Shutter Speed Question

A

abeas

Well-known member
I am shooting another pageant this year in a few weeks. Last year, I shot 1080i because not all the cameras could do 72060p. So now that I have 3 cameras that can shoot 720p60 I will be going with that.
My question though is in regards to shutter speed. I know the general rule of thumb (which I usually follow) is the shutter speed should be double the frame rate, in this case 120. However, because I am sure there will be some fluorescent lights in the ceiling, should I go with a shutter speed of 60 to be safe?
Greatly appreciated.
 
Whoa -- no no no, you don't want to be shooting 1/120 for a live event! 1/120 is only for when you're using it for slow-mo purposes. If you're shooting a live event, for the "live" look, you want to use 1/60th.
 
Thanks Barry. I should have clarified and re-read my post, that some of the stuff will be conformed to 29.97 in Cinema Tools for some slo-mo stuff, hence the reason to double shutter speed. I didn't know if that would be a problem under fluorescent lights or not. Every other camera will be at shutter speed 60, except possibly the one for slo-mo.
 
Roger that. Okay, well, with a CMOS camera the shutter speed/fluo issue is different from a CCD camera. With a CMOS you'll see rolling/scrolling bands, with a CCD camera instead you'll see a cyclic color shift. It's not easy to see while it's happening, but it's much easier to see it on playback. If I were you, I'd run a quick test under the lights -- shoot some at 1/120, then go into playback and play at high speed. If you see what looks like a constant white balance shift going on, then I'd ditch the 1/120 and just shoot it at 1/60. If, on the other hand, you see no discernible color shift when played back at FF speed, then hey, use 1/120 and go for it.

Good luck!
 
Thanks again. Glad you mentioned both CMOS and CCD, as I will be using 150 and 40. Good to know.
 
Bucknfl said:
I frequently use a shutter speed of 1/30 in low light with good results.
Click to expand...

I am thinking - at 60p, 1/30 would be like shooting equivalent to 30p since the shutter would be open for 2 whole frames. This would create a LOT of motion blur in 60p and not good for slowing down at all. 1/60 is decent for slowing down naturally. If you have enough light 1/120 will give you nice sharp frames when slowed down.
 
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