MichaelTiemann
Active member
I'm in the early stages of planning a multi-camera shoot at a high-school theater/auditorium. I'm aware that the HMC cameras have a mechanism for synchronizing timecodes so that footage can be conveniently time-aligned. I am also aware that this method is not guaranteed to be either frame- nor sample-accurate across the 2 hour duration of the performance. Multi-track audio will be recorded separately, so no camera need be the definitive audio reference.
It seems to me that I can pretty much guarantee that all cameras will be within 1/2 a frame (if progressive) or 1/2 a field (if interlaced) of each other, no matter how many cameras I use. I say this because even if one camera drifts to record one more frame than the average and another drifts to record one fewer frame than average, I can splice the footage of the unseen camera to double or omit the one frame and be back to my max 1/2 error. I.e., I'm not going to do a 2-hour long dissolve between two cameras.
If I have this right, then capturing at 24p will mean potential mis-alignment of video information by as much as 1/48th of a second, and capturing at 60i will mean potential misalignment of at most 1/120th of a second. Thus, it seems to me I'll have the best time alignment by recording at 60i. However, there might be other reasons why 24p may be preferable, such as better low-light performance. It may also be the case that the longer exposure times create more "fluidity" between the frames, making non-alignment less of an issue.
Who has found what to be the best frame rates for multi-camera shoots in light-challenged environments? Thanks!
It seems to me that I can pretty much guarantee that all cameras will be within 1/2 a frame (if progressive) or 1/2 a field (if interlaced) of each other, no matter how many cameras I use. I say this because even if one camera drifts to record one more frame than the average and another drifts to record one fewer frame than average, I can splice the footage of the unseen camera to double or omit the one frame and be back to my max 1/2 error. I.e., I'm not going to do a 2-hour long dissolve between two cameras.
If I have this right, then capturing at 24p will mean potential mis-alignment of video information by as much as 1/48th of a second, and capturing at 60i will mean potential misalignment of at most 1/120th of a second. Thus, it seems to me I'll have the best time alignment by recording at 60i. However, there might be other reasons why 24p may be preferable, such as better low-light performance. It may also be the case that the longer exposure times create more "fluidity" between the frames, making non-alignment less of an issue.
Who has found what to be the best frame rates for multi-camera shoots in light-challenged environments? Thanks!