Some basis A1 shooting questions

Jokerswild

Well-known member
I was told that I should shoot 30P when shooting with the A1 instead of 60i. Is there an explanation someone could give this newbie for this? I am also a little confused as to where I should be setting my shutter speed in outdoor shooting v/s indoor shooting. I did some footage outdoors at 1/60th and noticed some blur in the pans.

Also against my better judgement, a client asked me to shoot in SD so he could review the tape in HIS SD camera..What a mistake that was. The footage looked very bad and when brought into FCP, I actually noticed visible jaggies which are I guess are interlace lines? or am I doing something very wrong in bringing in the footage? Some of the people in the shots looked like they were horizontally sliced with a razor. Never SD again from this camera. I wlll shoot HD and downconvert.

Any suggestions and help will be greatly apreciated. Thanks much.
 
same issues here

same issues here

i just got my A1 not that long ago and attempted to run it thru some tests today. I noticed it looked like crap in SD mode when imported into FCP. it looked like i had shot it on my little wimpy sony handicam then reexported with 70% of the quality. i hooked it up to my tv and it didnt look AS bad.
I am curious on the shutter myself. when shooting different frame rates.
Also in 24f mode ive read is pretty much the same as 24p but just a different way of producing the image, what ive noticed is there is a lot more motion blur from the canon. Does it have to do with interlacing? Also heard that shooting in 24f is pointless and you should shoot in 60i and export it at 24fps cause u loose resolution in 24f.
Any advice on a solution to motion blur or shutter or anythingg let me knoOoww
 
The different shooting modes will give different looks to your video. 60i is what we associate with normal video, it's closest to what our eyes see. 30p is 30 individual frames per second, it gives the video a filmish look. It's in the middle between normal video and 24p. 24p mimics the cadence of film, it's very popular when shooting narrative and documentary work, or any work for that matter. The typical shutter speeds are 1/60 for 60i and 30p, and 1/48 for 24p. If you lower the shutter speed, you will allow more light, but increase motion blur. Faster shutter speeds do the opposite.

When shooting in the progressive modes it's important to slow down your pans and tilts to eliminate any choppiness. This is true with an A1, an HVX, and all the way up to a Panavision 35mm film camera.

The A1 shoots very sharp SD video. In SD mode it shoots 24p withing a 60i stream, so there will be some interlacing until the pulldown is removed by your editor. This interlacing will not be present when the video is displayed on a television. If your final output will be internet then you should probably shoot 30p or 24p. If your SD video looks like monkey poop you need to check your settings, because it's not the A1 causing the problem.

Shooting 60i and exporting 24p is ridiculous. The A1 is so sharp to begin with that any minor loss of resolution when shooting 24p is undetectable, unless you're making a video of resolution charts. In 24p the Canon is still as sharp, if not sharper than the other 24p cameras.
Hope this helps.
-Kevin
 
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Also heard that shooting in 24f is pointless and you should shoot in 60i and export it at 24fps cause u loose resolution in 24f.

The first statement there is probably one of (remember I said one of) the most rediculous remarks I have ever encountered. THat person clearly has no understanding of the A1 or much in general.

As for the motion blur, you seriously need to read up some more on how shuttter speed/angle operates (relating to any camera) and then go shoot to test the results.
 
sorry that im not sooo informed as you. give me a break you idiot, you know how much there is to learn about this stuff. dont even start talking crap cause your ignorant ass obviously didnt wake up one day knowing everything. this stuff takes time to learn and its simple to read 20 different interpretations of the same thing. why do you think they have these forums? tootles.

Certainly not so that you can make uninformed guesses and then blow up at the people who chimed in to correct you. If you don't know something, then take the time to read and educate yourself. Then make a contribution. And don't be mad when people correct you when you're wrong. Although I supposed you'll call me an "ignorant ass" too for saying that.
 
this stuff takes time to learn

True, but NJCE is saving you the trouble of doing the research. And believe me, I've been on DVXuser long enough, I can tell you he knows what he's talking about.

Jumping into a forum calling people idiots and a-holes....Do you talk to your clients that way?

Wow. Just wow.
 
If you read the statement NJCE made, he doesn't seem to be calling you ridiculous, but rather saying whoever informed you that 24f is pointless is ridiculous and has not done their homework. He never said YOU had no understanding. Even if you feel someone has insulted you, take the high road and just chill. Too many threads on this place turn into pissing contests. Probably why I lurk more than post. People take everything way too personally.
 
Joe, sorry you were offended by my comment. In actual fact I wasnt trying to disrespect you. I tried to make it clear by saying THAT person.

And in the next part of my post there was confusion of motion blur and how it works. I thought I did the right thing pointing out that its effected by shutter speed and thats what you need to read up on. Im quite passionate about what I do for a living and am happy to help just about anyone. Maybe that came across as forceful? One of the problems with the interwebthingy.

But anyway dont sweat it. Once youve read up a bit and done some tests youll see exactly what I mean about shutter speed.
 
Joe, sorry you were offended by my comment. In actual fact I wasnt trying to disrespect you. I tried to make it clear by saying THAT person.

And in the next part of my post there was confusion of motion blur and how it works. I thought I did the right thing pointing out that its effected by shutter speed and thats what you need to read up on. Im quite passionate about what I do for a living and am happy to help just about anyone. Maybe that came across as forceful? One of the problems with the interwebthingy.

But anyway dont sweat it. Once youve read up a bit and done some tests youll see exactly what I mean about shutter speed.

hah no prob man, ur def right about the interwebthingy, i got defensive cause i felt i was being judged on what i know from just one statement -- its my own personal issue and i felt like releasing some anger, my bad on that. DAMN i didnt know DVXuser could be used as therapy as well! anyhow all good thanks for ur advice. like i said before ill keep my loud mouth shut until i do the research but sometimes making a wrong comment could help steer me in the right direction, in this case it has and also got a couple people to think im crazy, which i may be.. giddy up! Happy shooting.
 
True, but NJCE is saving you the trouble of doing the research. And believe me, I've been on DVXuser long enough, I can tell you he knows what he's talking about.

Jumping into a forum calling people idiots and a-holes....Do you talk to your clients that way?

Wow. Just wow.



yeah i got to read up some more, just so many different resources.
and no i dont talk to my clients like that... but when working with a client, isnt it in the back of our minds half the time ???? ;)
 
If you read the statement NJCE made, he doesn't seem to be calling you ridiculous, but rather saying whoever informed you that 24f is pointless is ridiculous and has not done their homework. He never said YOU had no understanding. Even if you feel someone has insulted you, take the high road and just chill. Too many threads on this place turn into pissing contests. Probably why I lurk more than post. People take everything way too personally.


agreed. thanks for the comment.
 
Hi, orignal poster here....Hey no problem with some of your posts..I respect that we all have our opinions on certain subjects and sometime thru (email or forum type posts) our words can be taken wrong because we don't have the benefit of the spoken word. Believe me when I say I truly appreciate all the answers to my questions. I actually feel a little silly asking some of this stuff because I am quite experienced as a still photog and this is very much like learning a new career. So to summarize..I say thank you to all of you for enduring my comments and questions and be it known that I do appreciate all the replies... :)
 
fixing the pull down

fixing the pull down

I had something similar happen when I first tried reading SD using FCP 5. It interlaced but got the odd frames out of sequence. There were jagged lines on everything. The option is frame order and matters if you shot 30 and are using the footage as "normal " NTSC. (I sometimes forget to switch between projects from 60i to 30f).
 
Hi Noel..Using the A-1 and the latest version of FCP. Shot in SD and get many jaggies with capturing the footage.
 
I was wondering about the auto focus on the A-1. I realize that most of us probably use manual focus a good deal of the time but the A-1 has a normal setting and another setting that is said to pull the focus in quicker. Do you have any preferences or pros or cons to using either one? Thanks.
 
It's not a "quicker" focus pull, it's referring to the focus transition speed. A abrupt transition might be extremely jarring so normal mode tries to smooth it out over a longer range so it's not as noticeable.
 
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