Day 2 Test: 1/125 Shutter Speed

L

larrys

Well-known member
WOOPS: SHOULD BE 125th of a SECOND SHUTTER SPEED. (SEE BELOW)

OK, today, after reading here on the forum that when shooting 720/60p that using 125 (SHUTTER SPEED) is superior, I went down to the pier and gave it a quick try.

Shot on Creative, so manual aperture, but I left my reading glasses at home so I used auto focus for this little test.

Here is my short test video, the 2nd I have taken with my new GH1. Loving this camera more and more! And I should have the Panasonic 20mm by the end of the week which I am very excited about as I prepare for a bunch of video testimonials I will be shooting for my friends yoga studio.

Here is the link (I'd love to know how this looks to you):

http://vimeo.com/8184834

By the way, one of the coolest things about the GH1 is that when you are shooting in public, no one thinks you are shooting video. So if you are on a tripod and you are not touching the camera, no one thinks you are shooting at all and they pay no attention to you. I know Phil Bloom talked about this very thing when he shot with the GH1 in a part of England that usually required shooting permits.
 
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Zacatac said:
You mean a shutter speed of 1/125th a second?
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25% of the posts on this forum seem to revolve around a basic lack of understanding of what frame rates, shutter speeds, apertures, and ISO/gain mean. But that's what forums are for, I guess! Before I went full time into video production, it was pretty much full auto and hope for the best! The video cameras I used before then were so different from my dad's Canon AE-1 and Super8 cams I'd dabbled with as a kid. ;)
 
Yes, that's funny, I have been calling it FPS in my mind, but yes, I did mean shutter speed.

Thanks for the correction!
 
Hi Lake Films,

I am not sure what you mean by "for a film". Do you mean for a narrative piece? I am new to the camera, I am sure there are others who can answer this better, but from everything I have been reading, the camera does best at 720/60p and 1/125 SHUTTER SPEED. Especially for the web and when there is any motion. But I know some much more experienced videographers will be able to advise.
 
Ryan..

Why?

Doesn't it also depend on your ultimate plans for where you will be using the video? For instance, everything I shoot will be for web use.
 
1/125 isn't 'superior' for 720p but it's the better speed for slow-motion. But if you are not sure that you will use a take in slo-mo then shoot 1/60 (NTSC) / 1/50 (PAL) as 1/125 looks worse for normal speed than the slower shutters look for slo-mo.

If the target is web-only then 720 is just fine. It's a space saver if, when transcoding, outputting to 29.97 (NTSC) / 25 (PAL) FPS. Then you can go back and just take out parts you want to slo-mo with all the original frames.
 
RyanMc said:
Unless you are dealing with lots of movement or you want slow motion you should always shoot 1080 on the GH1.
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I don't think so at all.
I am in Europe and I would always shoot in 720 50p.
Much smoother result. In 1080 the camera only does 24/25 fps and then multiply this to get 50 or 60 fps.
In 720 it is true 50/60 p from the sensor. Contrary to the most DSLR cameras, which only do a maximum of 30 fps. This is one of the bis advantages of the GH1 in my eyes.

Neutral tests of the "Institute for Broascast technique" have proven, that the 720 50/60p modus is at least as good to watch as the 1080 50/60i modus if not superior. Most test viewers found that 720 50p has the better picture, and I am not talking about the GH1 but in general.
It is well known, that the 720 mode of the GH1 is much stronger than the 1080.

Also in Germany and Switzerland at least, HD TV stations require the 720 50p if you want to make films for them.

So I would always go for the 720 50p, if I have the choice.
 
1080p in the GH1 is the way to go. Is the best looking quality. If you don't know what you are doing you might encounter "mud" problems. If you really know how to film correctly you won't. For slow motion go 720p. Why 1080p again? Because it gives you the best looking footage. If you need 720p for final delivery just render your project at 720p, that simple. You will end up with a much better looking product.
 
I can definitely see reasons why one would shoot 720p instead of 1080p. One reason would be a higher frame rate, like AKED mentioned. Personally, I shoot 1080p at 24fps because it looks like 35mm film. But not everyone is aiming for the "film look". If the final destination is the web, and the subject matter is something that could benefit from a higher frame rate (i.e. sports), then 720p is a perfectly viable choice. Plus, 720p has less jello effect than 1080p and is less prone to mud.
 
I shoot 1080p 1/50 most of the time
720p 1/60 for fast moving shots
720p 1/125 for slow motion shots (conformed to 24p)

For web
1080p down converted to 720p in post looks much better in my eyes
 
When I film, the plus in information I get from the 50p compared to the 50i is more important to me than the larger picture you get in 1080 50i, which is only a 25 p from the sensor. I loose information due to the interlaced format.

When I convert 1080/50i to 720/50p, I loose the advantage of the larger size of the 1080 and I do not have the advantage of 50 progressive frames, because I only have 25 which are now doubled. That makes two disadvantages.
Makes no sense to me.
At least not for what I want film.

I am also not interested in the 24p "film look" I prefer smooth motion.

Those clips are filmed with 720/50p

http://vimeo.com/8190760

http://vimeo.com/8192488
 
OK, I thought about it.
For me, I film mainly martial arts instructional DVDs and sequences, smooth motion in a video is very important, even essential.
When you film something, where it does not matter if you have 50p or 24p, then 1080/50i can surely make sense.
But for me and the fast martial arts movements I film, the 720/50p is the better solution.

This may be different for other user.
 
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I have not tried shooting in 1080 yet and I would like to test it.

When you shoot in 1080, it is 24p, correct? How do I ingest this footage into Final Cut Pro with Log and Transfer? Is there anything I have to do differently than with 720/60p?

When you talk about "down converting" the 1080 to 720, how do I do this in FCP?

Thanks.
 
I also live in a PAL country and prefer the look of 1080, there is no noticeable problem with the footage, on the contrary people have reported color bleeding issues at 720 (I haven't noticed).

720 for slow mo, high motion, or slower than a 1/30 shutter, 1080 for everything else.
 
The following is from the very good GH1 review on Luminous Landscape:

"With stationary or slow moving subjects the GH1's 1080P/24 footage is exceptional, better than just about any video camera under about $8,000 in terms of resolution. But when there's rapid subject or camera movement there can be some annoying visual artifacts, probably caused by the codec's lack of B frames."

"At 780/P60 image quality is extremely high, and resolution doesn't suffer much at all. In fact, because of the much increased temporal resolution the overall image quality can better than in Full HD mode on smaller screens. My recommendation would be that unless you are confident shooting in 24 FPS (see below), and simply intended your projects for web presentation and home viewing, stick with 720/P60."
 
larrys said:
The following is from the very good GH1 review on Luminous Landscape:

"With stationary or slow moving subjects the GH1's 1080P/24 footage is exceptional, better than just about any video camera under about $8,000 in terms of resolution.
Click to expand...

See Barry Greens res chart tests for a wake up call but I do agree the footage looks sweet.
 
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