50i vs 25P for concert footage - web output

M

MrLewis

Member
Hi Everyone,

Shooting a series of live music gigs on stage with usual type of stage lighting.

My usual preference (for everything where possible) is to shoot progressive - 25P (I'm in PAL-land).

However, I'm really having low-light issues - -those stage lights ain't as bright as they look! As such, some moments of my footage are suffering from low-light noise. I am playing with settings eg detail coring and master ped to combat this as much as possible.

So...shooting 50i will buy me more light, but final output for this project (from FCS2) will be web (with possible DVD in future). I'm thinking I'll deinterlace the footage afterwards - will this counteract the extra light I get from shooting interlaced?

Will the (not so good) look of a 50i picture outweigh any light advantages I get?

Anyone done something similar and have a best suggestion?
 
no, its shutter speed, not interlaced vs progressive.Try to be with camera near source of light ,so the lights would be behind you(lights->you->cam->stage),it should help a little bit ,but dont stay too close to the lights,experiment with it and with shutter speeds,but i guess you dont have much choice better stay at 1/50 or try to experiment with synchro scan to get some non standard shutter speeds.Dont shooot lights directly cause all other things will be dark.
 
Thanks for your input bwwd, but i think you may be misunderstanding me.

Yes - of course shutter speed makes a difference, but thats not what I'm asking about. As it happens I sometimes shoot down to 1/36th to smooth motion in progressive, get a softer filmic look, and of course in this case - buy me some more light.

But - progressive vs interlaced DOES make a difference to exposure. You get about a stop more light shooting (in my case)50i than in 25P - try it with the same shutter (or just set to OFF) on both and you'll see you get more.

I'm not having issues because I'm shooting into lights and therefore shutting down my iris, which would of course underexpose the darker parts of stage. I generally shoot close to performers - usually trying to get long shots, mids, and close ups - I'm often shooting from side of stage. I'm normally shooting nearly or completely wide open in most circumstances due to light levels. In a rock show, lights come from all angles - front, back, sides, above, even below - in all colours and effects.

So my question relates to the fact that - given interlacing does give more light - by the time I deinterlace it for progressive output - is it still worth it as I know the image won't be of as-good quality as the rest?

Also anyone have any preferences on using detail coring, master ped etc to reduce noise in the shadows and produce nice blacks?

In FCP - is it better to deinterlace the 50i footage separately before bringing into progressive sequence, or just drop it in as it is and let it happen in the sequence?
 
Last edited:
I would do 30p but I believe the PAL DVX doesn't record that. I recently shot a concert in 60i mainly for web and DVD and it looked great.
 
Thanks Andy.

Does that men you de-interlaced the 60i footage before editing, or when you output it? If so, what method did you use?
 
I honestly don't know why so many people de-interlace. I am not done with it yet but I am not planning on de-interlacing it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top