How to:

Make a Movie with Digital Stills

Words: Jason Wishnow

The drawback is that extremely high-resolution images require a tremendous amount of hard disk space. A single uncompressed, 16-bit, 2k photo consumes a hefty 17MB, meaning hundreds of gigabytes are required for only a few minutes of footage.

The primary benefit in animating with a digital still camera is instant feedback. Most cameras will simultaneously output the pictures from your storage media as opposed to a live feed so I recommend the poor man's video tap of placing a camcorder beside the still camera. It is possible to build a more accurate video tap by attaching a spy cam or Web cam to the viewfinder. Once you have your tap, you can monitor the timing with expensive hardware like a Lunchbox (animationtoolworks.com) or a less expensive software alternative such as Frame Thief (framethief.com).

I am controlling my Canon D30 through its USB port with a shareware image capture program (breezesys.com). In late summer, Sigma will release a new camera using the new image-processing chip developed by Foveon. Nobody has really seen this chip in action but it offers the potential for superior color handling.

One dramatic setback to working with digital stills is maintaining consistency between frames. These cameras were designed for optimum quality from picture to picture, but when played back in sequence a noticeable light/dark fluctuation occurs. It's known as The Mysterious Flicker Problem. Animators bang their heads against the wall trying to solve it, and camera manufacturers deny its existence. It might be caused by the opening and closing of the camera's shutter which is not as refined for capturing in sequence as a motion picture camera. The flicker can be solved with post color correction, but it requires time and patience. Of course, time and patience come hand in hand with making movies from still images.