iPhone 7/Plus 4K 60FPS is Equivalent to How Many MegaPixels on iPhone?

[HappyDude20]

Hello,

I hired a photographer for a photo shoot but they cancelled on me last minute and now I have some lighting equipment and my iPhone 7+ instead of their pro camera gear.

Nevertheless I need to take a couple of portrait type photos of myself and figured my iPhone 7+ is more than capable of taking some good shots, however considering I'm shooting this alone I was thinking about setting up a tripod and instead of setting the photo timer and then posing for the shot, I was thinking instead of to just film at 4K 60 FPS and then take screenshots of that video and use the screenshot as the photo and edit from there.

I mention this approach because I would hate having to set the timer and quickly run in front of the camera in hopes the shot comes out good and hate the idea of having to this repeatedly 50 times in the course of an hour. With the filming of 4K and 60FPS at the phone's highest quality Id rather just film myself in front of the camera and screenshot the good poses.

Any ideas or tips on this is truly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[JPack]

Screenshots from video will be relatively blurry because of the shutter speed and compression.

The best way is to buy a Bluetooth shutter remote control. You can buy these for $1 on AliExpress, or if you need it sooner, you can buy the same thing locally for $5 to $10.

 

[dangerfish]

4K video will be much lower resolution than taking a photo.

 

[chabig]

The best way is to buy a Bluetooth shutter remote control. You can buy these for $1 on AliExpress, or if you need it sooner, you can buy the same thing locally for $5 to $10.

Or you can use an Apple Watch.

 

[now i see it]

If the photo is only going to be viewed on a iPhone or computer, the slight fuzziness from a video frame grab is actually beneficial. Last thing you want is a giant razor sharp image of your face.

Another technique that works pretty well for lower resolution headshots is to video yourself at 60 FPS while looking into a large mirror. Hold the camera in one hand and shoot it towards the mirror at your face and look at the camera while you try your best to look presentable.

Then scrub through the video afterwards to find the best shot.

 

[dwig]

4k video is not a exact resolution spec. There is a range of pixel resolutions that are all called "4k". That said, all are in the neighborhood of 8-8.8mp, which in theory is good enough for a decent 8x10 print.

There are issues with frame grabs though:

• the "shutter" speed is slow which leads to many frames showing motion blur.
• all common save formats involve substantial compression which leads to resolution issues.

The first issue could be compensated for in the OP's situation by posing carefully and holding very still for each pose. The second is harder to deal with unless you have a high end pro camera that can save in an uncompressed or minimally compressed "RAW" format. Lacking that, if you have a choice, use the save option that has the highest bit rate spec to minimize the compression artifacts as much as practical.