I want to shoot something & I know I'll slow it down in post. should I shoot 60fps?

O

oxband

Well-known member
I want to shoot something & I know I'll slow it down in post. should I shoot 60fps?

I am going to shoot something and I know I'll want to slow it down in post. Everything else is 24 fps. Should I shoot in 60 fps for the piece I want to slow down? It seems that way I could change the footage to 24fps and it won't look weird the way it would if I shot in 24fps and changed the the speed of that footage.
 
oxband said:
I am going to shoot something and I know I'll want to slow it down in post. Everything else is 24 fps. Should I shoot in 60 fps for the piece I want to slow down? It seems that way I could change the footage to 24fps and it won't look weird the way it would if I shot in 24fps and changed the the speed of that footage.
Click to expand...

Yes. Footage shot at a higher frame rate looks SOOO much better when slowed down. Try it out and you'll see. It doesn't stutter like it would if you shot at 24p and then slowed it down in post. I shoot almost exclusively at 60p and then just edit everything on a 24p timeline. Now, I have a TON of slow mo stuff for my projects but the difference is huge on how much better 60p footage looks slowed down than 24p. If you decide later that you want to use the full speed version of the clip...just speed it up 250%. Now, if you are using FCP7 or older, you'll need to use Cinema Tools or something like that to conform the footage to 23.98 before bringing it into FCP to get the proper look. Its very easy and takes literally seconds. File>Conform>(select a clip in the folder that you want to conform)>hit enter or open or whatever it says>select 23.98>done! It conforms everything in that folder. The clips that were already 23.98 to begin with aren't affected. If you have FCPX or Adobe Premiere CS6 or something newer than the old "legacy" FCP (7), then you won't have to "conform" your footage first. Just drop it right on your 23.98 timeline and slow it down to 40%. Done. That's my experience any way. Good luck.
 
Agreed, most definitely shoot your slow-mo stuff at 60fps (if you want really slow-mo) or 30p (if you want mild slow-mo). 60p, played back at 40% speed on a 24p timeline, delivers perfectly smooth frame-accurate slow-mo.
 
Great tip. That said, why wouldn't I want to always shoot at 60fps with the HMC150? I feel like it gives me the flexibility of making my footage 30 or 24 fps in the timeline and I can do slo-mo better. Am I missing something?
 
oxband said:
Great tip. That said, why wouldn't I want to always shoot at 60fps with the HMC150? I feel like it gives me the flexibility of making my footage 30 or 24 fps in the timeline and I can do slo-mo better. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

No, not in my opinion. That's why I always do just that for every one of my shoots.
 
It seems to me the only drawback with the HMC-150 is you have to shoot interlaced in 60i. Not that that's a drawback. It's just that the 24fps I'd been shooting everything else with on this project is progressive.
 
Im not sure i understood your response. are you suggesting shooting 720 60p? would that match well with 1080 24p if i change it to 24 fps?
 
I don't think he knew your intention was to shoot 1080p. In that case, on the HMC your only option is shoot 720p60 if you want the smooth slow mo and then uprez to match the frame size of the rest of your footage. Although, I'm guessing most people would suggest downrez-ing your 1080p footage to match the 720 footage to prevent any quality loss that may happen when uprez-ing. Honestly, I never really noticed a huge difference on the HMC when I compared my 720 shots with my 1080 shots. So, now I just shoot and edit everything at 720p. That's also because smooth slow-mo for me is VERY important. My shoots generally have a lot of it. Only the newer AVCHD cams can shoot 1080p60. My advice would be to shoot everything 720p...unless of course you REALLY want 1080 and you only need the 60p for a few shots of a much bigger 24p project. In that case, I'd then say shoot 1080p24 and uprez the few 720p60 shots that you need in slowmo. It's entirely up to you. If you have time, try both and see what works out. If its really problematic, or you absolutely hate the idea that your footage is 720p, you could always rent a camera that shoots 1080p60 for those shots. Good luck.
 
I understood..but yes, those are your only 2 options...I've always uprezzed the 720 to 1080 and never saw much of a quality loss...but just to keep everything clean, I would shoot it all at 720..for internet delivery..makes no difference IMO
 
I dont have a delivery in mind. It's a project Im starting that, like anyone else,I have big dreams for. So, I'd like it played at festivals and maybe get on TV. I guess I'm inclined to go with 1080 and go to 720 when I think I'll need the slo-mo. The only down side is I'm sure there will be sometime while editing I'm looking at footage and realizing I'd like to slow it down after the fact when I've shot it in 1080.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top