

Send me a wave, too, OK? The water in Seattle is really nice. to look at. not to get into. I'll go cry now (I miss the water)

Thanks!

Carl

 

[nahoku]

I personally don't care for VLC. I used to use it, but don't like it now. No real specific reason... well, actually, I guess it's cumbersome. I much prefer Media Player Classic. VLC does come in handy for rotating videos though. That's basically all I use it for.

I was probing After Effects as I was interested in convering a WMV toa MOV

One of the best free software is Handbrake. It'll convert WMV to MP4 with no problems. The quality out of Handbrake is very good, and it's adjustable. The default settings are decent enough, but you can always experiment. I know you stated MOV, but MP4 should work on any device that can play MOV... well, as far as I know, that is! Any reason you need MOV?

So many variables...I suppose I'll just have to experiment to see how my setup/workflow displays my images (still and moving) in my software from my phone. I was kind of hoping for some "common wisdom" (which you actually did share some of) that'd say something like "all portrait stills and videos will display as rotated 90 degrees CCW"....and "on the Note 4 shoot with the power button on the top..." you know....something lidat.

Funny! If you think about it, if you rotate the phone to where the power button is on top, then you'll be in landscape and the portrait problem goes away! Am I misunderstanding what you mean by "power button on the top"?

Here's what'll happen... If you shoot portraits, (with the power button to the right of you as you normally hold the phone), the photo when downloaded to the PC will be rotated 90 degrees CCW. If you shoot portrait selfies holding the phone the same way, the downloaded photos will be rotated 90 CW. However, if you go into selfies Settings and you change the option to "Save as flipped", then the photo will be rotated 90 CCW. No matter what you do, you're going to have to rotate the photos in post.

I don't understand why this problem even exists. It's simply software, so they should be able to implement it correctly. I've been through all the settings and I can't find anything to fix it.

Yup, California water was the same as Seattle! Us Hawaii guys are spoiled! A wave is on the way... along with some good ole Hawaiian sunshine!

 

[DrCarl]

Thanks for the good info!

I installed Handbrake and will turn to it to play with my next conversion. I'll play around with MPC-HC now, too.

What is your favorite Music player? I was addicted to WinAmp for a LONG time, yet they stay mah-kay already. Still works, but no more support I suppose. You have a fav for PC and Droid?

Any reason you need MOV?

I wanted to post a short movie to a forum that had MOV as the only allowable video format.

Funny! If you think about it, if you rotate the phone to where the power button is on top, then you'll be in landscape and the portrait problem goes away! Am I misunderstanding what you mean by "power button on the top"?

You had it right. I just get lysdexic with settings and defaults...rotate on, rotate off...portrait, landscape, automatic this, manual that...If I am using the native video recorder, I like using the volume buttons for a small amount of zoom. In FV5, I believe the zoom is just with pinching gestures...SO many variables...I stay getteen deezy, brah

And now comes "save as flipped"? LOL....at least I eliminated 50% of the troubles by not taking selfies....haha

Mahalo again,

Kouka Kala
(Dr Carl)

 

[nahoku]

I installed Handbrake and will turn to it to play with my next conversion. I'll play around with MPC-HC now, too.

If you set up MPC correctly, it's easy to double click the video to expand it to full screen, and back. Also, the scroll wheel can be used to control the volume. It's a better/easier interface than VLC. I use MPC almost exclusively for playing all my videos. I watch a lot of Japanese dramas, besides other stuff.

What is your favorite Music player? I was addicted to WinAmp for a LONG time, yet they stay mah-kay already. Still works, but no more support I suppose. You have a fav for PC and Droid?

I used to use WinAmp long ago too. Loooong ago! I actually still run Windows XP on my desktop (this is by choice!), so for music (mp3), I just use the old native mplayer2. Nothing fancy, and it plays my music just fine, without the cluttered interface WMP shows you. I don't use mplayer2 for videos unless I need to test some mpeg files, and I never use WMP. On the Note 4, I just use the native players too. I was thinking about installing some different ones, but I hate to clutter my phone, especially when the native apps work well enough for me.

I wanted to post a short movie to a forum that had MOV as the only allowable video format.

It's weird they only want MOV. Try to see if you can upload a MP4 file on the website... it's still apple. Worst that can happen is it doesn't let you. I rarely, if ever, convert anything to MOV, but if I have to, I use an old paid version of Aunsoft. I can't even remember the last time I used that format.

You had it right. I just get lysdexic with settings and defaults...rotate on, rotate off...portrait, landscape, automatic this, manual that...If I am using the native video recorder, I like using the volume buttons for a small amount of zoom. In FV5, I believe the zoom is just with pinching gestures...SO many variables...I stay getteen deezy, brah

And now comes "save as flipped"? LOL....at least I eliminated 50% of the troubles by not taking selfies....haha

Oh, ok! Yah, getting little deezy, brah! All's good though! LOL!