What is Progressive Scan, & should I use it?

What is Progressive scan, is it any advantage when grabbing still images, and if so should I have my camera set to progressive scan all the time?

First: Progressive Scan means your cam records all pixels of a single frame at once instead of parting it into two seperate fields. This yields in a sharper image, although it doesn't change the resolution (680x510 with PAL). But in my experience it doesn't matter a lot if you know how to handle the image in photoshop (Sharpen::Unsharp Mask, etc.) What really matters is:

1.) A cam with 3 CCD always yields better results.

2.) A manually adjustable shutter speed. If you can set the shutter manually you can make sure the speed matches the action. In case you photograph a moving object you might use 1/1000 sec. to provide sharp images. Remember: All the photo cams which take pictures on film use shutter speeds from 1/125 up to 1/2000 while video cams tend to use 1/50 as it doesn't matter in moving images but helps a lot to camouflage bad glass...

3.) The so called photo-mode on most video cams is - simply said - of no use if you got PhotoDV. In photo mode the cam records the same still for about 5 seconds, but in the same way it would record normal motion pictures.

So technically there is no difference as with PhotoDV you can capture any frame you need. The only exception I know about is the above mentioned SONY which records more pixels in photo mode than in video mode... There is a lot you can do to get great results from PhotoDV and with a good skill on photoshop you can easily get those pictures into print for magazines and books. But be aware that nothing is as good as a great source - in case I shoot for large pictures in high quality printing I still use my Nikon F4 and slow transparency film. While a 35 mm transperancy could be scanned to yield about 40 MB of file size (which is about a letter sized page in CMYK colors with great detail) while video is limited to about 1.5 MB of RGB colors which is more than enough for use in electronic media but simply about 1/40th of the resolution you can get from a slide.

Ordinary video looks better in interlace mode, in particular quick motion, like fast pans. Have you ever looked at old sports events, transferred from film to video? They look kind of stuttering. Video has higher temporal resolution, film has higher spatial resolution. Every film cameraman knows to avoid panning too fast.

Most people prefer to have Progressive scan off in ordinary use, but having said that some users like working in Progressive scan because it gives more of a "film feel" to the footage with the use of frames instead of fields and (on some cameras, like Sony and Panasonic) the higher recorded resolution (again you will have to remember not to pan or move the camera too quick or it will look stuttery). So the best thing is to do a test, as its all down to personal preference really.