someone tell me about shutter speeds

S

sk8orinda

Active member
i want to be in 60i and shoot suuuuper slow motion thats really smooth, so, i fugured 60i with a shutter of like 1/20- 1/30, but it wont let me go below 60.3 in the syncro scan or the shutter button on the side of the camera

(im using a DVX100b... if that effects your thoughts...)


help please
 
I think the higher shutter speed gets you better slow motion. Low shutter speed gets you real strobey motion. You can make one of your user buttons give you the real low shutter speed.
 
Yeh, the traditional wisdom is to go to a higher shutter speed if you plan to do slow motion. If you want to do a 50% slow motion, then double the shutter speed to 1/120. A slower shutter speed is only going to make everything blurry.
 
Correct, higher shutter speed will reduce intraframe motion blurring, which usually makes images more filmlike. Motion blurs are counter productive for slowing down video though, so higher ss is recommended. Also, see if you can borrow a friend's HVX for the occasion, if it's a really critical shot, and shoot at 48 frames per second which will play back at 50% at 24fps. You can slow that down in the timeline another bump and still look good. :)
 
Last edited:
Rush said:
Correct, higher shutter speed will reduce intraframe motion blurring, which usually makes images more filmlike.
Click to expand...

I'd have to disagree with that last point. The default shutter angle for motion picture film cameras is 180 degrees, which equates to 1/48 shutter for 24fps films. 1/48 dominates probably 90% or more of commerical and indie films. Anything beyond that is used for effect in certain circumstances, but it's not common and not "filmlike" in and of itself.

Every once in a while, I'll see an indie film that uses a faster shutter (1/100, 1/250) throughout, and it does grab your eye because it's unusual. It expresses more of a heightened reality or heightened sense to me, because it is very direct and intense, like the focus you might have in a dangerous situations, and every is very crisp.

Anyway, that is a diversion, but for slow-mo, a higher shutter speed is appropriate and will look "normal" once you slow the footage down in post.
 
That's what I said, intraframe motion blurring makes images more filmlike, and higher shutter speed reduces that... I dunno what you're disagreeing with. :huh:
 
I'm glad someone brought up shutter speeds as I have having a bit of difficulty understanding the concept as well. Am i to assume, that if I want to speed up the action , opposite of doing slow mo, that i would require a lower shutter speed?

does that make sense?:huh:
 
I wouldn't necessarily say that. Speeding up action is generally used in comedic or technical scenes, like Keystone Kops chasing crooks through a maze of doors, or a building going up in 30 seconds, computer assembled in 5 seconds, etc. What is your purpose?
 
Rush said:
I wouldn't necessarily say that. Speeding up action is generally used in comedic or technical scenes, like Keystone Kops chasing crooks through a maze of doors, or a building going up in 30 seconds, computer assembled in 5 seconds, etc. What is your purpose?
Click to expand...


well, remember in madonna's video ray of light, everything looks fast forwarded? going for the same effect.
 
Shutter speed and frame rate are different. For something to look "... fast forwarded..." it would be undercranked (shot at a lower frame rate) and then played back at a normal (faster) frame rate. In order to maintain the same motion characteristics, the shutter angle (think of it as the percentage of time the shutter is open) needs to be maintained at the different frame rates. If you want a 180 degree look, then the shutter speed needs to be set to 1/2 of the frame rate.
 
bididdy, i vaguely remember. Was it faster motion but with streaking highlights? Undercranking is the correct method to speed up footage, as Khmuse suggested, but you can't undercrank the DVX like the HVX, so you would have to shoot normal frame rate and accelerate in post.

If you are looking for streaking highlights and motion, using a slower shutter speed would do that for you. Think of it this way: When you allow more light to enter each frame, movement has more opportunity to streak and blur inside the frame. An arm waving across would blur rather than stutter (as with higher s.s.) So if that's the look you are after, slow down the shutter speed. Experiment until you find the right shutter speed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top