Saving Photos Lumix 4K & 6K Photo Modes
Saving 4k 6K Photos
A great tool we have in almost all of our current Lumix cameras is the ability to save 4K/ 6K photos from video footage the cameras are capable of producing. Chris Nichols from DPReview does a great job talking through the finer points of this special Lumix tool. Below is the video by Chris Nichols and Jordan Drake explaining why you might want to shoot 4k / 6K Photo Mode.
By the way, if you have taken great quality photos of your fondest memories it might be a good idea to have them physically printed in a photobook. Our friends over at Printed Memories can help you with the process of personalization. They also ship globally. Photobooks and albums are a great way to preserve your best photos.
Software for Extracting Stills
The one area that they neglected is software for pulling frames from the 4K or 6K footage. When I was using Lightroom and Aperture, they both had a great tool for extracting still frames from 4K Photo Mode video. Since the advent of the 6K Photo Mode, I’ve been struggling to find software for getting those still frames out.
The difference between 4k Photo Mode and 6K Photo Mode is the 6K is a new file format called HEVC also known as H.265. The older version 4K Photo Mode is known as H.264 and is widely supported where the new H.265 is not. That being the case, programs to work with HEVC are few and far between. Many people are using conversion software that will convert a H.265 (HEVC) into a H.264 files. I’m not sure if the conversion will reduce quality, but I’m guessing it will. The good news for Apple users is Apple’s new Photos App handles H.265 (HEVC) with no issues. It even has an option to save still images from the video file. This is the easiest option I’ve found. Unfortunately, I don’t have any suggestions for Windows users.
The video above is a short tutorial on how to use Apple’s Photos to extract the 18-megapixel stills from the H.265 video. If there are any Windows users out there that have suggestions for our MS readers I would be grateful for you to sound off in the comments below.
lawrence homewoodOn Jun. 10th, 2020
where can you download this software for a mac – apple photos
Daniel J. CoxOn Jun. 11th, 2020
Lawrence,
There’s no need to download any software if you have Apple’s photos. Apple’s photos has this capability built-in. The easiest way to do this is to make sure that your video clip is in your photos library. When it’s in the Photos library select the video and scroll across it with your cursor to get the play bar to appear in the lower center part of the frame. To the right of the play bar is a little gear that will give you options if you click on it. Click on that gear and select export frame to pictures. This will send the image that you’ve selected to your pictures folder. Go to that folder find your image and drag it into Apple’s photos or whatever other still photography program you use. Let me know if you have any further questions.
RuvyOn Jan. 7th, 2020
hank you for this good article. unfortunately am a windows 10 user. I installed Microsoft HEVC codec but it terns all my videos 90 degrees clockwise. Any suggestion or idea what can I do?
Daniel J. CoxOn Jan. 9th, 2020
Ruby, unfortunately I have no experience with Windows computers. I just don’t know what to tell you. Do you have any local repair or support people who work with Windows? That’s where I would start. Sorry I can’t be more help. Good luck.
DraganOn Dec. 4th, 2019
Hi Daniel, thanks for your helpful blog. What is the name of the Apple software – I tried to search for it in Apple store with no results. Thanks in advance, Dragan
Daniel J. CoxOn Dec. 4th, 2019
Apple’s Photos program which comes with all Apple devices. Lightroom also allows the extraction of 4 and 6K photos from video.
Ian DruryOn Oct. 8th, 2019
Hi,
Thanks so much for showing this as I’ve wanted to use 6K on my G9 but didn’t know how to select and save individual frame shots as Panasonic UK couldn’t suggest how to do this. However I’ve now been told that SilkyPix software might be the way.
I’ll give Potplayer a try.
Daniel J. CoxOn Oct. 8th, 2019
Ian, Lightroom also makes this very simple.
Mike TilkaOn Oct. 2nd, 2018
I have been using Cyberlink PhotoDirector 10 for some time now. It Captures 18.7mp frames from my Lumix G9 MP4 files perfectly. Very easy to use Windows program.
Daniel J. CoxOn Oct. 2nd, 2018
Thanks for this Mike. Appreciate your input.
Ian JonesOn Aug. 18th, 2018
PotPlayer is Windows Only. I’m running it on a couple of Core i7 machines running Windows 10 with no problems at all.
Ian JonesOn Aug. 17th, 2018
Hi Dan always enjoy reading your blog.
In the past I’ve used PotPlayer with very good results. It’s an easy to use video player that handles HEVC and allows frame grabs. It’s fairly straightforward to learn and is free to download.
Web site is at http://potplayer.daum.net/
And there’s a reasonable tutorial from a 3rd party on YouTube
Daniel J. CoxOn Aug. 17th, 2018
Nice Ian. That’s very helpful. Rerally appreciate your input. Is this a Windows program, Mac or both?
Peter BattyOn Aug. 15th, 2018
Thanks for sharing this Dan! I love 6K mode and have got some great shots with it that I don’t think I could have got any other way. I shared some of the shots I got and several techniques for extracting images from the 6K video (which is not quite as simple as you would hope yet) on my blog at https://smallworldlivelarge.com/2018/05/07/super-fast-photography-with-the-lumix-g9/
Daniel J. CoxOn Aug. 15th, 2018
Thanks for the input Peter. Great to have others offering suggestions on how we can all better sue 6K Photo Mode.