Overcranking

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Dan_The_Man

Active member
Hi there,

I was just wondering if there are any prosumer/low end professional DV or HDV cameras that can overcrank to more than 60fps?

I am really interested in filming action and fight scenes and was wondering if there are any good options for slow motion effects other then the really expensive high speed cameras.

Dan
 
I'm not a camera export, but have you considered renting one of those "really expensive high speed cameras"?

Especially if it's just one scene that you need it for...
 
There are a few, but they are usually more consumer then prosumer.... AND it is most often achieved by a a 'burst' like shot, which consists of a ridiculously lower resolution image. Mostly used as a novelty party trick, not for real use.
 
I think a Pana-vised Phantom package from Panavision goes for something like $3k to 5k/day... that sound right Ryan?
 
If it's a person doing the shot, you might be able to cheat the shot just by asking them to do the actions slower as well.

Shoot the shot with the action at the speed you want, so you get an idea for how the movements should look, and have the actors attempt to do it slower.

Now if you're trying to capture something that moves real fast, then you have to rent the high speed camera.
 
I know some of the DPs on here are going to hate me for saying this (sorry Ryan...) but you can, to an extent, do some slow mo in post. When I shot 60fps @ 24p on my HVX, I could slow it down to the equivalent of 120fps using slow motion plugins (I think it was called Twixtor or something along those lines) in Adobe After Effects. Anything past that and the interpolation became readily apparent. Keep in mind this won't work for fast moving action shots because the difference between each frame will be too great. I don't know what the limit is but shooting tests can answer that.

Just another alternative.
 
Taylor Rudd said:
I think a Pana-vised Phantom package from Panavision goes for something like $3k to 5k/day... that sound right Ryan?
Click to expand...

Hehe... something like that. But the Phantom from anyplace is terribly expensive too!

The best alternative are those scientific highspeed cams. We used those in college and were about 300$ a day or something. It came with it's own laptop and Nikon mount. Pretty cool stuff. The slow motion bullet stuff in my demo reel was shot on that.


SeanEmer said:
I know some of the DPs on here are going to hate me for saying this (sorry Ryan...) but you can, to an extent, do some slow mo in post. When I shot 60fps @ 24p on my HVX, I could slow it down to the equivalent of 120fps using slow motion plugins (I think it was called Twixtor or something along those lines) in Adobe After Effects.
Click to expand...

Hahaha! Yes. :) But i've seen twixtor in action, and i have to say i was impressed.


While we are throwing out alternatives (post plugins, consumer cams, pana-phantoms, etc) MOST high speed work done in industry feature films are done on film... even if the production is shot on a digital format (Films such as Collateral). Film is still relatively KING of highspeed (slow motion photography)... The Arri 435 (a 'normal' production cam) can get up to 150fps!

Not to mention the many specialty cameras made just for highspeed use, which can go much much faster. At the end of the day, depending on how much slow motion you need, shooting on film might be less expensive then a pana-phantom. :)
 
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Maybe that shutterless spinning-prism camera they used to shoot Star Trek II is still available somewhere...
 
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