PAL GS400 Pro-cinema mode: staccato

[Joshua Provost]

The seven second guideline, again, is for film, and in that case we're talking different depth of field properties. So, you'll have to test it with your GS400 in frame mode and see if it works, or if you need to go even slower.

Another question is, do you have a solid, fluid head tripod that will allow you to do such a slow, steady pan? I don't. :)

You know, that rule generally applies to wide shots, say a pan across a landscape at sunset. However, there are different rules for different shots. Say you want to do a steadicam shot of a person running. You are directly behind them, and they run fast, here, there, left, right, around corners. As long as you keep the subject in the center of the frame, and keep him in focus, the background may strobe, but no one will notice. The attention will be paid to the subject, who, in this case, though moving, stays in the same spot relative to the frame.

This is equivilent to shots in films of car chases and other action sequences. Keep the subject, the focus of the action, in the same place, and the strobing won't be noticed.

I took a look at your footage. It certainly looks slow enough, even for a big screen, it probably won't be very stroby. However, if you had a person walking around that you were following, it would mask any strobing, because the focus (both the camera focus and what people will watch) would be on the person, not the background.

Do you have a steadicam rig, or a homemade steadicam?

Josh

[Leigh Wanstead]

Hi Josh,

Thank you for your time to teach me and I am an inexperienced cameraman. I was just using my JVC GY-DV5000 and PANASONIC GS400 starting from last April.

I manufacture stablizer and Charles Papert suggested me that I do not use my dad as an actor in my stablizer demo video. I can not afford to pay others, so I just shot no actor. That make the shot really boring. The lengthy 10 min shot was using JVC GY-DV5000, not Panasonic GS400.

I do have a solid, fluid head tripod that will allow me to do a slow, steady pan. I sometimes hang some heavy material to add more weight to the tripod to make it more stable. But I don't use my tripod heavily.

Regards
Leigh

Originally Posted by Joshua Provost

The seven second guideline, again, is for film, and in that case we're talking different depth of field properties. So, you'll have to test it with your GS400 in frame mode and see if it works, or if you need to go even slower.

Another question is, do you have a solid, fluid head tripod that will allow you to do such a slow, steady pan? I don't. :)

You know, that rule generally applies to wide shots, say a pan across a landscape at sunset. However, there are different rules for different shots. Say you want to do a steadicam shot of a person running. You are directly behind them, and they run fast, here, there, left, right, around corners. As long as you keep the subject in the center of the frame, and keep him in focus, the background may strobe, but no one will notice. The attention will be paid to the subject, who, in this case, though moving, stays in the same spot relative to the frame.

This is equivilent to shots in films of car chases and other action sequences. Keep the subject, the focus of the action, in the same place, and the strobing won't be noticed.

I took a look at your footage. It certainly looks slow enough, even for a big screen, it probably won't be very stroby. However, if you had a person walking around that you were following, it would mask any strobing, because the focus (both the camera focus and what people will watch) would be on the person, not the background.

Do you have a steadicam rig, or a homemade steadicam?

Josh