I have a Canon HF100 camera. For the longest time, I've just never liked the 24fps mode when filming. when I compare the HF100's 24fps filming with other cameras and clips that I've seen on YouTube, there's quite a difference in quality. Is the HF100 just not up to par with other cameras doing 24p?

So this leads me to ask: should I just film at 29.97fps, then export to 24fps? Will I get better results by filming at a higher frame rate and exporting to 24fps? Will that still give me that film-like look?

Every time I've shot at 30FPS and "bent" it down to 24FPS, it looked terrible due to the edge artifacts created by the interpolation down. The best rule-of-thumb is to shoot at whatever frame rate you want to end up in (excepting slo-mo and time lapse).

Martin

Will I get better results by filming at a higher frame rate and exporting to 24fps? Will that still give me that film-like look?

No it won't. Remember the last time you watched a movie on television, in either NTSC or PAL land. Did it look like video? The film look comes from a combination of factors, of which the frame rate is the least important, in my opinion.

If the 24fps video looks bad from your camera, then stick to 30fps. Take two samples from your camera, a 30 second test video in 24p and 30p, and then convert the 30p into 24p. Compare the three after rendering them out to your web standard. Choose the one that fits your field of work. Hope this helps.

It depends on what your final format and destination is. For the web 30P is fine, for watching on TV is terrible. 24P is good for everything but it takes some learning to shoot properly.