Help understanding Shutter Speeds in depth, my head is spinning

[filmguy123]

I've been experimenting and reading Barry's book, and have got a pretty decent grasp on shutter speeds and what not, but I also have a bunch of questions that I need some help on. I have read and reread some portions of the book, but still feel lost. I have numbered the questions to make responding easier:

1A.) If the settings are equivalent, is there any difference in LOOK between 1/30 or 1/60 shutter mode and an equivalent shutter degree angle, such as 180.0d? Or is the shutter angle only mean that the shutter speed remains consistent depending on frame rates? I am wondering if there is a percievable difference in the way the image and motion blur looks if, when in FILM CAM mode, I set the custom shutter to, lets say 1/30, to gain some better low light... is motion rendering handled differently then if I had gone into synchro scan and set the camera to the equivalent of 1/30, but instead did it using a shutter degree angle?


2.) How exactly this film-cam shutter works. I know it rotates as a disc, but I am trying to picture how it is working and am confused... How does changing the degree angle change how much exposure each frame gets? In my mind, the way I am picturing it, only 1/4 of the frame would get exposed if the shutter angle was set to 90 degrees, and only half of the frame would get exposed if set to 180.0d - obviously this is incorrect, but I just don't get exactly how it works, and I didn't find that completely clarified in the book...


3.) 1/2000 didn't seem to give me a stuttery effect like gladiator or saving private ryan, it just seemed to make everything almost look as if it were in fast motion...? What is going on here, and what does the book mean when it says it gives a gladiator or saving private ryan "stutter effect"??



Thanks all!

 

[Luis Caffesse]

1) There should be no difference in the look. It is simply two different forms of notation for the same thing. Think of is like 'feet' and 'meters' Distances don't change, just the form of measurement. Same goes for the way Shutter speed is notated. One measures the time the frame is exposed, the other the degree of the shutter for that same amount of exposure.

2) The HVX does not have a rotating shutter. It is simply showing you the eqivalent measurement for a film cam rotating shutter. The shutter is electronic.
Having said that - the measurement refers to the amount of the circle that is 'open'
Imagine a disc with 1/4 of it cut out - when it spins it exposes the frame 1/4 of the time - the ANGLE of the opening at the center of that circle is 90 degrees. Hence, a 90 degree shutter angle. If it were open to 180 degrees you would have 1/2 of a disc spinning which exposes the frame for 1/2 of the time of a full rotation. The angle at the center of that disc is 180 degrees. Does that make sense?

3) Not sure what you're getting at there because we're getting into subjective issues of what looks 'stuttery' to you. But 1/2000 is most definitely a few high shutter speed, making everything incredibly crisp with no motion blur - which can easily look 'stuttery' to the viewer (though I woudl personally call it 'strobey').

 

[ProfessorU]

If you're not capturing motion, that could explain why things don't look "stuttery". Do a few handheld shots with a 1/2000 and a 1/60th and compare. At 1/2000, things should look like a stop-motion movie.