How many frames per second do you need?

C

combatentropy

Veteran
Much discussion has been about exactly how much resolution you need for 90% of your work. While there is still some dissension and those who can never have enough K, it's safe to say that the limits of human vision falls somewhere around 2 to 4K, at least at traditional theatrical angles of view (30 to 40 degrees).

I have not heard much in regards to frame rate. While more is obviously better, there is clearly an upper limit, after which come diminishing returns. Slow motion shots are cool, but it's possible to make it so slow that it becomes boring. Reasons for slow motion usually are to:

(A) Add drama to an action. For example, the swing of a sword, the gait of a lovely woman, the turn of the head.
(B) Analyze things for science. For example, to show a bullet in flight.

Let's confine ourselves to (A). If you were to imagine every possible scientific use, your appetite might be infinite. But for 95% of your work, how many frames per second do you need to render scenes as you want? Let's say that for the other 5%, you can rent a high-speed camera.

Real-life references are welcome.
 
The human eye will register anything below about 48fps max. Anything above that, all the frames just blend together, and anything below that, we can see the individual frames, and any drastic changes between frames (caused by fast panning, for example) will cause strobing.

Now, creating glass-smooth slow motion effects, you can easily crank the frame rate to over 1,000fps. You ask what we want for 95% of our work? This one is tough to say, because different frame rates create different moods and different effects on the viewers. What was shot at 60fps may not look as good at 30fps (like sports stuff), and something shot at 24fps (like a movie) would feel weird if it was shot and projected at 60fps.
 
Being realistic, I'd like 1080 60p, 720 120p... Ideally 120fps in 1080, but I think a reasonably priced cam with 120fps in 720p would be just fine. I say 1080 as this is the standard I live in, as Red/4K is above most of my budgets. I produce mostly music videos and promo work, so a nice 120 frames per second would be sweet.
 
Joe Calabrese said:
The human eye will register anything below about 48fps max. Anything above that, all the frames just blend together, and anything below that, we can see the individual frames, and any drastic changes between frames (caused by fast panning, for example) will cause strobing.

Now, creating glass-smooth slow motion effects, you can easily crank the frame rate to over 1,000fps. You ask what we want for 95% of our work? This one is tough to say, because different frame rates create different moods and different effects on the viewers. What was shot at 60fps may not look as good at 30fps (like sports stuff), and something shot at 24fps (like a movie) would feel weird if it was shot and projected at 60fps.
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Thanks a lot, Joe. :) I guess I should qualify to say, if you're final release is 24 fps, what max frame rate would satisfy 95% of your work?
 
I guess you could say 24 FPS would satisfy 95% of your need, if 24 FPS is your final output frame rate, because most movies are 95% standard-motion. Maybe, I should say, for 95% of your slow-motion shots...
 
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