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My thinking on this is that USA CMOS shooters should just abandon the whole 1/50th thing, for peace of mind's sake.Barry if we're under other kinds of light 1/50 is the best in US though right? Closest to 180º shutter for 24p?
My thinking on this is that USA CMOS shooters should just abandon the whole 1/50th thing, for peace of mind's sake.
The kind of lights that will screw you on a CMOS camera include:
magnetic-ballast fluorescents (shop lights, older office lights, they're everywhere)
magnetic-ballast HMIs (the affordable ones, not the mega-expensive electronic HMIs)
mercury vapor lights (such as are found in gyms, stadiums, warehouses)
sodium vapor lights (such as streetlights)
In short, these things are everywhere. So, the question becomes -- how much do you really care about that tenth of a second? 1/60th is a perfectly filmlike shutter; the 1/48th thing is kind of a myth actually. Film cameras use all sorts of default shutter speeds, 1/48th is common but is by no means magical or even important. The CP16/R from Cinema Products was made in three versions, with a 144-degree, 156-degree, and 170-degree shutter angle. None of them delivered 1/48th exposure, yet they were enormously popular film cameras. The B&H filmo has, IIRC, a 210-degree shutter. The Konvas 35mm camera has a 150-degree shutter. In fact, I don't think I've ever owned any film camera that had a 180-degree shutter! Even in Super8 film cameras, 180 degrees is pretty much nonexistent; my Beaulieu 6008 had a 90-degree standard shutter (yes, 90 degrees by default!) and in "L.L." mode (Low Light mode) it was extended to 144 degrees (IIRC). But most Super8 cameras of later days were "XL" for extended low light performance, which meant that they had 220-degree shutters.
But it all looks like film. All of it.
So if you want to be obsessive over getting that last tenth of a second, you are putting your footage in peril of the waving/fluttering lines if you ever forget. Whereas if you just go with 1/60th, you never have to ever think about it or worry about it ever again.
(and, as always, for PAL users, or for NTSC shooters shooting in Europe or other 50Hz territories, stick it on 1/50th and forget about it).