strobing

M

Madeline

New member
hello,
i would like to shoot video in 24p but i am concerned about the strobing. i am currently in india shooting a documentary and i have to get a lot of footage from the inside of a rickshaw (which is very bumpy and can go quite fast.) i am concerned that there will be a lot of strobing effect which i would like to minimize. ( i do not have a tv to play back on to see what it looks like). i am considering shooting 30p as this will minimize this problem. does this strobing just happen when you move the camera, or can it also happen when objects are moving in front of the lens? advice would be appreciated. thanks very much!
 
Any movement will have strobing, whether it be the camera itself or objects in front of the camera or a combination of both.

The faster the movement, the more obvious the strobe.

30P will minimize it by 20%.

What is your final distribution format going to be? That should help drive your decision.

Michael
 
thanks for answering! ill probably just be showing it on a standard tv. what is your advice? thanks a lot, madeline
 
I always use 24p since it allows a higher bitrate on DVDs so you can fit more video, or have higher quality video. Then again, "strobing" doesn't bother me at all. I hardly notice it, and when and if I do notice it, I usually like the look.

If it bugs you, 30p will fix it almost entirely. Which, to me, is an issue. 30p no longer looks cinematic to me, but it still looks nothing like 60i. It's somewhere in the middle. Most people who complain about strobing love it, though, so I'd definitely try that.

Another thing you can do is set the shutter speed to 1/36th of a second. You'll get another half stop of sensetivity, and the increased motion blur will smooth out some rough areas. I used this on some glidecam shots (when I didn't know what I was doing) and it kind of helped. You really don't notice the difference, either--it just looks smoother. Going down to 1/24th shutter speed buys you a full stop, but it also looks very blurry. I don't recommend it.

If you're just showing on a standard TV and have no plans for film out or distribution in PAL areas (Europe), then 30p is the way to go (with a 1/60th shutter speed, I'd say.) But try it out first! It looks different. It may be what you're looking for, but it's all a matter of taste.

No matter what speed you choose (and you'll have to stick with one for the entire project or you'll have huge issues to deal with...30p and 24p do not easily convert into each other, while 24p and 60i and 30p and 60i are easier to convert), shoot smart. Take the rickshaw shot and think about how to stabilize motion....maybe you'll want to follow things with the camera so that the audience focuses on those things and not the strobing in the background. Make sure to shoot with the lens at 4.5mm (don't zoom in at all) and practice cradling the camera in such a way that you work as a shock absorber. You may even be able to use a steadicam or some sort of helicopter type rig, but that's getting complicated.
 
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