1080/60p and 720/120p from the 7D; I have an idea!

S

seven.b

Well-known member
Hey guys,

I'm basically writing this so that you can either tell me this is a ridiculous and stupid idea or can help me out if you think it could work. My idea consists of using two cameras to obtain double the frames per second hence the 1080/60p or 720/120p.


  • What I'm thinking is to set up two 7Ds with the lenses as close as possible to each other (side by side, on top of each other, etc) in order to have essentially the same framing/composition on each camera. A simple bracket on a tripod could achieve this. Get the same two lenses, same settings and same resolution/frame rate going on each camera.
  • Now that you have that, you should obtain two almost identical clips if you were to have the cameras start recording at the exact same time. Now here's the part that needs just a bit of simple math.
  • In 1080/30p each frame occupies .0333 seconds. If we were able to start the second 7D .0166 (.0333/2) seconds after the first 7D started recording, we would achieve 60 distinct frames per second which could lead the way for 1080/60p and 720/120p.


Now I know this is a lot of work, but as someone that has access to two 7D's, not enough money for a RED ONE, and because I shoot mainly mountain biking, this could be way worth my time for a few shots. A few 120p shots in a mountain biking film can really make all the difference.



My question to you is HOW I would be able to trigger the cameras at such precise times in order to stagger the frames evenly. Any ideas? I'll be able to deal with the actual workflow of reordering the frames after I figure this out.


Thanks so much for taking time to read this!

-Steve
 
If it were me, I would invest my resources in something like Twixtor for Adobe AE or some equivalent plugin for the software.
 
kyle.presley said:
If it were me, I would invest my resources in something like Twixtor for Adobe AE or some equivalent plugin for the software.
Click to expand...

I've tried that. The look I get from that just doesn't compare to actually having 60 or 120p. This may work for cheesy skateboarding and rollerblading films, but all of the detail in the forest with mountain biking/skiing looks awful with twixtor. There's a reason 120p is implemented on expensive cameras. Thanks for the input though!
 
Seeing as the cameras don't even have timecode, nor genlock, you are now asking to sequentially synchronize the shutters to have one opening while the other is closing... that's a lot to ask for. Perhaps the Canon 8D or a firmware update that allows two cameras to communicate as such - if it did, I could see some interesting uses for stereo 3D filmmaking...

Michael
 
Thanks Michael,

It is asking a lot, but there is that software that came with the camera that allows you to control the camera from a computer. I'm wondering if some sort of script could be written through that program.
 
seven.b said:
I've tried that. The look I get from that just doesn't compare to actually having 60 or 120p. This may work for cheesy skateboarding and rollerblading films, but all of the detail in the forest with mountain biking/skiing looks awful with twixtor. There's a reason 120p is implemented on expensive cameras. Thanks for the input though!
Click to expand...

Cheesy i think not! please watch this clip and you will change your mind

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I AGREE
 
I've seen that intro. It really is amazing! I see very little twixtor artifacts (blur around edges of head/hands/skateboard). Are you sure this wasn't filmed on some crazy over-cranking film camera?
 
Even if you could somehow sync the cameras, there's no way that flipping between two perspectives 24 times a second will look like smooth slow-motion. No matter how close the lenses are they will still be slightly apart and thus get slightly different perspectives. You'd be better off using software to invent in-between frames.
 
vx1kOrnot said:
Cheesy i think not! please watch this clip and you will change your mind

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I AGREE
Click to expand...

Exploding walls and skating surfaces aren't you typical skateboarding video though. Slow mo works great here.
 
Even if it could be synced, the lenses can't possibly get close enough to get the effect you're going for. You're better off finding actually shoots 120p, or using your time and energy into turning your 7Ds into a 3D rig. That would really bring something interesting to the table for your mountain biking videos.
 
vx1kOrnot said:
Cheesy i think not! please watch this clip and you will change your mind

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I AGREE
Click to expand...


Nope. No twixtor use here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxHxAwSuQT8
 
Yeah I had the same idea a few years ago using two DVXs. But I wanted to rig the recording mechanism of one camera to the other so both cameras record from the same lens and chip, just with the slightly offset recording start time. The nature of the way the chips in the DVX work make this impossible. However this might be feasible with the HVX since the chips natively scan at 60p and then downconvert.
 
Why stop at two? Setup three cameras recording off a spinning pellicle mirror shooting 8fps sraw stills with staggered timing and get a new pseudo raw 24fps cinema
cam!

In all seriousness though, maybe experiment with different shutter speeds
for the footage you are taking in to twixtor.

Test 1/125, 1/250 and 1/500 with your different twixtor settings and you may get a result you like
 
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