Camera setting for picture size

[Mudcat]

What camera setting for still or movie would be best if I were going to have a 24x36 print made?

 

[Meta4]

What camera setting for still or movie would be best if I were going to have a 24x36 print made?

The highest resolution is always best.
There's no point trying to get good prints from small images.

 

[Wheatfield]

What camera setting for still or movie would be best if I were going to have a 24x36 print made?

The Phantom sensor is a 4:5 aspect ratio, so shoot in that format to maximize the real estate. Shoot RAW and the lowest ISO possible to minimize noise. These cameras are noise monsters off base ISO. You will be cropping the top and bottom of the image to get your 2:3 aspect ratio.
Be aware that the Phantom camera is pretty much a cheap tiny sensor point and shoot unit. You are asking a lot of it to make a print that size (I'm presuming inches)

 

[With The Birds]

The phantom sensor is actually 4:3 aspect (4000 by 3000 in round numbers), not 4:5 as @Wheatfield proposed. This is an important fact as it provides for the opportunity to appreciate what quality to expect in a print. That is we simply divide 4000 our longest proposed print dimension to arrive at dots per inch (DPI). It is commonly accepted that 300dpi is the point where the benefit of any higher resolutions become imperceptible in the resultant output. I actually prefer to resize source files to 288dpi as it evenly divides into 1440 which is the magic number most printers have as the native print head resolution and i have learnt that photoshop resizes more accurately and with less artificts than some printer drivers produce when rescaling input files.

So, at 300 dpi your maximum print file can be just over 13" wide with excellent (as good as your sensor can produce) quality.

180 DPI will give good quality when viewed from a reasonable distance (about 22" wide).

At a stretch to 24' your at 166DPI. You can get a reasonable result here however artifacts, particularity noise will be apparent when viewed closely. Your best results will be obtained by shooting in good light (low ISO and short exposure) and exposing towards the right of the histogram. You want the best signal to noise ratio you can squeeze out if the sensor and as much information as you can get in the darker areas. Resize to desired output resolution, in this case for 23' your output file should be 6624 pixels on the longest dimension. Apply sharpening last.

Two things I didn't mention. Consider flying in closer and shooting a Pano to give you a higher mp image to work with. You can also get cleaner image files by shooting several frames (5 or more for best results) and doing a stack align and median blend in photoshop. This will greatly reduce noise.

 

[Mudcat]

The phantom sensor is actually 4:3 aspect (4000 by 3000 in round numbers), not 4:5 as @Wheatfield proposed. This is an important fact as it provides for the opportunity to appreciate what quality to expect in a print. That is we simply divide 4000 our longest proposed print dimension to arrive at dots per inch (DPI). It is commonly accepted that 300dpi is the point where the benefit of any higher resolutions become imperceptible in the resultant output. I actually prefer to resize source files to 288dpi as it evenly divides into 1440 which is the magic number most printers have as the native print head resolution and i have learnt that photoshop resizes more accurately and with less artificts than some printer drivers produce when rescaling input files.

So, at 300 dpi your maximum print file can be just over 13" wide with excellent (as good as your sensor can produce) quality.

180 DPI will give good quality when viewed from a reasonable distance (about 22" wide).

At a stretch to 24' your at 166DPI. You can get a reasonable result here however artifacts, particularity noise will be apparent when viewed closely. Your best results will be obtained by shooting in good light (low ISO and short exposure) and exposing towards the right of the histogram. You want the best signal to noise ratio you can squeeze out if the sensor and as much information as you can get in the darker areas. Resize to desired output resolution, in this case for 23' your output file should be 6624 pixels on the longest dimension. Apply sharpening last.

Two things I didn't mention. Consider flying in closer and shooting a Pano to give you a higher mp image to work with. You can also get cleaner image files by shooting several frames (5 or more for best results) and doing a stack align and median blend in photoshop. This will greatly reduce noise.

Thank you so much for the information. I've had reasonable luck taking screen shots from a movie with an current imac.
some so good that I wasn't sure if taking snapshots would be any better? Will snapshots always out perform screenshots?

 

[RedHotPoker]

It's difficult to answer your last question, before knowing which version of Phantom you fly.
Is yours a Phantom 3 Advanced or Professional version?
Using stills from a Pro' with 4K video, will certainly outperform an Advanced camera at 2.7K.

RedHotPoker

 

[Meta4]

I've had reasonable luck taking screen shots from a movie with an current imac.
some so good that I wasn't sure if taking snapshots would be any better? Will snapshots always out perform screenshots?

Taking stills will always be better than taking screenshots from video.
Best Resolution
Still = 4000 x 3000 (Pro & Advanced)
Video = 4096 x 2160 (Pro) 2704 x 1520 (Adv)

And video shutter speed is likely to be much slower than would be used for stills so taking a screenshot you are likely to have a much less sharp image.

 

[Mudcat]

It's difficult to answer your last question, before knowing which version of Phantom you fly.
Is yours a Phantom 3 Advanced or Professional version?
Using stills from a Pro' with 4K video, will certainly outperform an Advanced camera at 2.7K.

RedHotPoker

I have a pro with 4k

 

[RedHotPoker]

With the Phantom 3 Pro', I think You made a wise choice. Haha
It's true that a still pic 'could' have sharper detail.
It's also presumed we're discussing photography during active flight?
But if the drone/camera is sitting motionless...
Trial and error, try various scenarios and well lit subjects.
Experiment and see what is pleasing to your eyes and better sense of judgement.
Photography is so personal, until you display your pics or post examples to forums and blogs, for others to scrutinize.
The ultimate choices will still always be yours.

RedHotPoker

 

[With The Birds]

Thank you so much for the information. I've had reasonable luck taking screen shots from a movie with an current imac.
some so good that I wasn't sure if taking snapshots would be any better? Will snapshots always out perform screenshots?

When you say the screenshots were good I'm guessing you were viewing on your iMac screen? Depending which iMac it is you may be veiwing close to or above native resolution of the screen so the screen grab so it should look. Printed at 24" by 36" however it will have significantly less resolution than a still image for the reasons Meta4 has outlined.

 

[Mudcat]

Taking stills will always be better than taking screenshots from video.
Best Resolution
Still = 4000 x 3000 (Pro & Advanced)
Video = 4096 x 2160 (Pro) 2704 x 1520 (Adv)

And video shutter speed is likely to be much slower than would be used for stills so taking a screenshot you are likely to have a much less sharp image.

Thank you! I'm using final cut pro x, but i'm not sure if this program is designed for editing still shots? What program should I use for this?

 

[Meta4]

Thank you! I'm using final cut pro x, but i'm not sure if this program is designed for editing still shots? What program should I use for this?

Photoshop ... or any other decent image editor. There are quite a few to choose from.