1080 v. 720

ramkuma

ramkuma

Well-known member
Can someone explain to me in the simplest terms possible, i.e., non-technical language, what the difference is between PH 1080 and PH 720. I am looking to start filming in 24p rather than 30 and wondering if I should shoot in 1080 or 720. Thanks.
 
As far as I know, it's simply the amount of pixels. Look up hi definition on wikipedia, I believe there's a chart showing graphically the different frame sizes.

1080P has a lot more detail than 720 on a decent camera. It generally takes more processing power (I see a huge difference in after effects on a recent mac pro).

However, with 720 it's not unusual to be able to shoot at 60p; transcode that to a 24p timeline and you get really beautiful slow motion.

I tend to shoot everything 1080, and use 720 for slowmo. I also tend to convert most shots to 720 and edit in 720, but use the 1080 sized versions if I want to reframe, or for effects like greenscreen.

EDIT: you can see a chart at this link.
 
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SPrimeau said:
You should shot in 1080 unless you need 720 60P for smooth slow motions.

1080 24p will give you a better picture. http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?164832-HMC150-720p-vs.-1080-resized-to-720
Click to expand...

I did some tests and I can honestly say I prefer 30 fps. The clarity is better, and for the stuff I shoot--documentaries--this looks the best to me. I understand about the "film" look argument, but for this camera the difference to me is minimal, and the film look at 24 fps just simply looks like a poorer quality picture.
 
24fps is great if you know what you are doing, and I don't. There's the simple rules of avoiding fast panning and zooming, avoid horizontal movement of a person walking through the frame, using a very shallow depth of field so the background strobing is less obvious, and probably dozens of other things. I have never had good results with it, so like yourself, I go for 30p. I find it to be a nice compromise between 24 and 60i/p. You definitely do not get the 60i/p look with 30p, and it's not quite 24fps movement, but it's pretty close in my opinion. I leave 24fps to the full-length film makers, which I am not.
 
The other big issue might be file sizes. 1080 will be much larger sizes than he 720p. I pretty much do the same thing as stated above. I shoot 720 60p for slowmo and 1080 for everything else. I also shoot both 24 and 30 and each has strenghts and weeknesses. For broadcast I shoot everying in 30 and for narrative work I shoot 24p... It's really wonderful having this option with the camera. When I had the HVX200 I really couldn't ever shoot 1080 due to the data restrictions on the P2 cards. I just worked for some guys who are shooting with the HPX170 and they were still stuck having to shoot 720 due to the P2 limits... it's nice to not have that with the 150 and also the AF100 and Gh2.
 
Actually, AVCHD will leave you iwth the same filke size for 1080 as it does 720. If you transcode to another codec like prores or dnxhd etc, then yes, it will be larger.
 
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