Hi Andrew,

There is a pretty good discussion going on about 30p right now in another thread.

For those of us shooting features, the chances of transferring to film are minimal. (I think that we are more likely to make a DVD sale)

What happens if we shoot 30p and then we do end up needing a transfer?

Can it be done, or is it true that a transfer house won't accept something in 30p?

What is the down side? And finally, what would you do?

Thanks for your input.

Tom Chaney

Hi Tom,

Sorry for the delay but I'm not able to check in every day. Next time, try emailing me through the forum and I'll probably get it quicker.

Of all available real time frame rates (24p, 25p, 30p 50i, 60i), 30p is hands down the worst for going out to film (unless you're willing to slow your footage down 20%). Yes, it is possible to convert, but I have yet to see a conversion that does not have distracting motion artifacts. Simply put, field based 60i formats are much easier to split apart and recombine to create 24 fps. 30p just doesn't give you enough slices of time to do it smoothly, in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong, I love 30p and use it for many things I do - even when shooting film for transfer to a 60i format - the results are beautiful and with a lot less motion artifacts than 24p. But for transfer to film, you can't beat 24p (or 25p). 24p also makes great DVD encodes.

I did browse the other thread on 30p. For me, getting away from a "video look" has more to do with progressive capture and lighting than frame rate. Unless handled properly, 24p can have unpleasant motion artifacts. So if you're sure you will not going to film, 30p might be right for you. But if there is a real chance you might need a filmout, go with 24p.

That's a great post Andrew - I had wondered about this myself.

john
evilegeniusentertainment.com

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the response.

We will shoot 24p and hope that the "imminent" update shows up soon.

Tom Chaney