30 or 60P?

W

Walt Mitchell

New member
Another newb question.

I've been told 60P is better to use than 30p, especially if you want to use slo-motion. Is there any other advantage to using 60P other than that? I know 30P is supposed to be better for low light, but how much of an actual advantage will I get in darker venues?

Thanks!
 
60p is great for slow motion. However it's only available in 720.

30p is available in both 1080 and 720.

If you're considering 60p then you need to ask your self if you want to shoot in 720.

As you mentioned you do gain some light by shooting 30p instead of 60p. The difference isn't huge though. I would suggest shooting both under the same conditions and then establishing if the difference + the 720 is worth going 60p.
 
Jordan Berry said:
60p is great for slow motion. However it's only available in 720.

30p is available in both 1080 and 720.

If you're considering 60p then you need to ask your self if you want to shoot in 720.

As you mentioned you do gain some light by shooting 30p instead of 60p. The difference isn't huge though. I would suggest shooting both under the same conditions and then establishing if the difference + the 720 is worth going 60p.
Click to expand...

But 1080 30p is "over 60i".
 
Walt Mitchell said:
I know 30P is supposed to be better for low light, but how much of an actual advantage will I get in darker venues?
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30P isn't any better for low light, in and of itself.

What 30P gives you the option of, is using a slower shutter speed. The slowest shutter speed in 60P is, by definition, 1/60th. In 30P you can go to 1/30th. So that means you'd get blurrier motion, but twice as much exposure (i.e., you'd need half as much light, or in the same amount of light you'd have an image that's twice as bright). It's 1 stop more sensitive when using 1/30 instead of 1/60. However, that comes at a price, which is motion blur, your motion will be smearier at 1/30.
 
30P gives you the option to shot also at 1/48, etc. The syncro scan of 30P can start at 1/30 and up while 60P starts at 1/60.

A correction, you can use 1/15 and 1/30 with both 30P and 60P.
 
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Barry_Green said:
The slowest shutter speed in 60P is, by definition, 1/60th.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify, the camera will let you knock down your shutter all the way down to 1/15, even in 720/60p mode. It's just that your frame rate obviously drops.

When in 720/60p:
- 1/60: each frame unique
- 1/30: every other frame is a duplicate
- 1/15: 4 frames in a row are duplicated
 
Well, yeah -- if you want to shoot 720/15p, then you shoot at 1/15. But if you want 720/60p, you can't get 60fps and also get slower than 1/60th, so yes it'll let you choose it, but the net result is to drop to 15p or 30p.
 
Effectively, why someone would like to shoot at 1/30 when shooting 60P! Then, just use 30P!

You loose the benefit of 60P!
 
They would do so in a situation where they need that extra stop of light for a short amount of time. Run and Gun situation. Hitting the shutter button is much easier than going thru the menu.

I would rather not lower my shutter and push it in post. I can pull out an extra stop but I can't put in more frames ;).
 
Okay well can someone just give a quick confirmation of a fact related to this?

I don't want to get back off into the whole "p" versus "i" thing again (I have so little understanding of it already) but...

Is it correct that if you shoot 1080 30p versus 720 30p, you would have to de-interlace it since 1080 30p is "over 60i"? True? Or do I have even less understanding than I thought.

Regards,

G.
 
No, you must never de-interlace progressive footage. The 1080/30p is flagged appropriately as progressive footage; if you bring it into a 30p timeline you should never have any manner of interlacing issues.
 
Barry_Green said:
No, you must never de-interlace progressive footage. The 1080/30p is flagged appropriately as progressive footage; if you bring it into a 30p timeline you should never have any manner of interlacing issues.
Click to expand...

Okay thanks Barry. I mean I knew you would never de-interlace progressive footage, I just was thinking that since it was "over 60i" it would need to be de-interlaced. See, I told yall I had so little understanding.

Some day I am going to find some "simple" document or explanation of this whole "over 60i" thing.

Regards,

G.
 
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