HD Slow Mo?

[Anthony Schneider]

I was wondering if anyone knew about the slow motion feature on the camera? I know that there is some sort of special slow motion setting that lets you capture like extremely high quality slow mo, but I have no idea how to use it or what it is all about... Any help with this would be amazing!

Thanks guys, this site so far has been extremely valuable and when I learn about all this I will gladly return the favor to someone like me.

Anthony

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Anthony,

For a slow-motion effect:

Use 1080i60 (not 24f, not 30f), and a shutter speed of 1/120th of a second.

Then slow down the footage in post. I use Sony Vegas to do this via the Velocity envelope. Slowing the footage down in other Non-Linear Editors is also possible.

Perform a test before your actual shoot.

I find this work amazingly well, better than I ever expected.

[Jonas Nystrom]

Have a look at www.vimeo.com/nystrom footage from Almeria.

In the beginning you have this overcrank slow-mos Dan is talking about.

[Mike Teutsch]

Originally Posted by Anthony Schneider

I was wondering if anyone knew about the slow motion feature on the camera? I know that there is some sort of special slow motion setting that lets you capture like extremely high quality slow mo, but I have no idea how to use it or what it is all about... Any help with this would be amazing!

Thanks guys, this site so far has been extremely valuable and when I learn about all this I will gladly return the favor to someone like me.

Anthony

Anthony,

There is no slow motion feature in the camera. No over or under cranking. You have to shot your footage, then change the speed in post. I use Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, which has time remapping. After Effects has it too.

Mike

[Dave Gosley]

Hi Anthony

You can also change speed faster or sslower and re- mep timings in EDIUS Pro 3 & 4.5 which is an NLE programme too.
Cheers
Dave

[Alan Van Vliet]

Dan,

I am curious about your shutter speed selection.

I primarily shoot tennis instructional videos and have experimented a good bit. I shoot everything at 1/60th of a second and have had good results in normal playback and slow motion as well. I also use Quicktime and bump the frame rate to 60 fps.

There was a film technique called Showscan which was developed by Douglass Trumball in which it was shot at 60 frames per second. He found, that for some reason, slow motion appeared more effective at this frame rate, even better than at higher rates. When music (often classical) is played at 60 beats per minute, the mind is engaged where learning is enhanced. It seems that when working in increments of 60, the mind perceives sound, and motion, differently.

I need to be able to take the same clip and present it at regular speed and in slow motion as well. I am going to shoot some collegiate tennis soon and will shoot some at both speeds and compare.

Thanks for your thoughts.

AL

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Alan,

I did some slow motion work, with the XL H1 1080i60 using 1/60th of a second shutter speed. I was very happy with the results when slowed down in Vegas.

When I posted my experience on DVInfo.net, others advised me to use 1/120th of a second for even better results.

I recommend that you experiment and see what fits your application best.

[Alan Van Vliet]

Dan,

Thanks for your comments. I am looking forward to experimenting a bit at these two different speeds.

I will post results when I get done.

Regards, AL

[Anthony Schneider]

Hey dan-

Is the camera already set on 1080i60? Or do I have to change something in the settings. I see on the viewfinder it says HD60i. Is this correct?

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Anthony,

If it says HD60i in the viewfinder, then the camera is running 1080i60 and not 24F or 30F.

24F or 30F would not be optimum for slow motion.

[Leon Lorenz]

Anthony, in my experience shooting at least 1/120 shutter speed of fast action gives good results in slow motion playback. Once I slow it down ( in post ) to 1/4 speed or less the faster shutter speeds work even better.

Leon Lorenz
www.wildlifevideos.ca

[Anthony Schneider]

Dan-

So what's the difference between the 24f and 30f and do you still shoot in 1080i if you are in 24f or 30f? And what kind of situations would those settings be useful?

Thanks

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Anthony,

Think of the Canon 24F as 24 Frames per second where as 1080i has 30 frames (and 60 interlaced fields per second).

The Canon XL H1 uses interlaced chips and not progressive chips, so they call their 24, 24F and not 24P. The distinction is very technical, as according to many experts that have fully tested this, there is little or no difference between 24P and Canon's 24F.

Please search this forum for a other discussions on the distinction.

This is a fairly touchy area as there are some very strong opinions on this subject.

If you want slow-motion, then you want as many frames (or fields) of the original scene as possible. As such you should use 60i.

Your actual question is a little difficult to answer. The format of the data, even if you are using 24F or 30f is 1080 and not 720. However, the actual resolution of the 24F or 30F modes is a little less than 1080i60.

Canon's 24F mode would be useful if you want a motion cadence like 24 frames per second film.

If you want a progressive frame, but want more frames per second, you can use 30F. this is useful if you want to capture a still image from your footage. There are other reasons to use 30F.

I welcome others to help explain your question and to correct any mistakes I have made in attempting you answer your questions.