Breaking double the shutter speed rule

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d90123

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I am making a series of instructional videos. To be perfectly honest, I have not noticed the difference between using 1/30 s and 1/60 at 30 fps. I am perfectly willing to attribute this to my untrained eye.

In my videos I use photographic flashes, and fire them in the video. I have found that if I use 1/30 at 30 fps the viewer of the video can actually see the flash go off, which I find very advantageous.

My question is I find the ability of viewers being able to see the flashes go off in the video to be a great added benefit. Is it worth moving to 1/60th of a second for future videos. I am trying to bump up my production value with each successive video, so I suppose I am just wanting to be convinced of the drawbacks of shooting 1/30 at 30 fps.

Thank you for any input!
 
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It's common for videographers to shoot at 1/30 at 30p (or a 360° angle for the framerate they are using) when they need a bit more light for the camera.

Most don't see a difference between the two. If there will be any, it will come from motion blur artifacts from lots of movement in the frame (if there is any movement). Even then...it's difficult to notice by the regular viewer.

The main difference with shutter speeds are most noticeable at the extremes, i.e. if you used 1/4, or 1/500, etc.
 
Thank you. I will continue shooting at 1/30. I had seen so many people make such a big deal out of trying to avoid this that it threw me off.

NorBro said:
It's common for videographers to shoot at 1/30 at 30p (or a 360° angle for the framerate they are using) when they need a bit more light for the camera.

Most don't see a difference between the two. If there will be any, it will come from motion blur artifacts from lots of movement in the frame (if there is any movement). Even then...it's difficult to notice by the regular viewer.

The main difference with shutter speeds are most noticeable at the extremes, i.e. if you used 1/4, or 1/500, etc.
Click to expand...
 
The "180 degree shutter rule" goes along more with film and 24 frame work than "normal video". When shooting 60 frame "video", we rarely use shutter(OFF), but your by-default shutter speed is going to be 1/60, because that's what your frame rate is. Shooting 180 degree shutter when shooting 24 is mostly to help control(lessen) motion blur. If you don't have a lot of action going on and it hasn't bothered you or your audience yet, you can probably get away with it. Personally, I never shoot 30 fps. It has an odd cadence to me(not quite 24 and definitely not 60) and historically, we've never really shot 30 fps. Even when we "did" shoot 30 fps (SD interlaced) it was still really 60 fps, because each frame was made up of two "fields", so motion/cadence wise, it was 60 frames.
 
d90123 said:
I am making a series of instructional videos. To be perfectly honest, I have not noticed the difference between using 1/30 s and 1/60 at 30 fps. I am perfectly willing to attribute this to my untrained eye.

In my videos I use photographic flashes, and fire them in the video. I have found that if I use 1/30 at 30 fps the viewer of the video can actually see the flash go off, which I find very advantageous.

My question is I find the ability of viewers being able to see the flashes go off in the video to be a great added benefit. Is it worth moving to 1/60th of a second for future videos. I am trying to bump up my production value with each successive video, so I suppose I am just wanting to be convinced of the drawbacks of shooting 1/30 at 30 fps.

Thank you for any input!
Click to expand...

Shutter speed is (almost) always a creative choice. Do whatever you think benefits your project.
 
I always set my shutter speed at 2x my frame rate, which is basically a 180' shutter. 1/48 for 24P, 1/60 for 30p, 1/120 for 60P. I personally find there's too much blur if you set the shutter speed to match your frame rate. Season to taste.
 
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I've never figured out why people think 180 degree shutter is somehow magical. Same goes for 24P frame rate. I think there's a lot of nostalgia that plays into it quite frankly. However I will say shooting at 1/24 or 1/30 handheld, it's difficult to keep it from being a blurry mess. I typically error on the side of a higher shutter speed. It makes post-stabilization look a lot better, reduces rolling shutter, and allows for crisper frame grabs. Plus depending on the subject, that staccato look can be cool.
 
I think when shooting with a 1/50th of a second shutter speed at 25 fps the area of motion blur sort of "just overlaps" with the motion blur of the next and previous frame, resulting in fluid motion resembling the way we see. If you look at your hand when you are waving, it looks just like the motion blur in the following video when you advance frame by frame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcw6AigvBfA

Regardless, an instructional video let's say for a karate school, might need to be shot with a high shutter speed in order to pause the video and see the exact stance of the instructor.
I shot a bunch of pigeons flying around me with my mobile recently and the stuttering movement (maybe 1/250th of a second) was rather impressionable.
 
I dont think its “magical”; it just tends to look “right”. Faster and you’re cutting out light unnecessarily and possibly getting too little motion blur (the action movie/saving private ryan look) and slower, like others said, you get too much motion blur and it looks a little trippy like every “drugs at the club” scene in your favorite indie film. 1/[double the frame rate] usually just looks “right”...i.e doenst draw attention to itself so you dont think about it one way or the other.
 
It's like David says above. But for inexperienced self-taught people who don't understand the history and mechanics, a 180 degree shutter at standard frame rates mostly is a reasonable rule of thumb. Unfortunately for some it becomes gospel. As for 24p video acquisition, people do this under the delusion that it looks "filmic", after all, most film was and still is shot at that speed. Unfortunately, when delivered as video it doesn't look like film, for most viewers just looks like somewhat stuttery 24p video.
 
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