How long do you think it will be before we take our still images as frame extracts from video cameras? I shot this video of my kids opening their Christmas presents. However, I wanted some still images to upload as well. Therefore, I used the really cool feature on the newer Panasonic cameras that allows you to pause the video in playback mode and then use the left and right arrows to fast forward and rewind in super slow motion.

Then I can just hit the select button to save a particular frame. That is the easiest way to make sure that I don't miss a single reaction. Shooting images here is very difficult because of the low light and extremely close proximity to the subject which yields very shallow depth of the field sometimes.

I firmly believe that the cameras 5-8 years down the road will all be 2.7K-4K video cameras that simply record video and allow you to extract a single frame if you want a still image. The GoPro 3 Black already shoots 2.7K and 4K but the frame rates are not very high at 4K.

As we get bigger and faster SD cards shooting RAW 2.7K video might become feasible. You really don't need that high of a frame rate for this to work either. Anything in the 12 to 15 FPS range works for everything but fast movement.

To save space the camera could record a set amount of video(ie: 1 minute). Then overwrite that video if you didn't press record to save the video or press a button to capture an image from the video. It would constantly recycle the memory and the videos it stores unless you indicate to it that you want to save it.

Here are some saved images from the videos. These were all created in camera. I know the quality of these images is not anywhere near regular still quality. However, as we get better memory and faster processors saving good images from video will be more practical.

It is so hard to capture a child's reaction with stills when their expression changes so rapidly.