50p shutter speeds

[trackscapes]

I recently purchased a CX730 video camera which enables 50fps recording. Can anyone suggest the most suitable shutter speed to use for smooth playback after editing sequences with fast movement for DVD or Blu-ray?

[blaireau_photo]

Hello trackscapes

On this camera, the shutter speed is something that is adjusted for taking still images as opposed to recording movies. Do you mean that you want to know the most suitable camera settings for generally filming fast moving video?

Thanks,

Simon

[trackscapes]

Yes. The camera does allow for setting the shutter speed for video instead of leaving the camera to work it out for itself! Therefore the automatic setting can vary greatly depending on the conditions. Sometimes movement, such as a train passing, will appear perfectly smooth; at other times it is not! So setting the shutter speed beforehand would seem sensible.

[blaireau_photo]

Hello again

My apologies - I may have been misinterpreting some of the content in the manual that I was looking at regarding this camera.

It is my understanding that if you wanted to film something like a falling waterfall and wanted the flow of water to be in sharp focus, you would need to use a fast shutter speed. At the same time, I would recommend experimenting with this to see what works best specifically for your camera.

Thanks,

Simon

[trackscapes]

There is a trade-off between individual sharp images such as you suggest for a waterfall and a series of slightly blurred images which might show movement more smoothly. Often, when shooting at 25fps, a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second is recommended but does this mean that 1/100th would be more appropriate for 50fps? Is it purely coincidental that mains electricity frequency in the UK is 50Hz whereas in the USA, where cameras shoot at 60fps, it is 60Hz? Destination boards at railway stations (you see from an earlier post why I mention this!) sometimes flicker so I wondered whether anyone had already done the experiment to resolve this. Broadcast television moving images look pretty smooth so what shutter speed is used?

[Mick2011]

That's pretty much correct about mains electricity. This is an interesting explanation vis a vis video capture: http://www.davidsatz.com/aboutflicker_en.html

Multiples of (ie shutter speeds divisible by) the framerate would be equally applicable, I think. Exactly how fast a shutter is appropriate depends more on the subject, movement, whether you are panning, etc, than anything else.

Cheers

Mick