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I need a camera that takes video and allows capture of stills from that video that are high quality or at least not fuzzy.
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It's called Red Digital. Pretty pricey and I think you can only rent it.
See http://www.red.com/
Since to do what you want has to go beyond 1080p, you have stepped outside of the consumer and prosumer models.
Bob
Someone who has beautiful pictures of puppies on her website, told me she got the pictures by videoing the puppies, reviewing the video and taking stills from it. That's what I want to do.
Today's prosumer/consumer video cameras are 1080p. This is all of 1920 by 1080 pixels or 2,073,600 pixels (2 megapixels.)
And because it's video there is little chance there is a high speed still without some blur or other issue. To get around all that you step up to far beyond your normal cameras.
What you want is now available but at the price of a fast new car.
I wonder if some camera with burst mode will do the job?
Bob
Panasonic HMC40 does 10 MP stills and should be significantly cheaper than a RED.
Mark
This is really not the correct way to get high quality still shots. To get high quality still shots, you need good photographic techniques. Lighting is very important, so is composition.
For people who cannot afford the expensive lenses for low light action shots, they can consider using a camcorder to get the best clips they can. Try to get a camcorder that can shoot up to 60 fps to capture the peak action. Then use a video software that can do frame-by-frame editing (to remove artifacts and optimize image quality of the best frame), and convert that frame to a still photo. If you are tight on budget, Cyberlink is a pretty good and inexpensive video software.
Now for people who can afford Red, then they can explore the option of other high end ultra fast frame rate cameras that have 1000 to 2000 frames per second (even exceeding 100,000 fps), you can capture images that your naked eye cannot see.
Here is one of these high speed camera:
http://www.photron.com/datasheet/ultima_APX-i2.pdf
This is a shot from one of the Photron camera:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Great_white_shark#p0036vd6
This is another footage of high frame rate camera:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p00bf3g7
I agree with you and am impressed with the stills in the links you provided. I am not even an amateur photographer and cannot afford the kind of camera you are suggesting. I have to photograph active, wiggling puppies for my website. Right now I am taking a dozen or two shots to get 2 good ones. I thought the video function in my point and shoot would take several dozen frames for me and I could pick out the best. When I captured stills from the video I shot the pictures were fuzzy. I hoped a new camera with higher quality video production would give me clearer stills. I guess I was wrong. I will look into the panasonic. Thanks for your input. It's greatly appreciated.
Eleanor
If you shoot indoor photos, then you need a tripod and some external flashes/strobes. Strobes will cycle much faster and has more consistent exposure than the hot-shoe flashes. Add a softbox to your strobes and a backdrop will make your puppy photos look professional. This can easily be done without much expertise.
I don't take dog photos. But here is a photo of my 1 year old who moves just as much as any puppies and dogs. The minute you put him down, he will start getting up and walking away.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u45/hjfok/Kids%202010/IMG_7827.jpg
I set up 2 strobes (one with softbox and one with an umbrella), a camera on a tripod and a simple paper backdrop. I have a light meter that comes with the remote trigger of the strobes, just press the button for the test flash, the meter will give you the optimal settings for the camera. Then you do a test shot with the settings to see whether you like the exposure, adjust if you don't. Then put your subject in front of the camera and snap the shot. It is quite simple and has consistent results shot after shot, don't have to deal with the TTL variations of the hot-shoe mount flashes.
I have a few Alien Bees strobes, they have reasonable price and good quality. The Cyber Commander and remote triggers will save you a lot of headaches and make flash photography simple and enjoyable. You just have to think about where to place the lights and compose your shot. A D-SLR will be best but any camera that can use a hot shoe flash should work okay. This is a much better way to get your puppy portraits than a camcorder or camera video.
If you still like to use video, then you can try the Panasonic GH2. You can adjust AF on your subject by just touching the LCD screen, to keep your subject in focus during video. It photo quality is also very good, and is quite fast (5fps at full resolution and even faster with reduced resolution). The main downside is that there is not as many lens choice for the Panasonic GH2 as the traditional D-SLRs.
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