correct shutter speed, focusing. exposure

filmtovideo

filmtovideo

Well-known member
Yesterday on a shoot the D.P. told me that 1/120 is the correct and best shutter
speed - footage was being shot on an XL-1 (I know, I know) at 24p. in HD.

My Panasonic DV-30 says "norm" (normal) shutter speed (at 29.97 of course)
is 1/60. What is the "correct " shutter speed for 24p with the HVX200?
The D.P. also said that higher shutter speeds get "flicker". I've seen that
with various frame rates using H.M.I.s but we weren't using any. What's that
"flicker' about?

This D.P. focused by eye on the LCD viewfinder with no tape measure or any of
the
other tools suggested in the excellent focus article by Barry. There was a picture
monitor (480 SD) but mostly that was for the director and the D.P. didn't look
at it.

I asked how exposure was determined and the D.P. said again by eye on the
LCD. I asked but no zebras used and there was no waveform monitor on set.

Thanks.
 
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rubbish 1/120 is way to fast for most situations and can cause strobing.
Also your not going to get much light through the lense at such a high shutter speed.
This can be good for widening the depth of field but not nice for cine style depth shooting.
Pretty simple stuff really.
All DP's I know are normally glued to a pro setup broadcast monitor along side the director. Its' the only way to ensure correct exposure/focus/color etc.
Was this DP any good or just full of shizly.
-you decide
 
1/120 too fast

1/120 too fast

Thanks for replying. If 1/120 is too fast and it were being used to
open up the lens more it would have been easy to use an ND. The camera
had a 4x4 matte box and we were outdoors.

I've seen many D.P.s who can do camerawork but the gaffer does the lighting
without much direction and the a.c. helps set the camera.
 
also

also

What is considered a pro setup broadcast monitor? What do you need if you're
shooting HD? Thanks.
 
You need a monitor that has a color bar generator, this will help you setup the correct colors, brightness etc.
If shooting HD you need a HD monitor really but any pro SD monitor will still do everthing you need bar checking focus.
 
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filmtovideo said:
Thanks for replying. If 1/120 is too fast and it were being used to
open up the lens more it would have been easy to use an ND. The camera
had a 4x4 matte box and we were outdoors.
.
Click to expand...

Using a higher shutter will stop down the lense not open it up !
But yes if using high powererd HMI's/kenos you should use ND's where and if needed, but don't raise the shutter speed to compensate.
Thats a big No No.
 
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Thanks. What about using the bars from the camera with a monitor that is
otherwise good but doesn't have a color bar generator?
 
I would think you should use bars from the camera so that the image from the camera looks correct in the monitor. If you calibrate the monitor to a signal other than the camera then there's not really a guarantee that the camera feed will look right.
 
not true, when you setup the monitor it will give you a true broadcast output.
Thats what your working to, not the other way round!
 
I'm confused, a camera such as an HVX can produce the correct SMPTE color bars, so why would you not calibrate your monitor to that signal? I don't have tons of experience, but I've always seen monitors calibrated to the color bar signal sent from the video source, either a camera or an editing system. If you send the color bars to the monitor and calibrate to that, shouldn't the signal you're looking at then look correct? Isn't that the whole point of having a color bar generator in-camera?
 
So how are you going to setup the cameras colors with SMPTE when your camera only has a BW view finder ?
Most pro cameras will only have a BW view finder, say you have a 20 camera setup and one field monitor. The field monitor would be linked to all the cameras and SMPTE is used on the host monitor so the cameras can be sequenced to a signal SMPTE standard.
It's just the way it's done in the pro world and for good reason.
 
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