Wedding Videographers-What resolution and frame rate

G

Gladiator

Well-known member
Do you vary your frame rate and resolution during a wedding, or do you shoot it all at the same resolution and frame rate?
 
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I tend to shoot all 1080p24. I just like the look of 24p, and prefer to shoot at as high a resolution as possible. But it really kinda depends on what look you (and your clients) prefer.
 
720 25p and 720 50p for bits that I might want to use as slo mo. Great slo-mo is really useful for weddings, slightly more resolution isn't TBH. If I was in a NTSC area I would shoot 30/60 or 24/60.
 
I've always been 1080/60i because of low light. I've been thinking of switching to 1080/30p when we start using DSLR as a third cam. From what I understand, anything progressive will give better slo-mo.
 
I've been using 720p 60, which when output for SD gives me 30p and the ability to slow it down really nice!
 
DNathan said:
I've always been 1080/60i because of low light. I've been thinking of switching to 1080/30p when we start using DSLR as a third cam. From what I understand, anything progressive will give better slo-mo.
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The brightness is exactly the same for 50i, 720 25p and 720 50p so I'm not sure why you think it is better to shoot 1080i in low light? In fact, with 720 25p you have the advantage of being able to change the shutter to 1/25 without affecting the IQ too much, which is great in low light. A assume the same is true with respect to NTSC frame rates.
 
Somebody told me that once. That's the good thing about forums -- smarter people come along and set the record straight. I also figured that since 1080 was represented more predominantly on TV, and since more TVs themselves are 1080, that I'd be happier with it in the long run. I bet wrong on DVD-HD vs Blu-Ray, and didn't want to repeat it (though 1080 and 720 may coexist indefinitely).
 
DNathan said:
Somebody told me that once. That's the good thing about forums -- smarter people come along and set the record straight. I also figured that since 1080 was represented more predominantly on TV, and since more TVs themselves are 1080, that I'd be happier with it in the long run. I bet wrong on DVD-HD vs Blu-Ray, and didn't want to repeat it (though 1080 and 720 may coexist indefinitely).
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Most HD TV sets are actually 720 or 768 lines, but they will play 1080i. But the camera resolution is actually not much more that 720p anyway so even on e 1080p TV set you wont see much benefit.
 
Even though the chips aren't natively 1080, I shoot in 1080 to get a tiny bit of extra detail. I stay away from the "video" look and shoot all weddings with the same settings I would shoot my short film, at 24p. Thus the emergence of the term "wedding cinema" to try to separate ourselves from the stigma of old school and go more for the production value of StillMotion and other "new school" studios.

I can't say I'm anywhere close to those guys, but I will try :-P
 
studio1972 said:
Most HD TV sets are actually 720 or 768 lines, but they will play 1080i. But the camera resolution is actually not much more that 720p anyway so even on e 1080p TV set you wont see much benefit.
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Well, yes and no. I have 4 TV sets that are HD and on 3 of them I 'can' tell the difference between 720 and 1080, although I will grant you that it's not 'much' difference.

I shot the last wedding in 1080/50i across 3 cameras and am reasonably happy with the slo-mo footage.

I'm still experimenting with 720p simply because I'd like to reduce the amount of space on the hard disks (last wedding produced 490GB @ ProRes 422), but Blu-ray output is starting to become important and people are asking me if it's 'full' HD or not.

So, still undecided!
 
I would say future proof is best if having clients asking about full HD. Though the 1080i workflow is a bit of a pain since I go into AfterEffects to get quality 24p output and get a few workflow glitches. 720p60 is still my preferred slo-mo method and it mixes decently with the 1080 footage.

If editing with Final Cut, one thing I've been doing with the latest version is capturing at Prores Proxy then recapturing in full quality only what I've used in the edit. Saves a bit of space there.
 
"I'm still experimenting with 720p simply because I'd like to reduce the amount of space on the hard disks (last wedding produced 490GB @ ProRes 422), but Blu-ray output is starting to become important and people are asking me if it's 'full' HD or not."


720P takes up less space on the hard drive? I thought all PH modes filled the card in the same amount of time?
 
Depends on what frame rate. 720 60P takes up pretty much the same space as 1080 24P. Or is it as much as 1080 60i? I'll probably remember in the morning.
 
I currently film weddings in 720/60p for the easier editing (I edit native) and slow-mo capabilities. However, due to other videographers advertising 'Full HD' I took have people asking for 'Full' flavour

I want to shoot progressive so that leaves:

1080/30p & 1080/24p

Would prefer 30p for the added frames but it isnt a Blu-ray supported format so am left with 24p. Not terrible but would prefer a few more frames to play with. I know there are ways to get 30p on to Blu-ray but at the moment I want to keep it as simple as possible.
 
1080 30p is handled over 1080 60i so it shouldn't be a problem.
 
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Fair enough, if the client wants 1080p film it that way. But otherwise you'd be better filming in 720p, the end result is very similar, according to barry the resolution of the camera is only slightly above 720p anyway.
 
This year I've gone back and forward between 1080/50i and 720/50p. I struggle to see any real difference in picture quality but my preference is 720/50p for better slo-mo, also render time to DVD and BluRay files is a lot quicker. It mixes on the Edius timeline happily with other formats. Only downsides, can't save project to DV tape and took a while to sort out the Procoder 3 preset.
 
Denwa said:
1080 30p is handled over 1080 60i so it shouldn't be a problem.
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If a player or a TV can handle 2-2 pulldown, which was a rare treat 2-3 years ago when I was choosing an HDTV, hopefully things have improved since then.
 
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