Hi all,

I am new to video editing and I would like to ask for some help.

My research lab has a canon xm2 and I was wondering if I could use this for an imaging technique that I am working on. I would like to have as high a resolution as possible and approx 10 frames per sec.

1. I have found that the highest resolution for recordings on tape is 640x480 pixels. Is this right or have I missed something?

2. If (1) is right, then I am limited to capturing still images. Is there any way I can get 10fps at 1488x1128 pixels?

Thanks for your help!

Sean

[redsox_mark]

The XM2 is a standard def camcorder; assuming it is a PAL model it will shoot 720x576 video.

[MarkE19]

as you state the resolution on tape as being 640x480 I assume it is an NTSC cam. Therefore any recording will be 30 full (60 interlaced) frames per second (PAL is 25/50fps). You can reduce this to 10 frames per second in an editing program on a PC or Mac but this would make any movement very jerky.
No camcorder will give you a resolution of 1488x1128 as the best HD cams are only 1920x1080 which is the standard for Full HD video. You will only get the resolution you are after with a stills camera.

Mark.

[redsox_mark]

Even for NTSC 640x480 is odd; NTSC DV is 720x480.

[senu]

All the above info is accurate. I wonder if as you suggest you can import stills into a video editor at the resolution you want and specify frame rate.. and still get your animation to display as you wish.
It is worth trying by using custom setting for both the input template and output otherwise the video editors would simply convert it to a standard template .
but
It is worth remembering: how would you output it?

I imagine If you used any of the conventional display methods they would rescale the video to their native resolutions

What is less likely to work is the use of a camcorder ( which for PAL and NTSC ) would be the pixel dimensions mentioned above , and frame rates of 25 and 30fps respectively

[MarkE19]

Isn't 640x480 the resolution of a 4:3 picture and 720x480 a 16:9?

The current NTSC TV standards as listed by Wikipedia are:

SDTV: 480i (640 x 480), EDTV: 480p (720 x 480), HDTV: 720p (1280 x 720), HDTV: 1080i (1920 x 1080).

Mark.

[redsox_mark]

NTSC DV is 720x480 regardless of widescreen or not (different Pixel Aspect Ratio for each). It's a DV camcorder so that's what it shoots and would be the resolution on the tape. The television resolution is a different matter (based on the PAR the video is displayed as 640x480).