shutter speed

[Fred Foronda]

Let me get this correct. Shooting 24 fps you should dial in at 1/50 shutter. So If i shoot 30fps then it would be 1/60?

Thanks

[Jon Fairhurst]

Yes - in daylight.

Under artificial lights - especially fluorescent tubes - shoot 1/60 in 60Hz locations like North America and 1/50 in Europe, Africa, India, and Asia to avoid flicker. You can also shoot 1/120 in North America (1/100 in 50 Hz countries) and avoid flicker when you want a slightly stuttery, crisp look.

To be safe, leave it at 1/60 at all times in the US. It's close enough to 1/48 (for 24 fps) and still looks good. That way you won't go indoors, forget to change the shutter, and end up with flicker.

[Fred Foronda]

Originally Posted by Jon Fairhurst

Yes - in daylight.

Under artificial lights - especially fluorescent tubes - shoot 1/60 in 60Hz locations like North America and 1/50 in Europe, Africa, India, and Asia to avoid flicker. You can also shoot 1/120 in North America (1/100 in 50 Hz countries) and avoid flicker when you want a slightly stuttery, crisp look.

To be safe, leave it at 1/60 at all times in the US. It's close enough to 1/48 (for 24 fps) and still looks good. That way you won't go indoors, forget to change the shutter, and end up with flicker.

Indoors, what would be the shutter at 30p?


Thanks

[Jon Fairhurst]

Regardless of frame rate (23.976 fps, 25 fps, or 29.97 fps), shoot indoors at 1/50 or 1/100 in 50Hz-powered locations and at 1/60 or 1/120 in 60Hz-powered locations, like the US. You can also shoot at 1/30 in the US when the light is extremely low, you need the extra light, and the camera and object motion is limited. (It gets sloppy looking when there is a lot of motion.)

The key point is that the shutter will be open for a full cycle of the light, eliminating flicker. It doesn't matter what the frame rate is. For instance, the shutter might open when the light is zero, it goes through its cycle and back to zero and the shutter closes. Or, the shutter opens when the light is near it's brightest, cycles to zero and back and the shutter closes. In fact, with the rolling shutter of the camera, you're capturing the light cycles at various phases within every frame.

The reason that 1/120 works with 60 Hz power is that within a 60Hz cycle, the voltage goes positive for half the cycle and negative for half the cycle. The light, on the other hand, goes bright with both positive and negative current, so for every 60 Hz cycle of power, lamps go through two cycles of light.

[Fred Foronda]

I'll just keep it 1/60 shutter indoor outdoor then don't want no choppy looking footage, smooth is what I am looking for.

Thanks