Help with 1/30 issue on XL-1s...

[Lamce Barton]

Thanks in advance for checking this out for me:

Okay, just shot and edited a feature on an XL-1s. Will be in stores in about 60 days. I think we screwed up. We shot in NORMAL mode at 1/30 speed. Everyone I talk to now says that was a disaster mistake since we want to do a film blow-up as we should have shot at 1/60 so it could be deinterlaced. My questions are as follows:

1) What is the difference between 1/30 in normal mode and just using frame mode? Don't they both basically end up with a sort of non-interlaced effect as both fields are the same?

2) Is it really critical to shoot in 1/60 if we weren't going to do a film blow-up? 1/30 seems to look a LOT nicer to me, certainly a lot more "filmic".

3) Is there now NO chance of a blow-up since we shot in 1/30? Every transfer house seems to say no.

4) We looked at using DVFilm to process our footage, even though deinterlacing won't work since we shot at 1/30, the grain setting of 5 and the red boost sure make it look like 16 to us.

5) Nobody is talking about this much, but "Park" was shot on an XL-1s, I have no idea of the frame rate, but they shot a studio monitor with a 35 camera and that print went to theaters and looks great! If that is something we can narrow down a bit, everyone would be free to shoot, edit and add effects however they want and for less than 2,000.00 have a print on 35! Before everyone determines that the quality would be terrible, check it out, you might be surprized.

We will live through the DVD release on this project as is, but would love to know any tips or trick to enhance what we have shot at 1/30 and what we should do as we start the next one in June.

Thank you very much for your responses...

[Don Berube]

1) What is the difference between 1/30 in normal mode and just using frame mode? Don't they both basically end up with a sort of non-interlaced effect as both fields are the same?

- no. Frame Mode is an electronically interpolated progressive scan which many people love for the look. If you are asking if shooting 1/30th sec in standard interlaced is the same as shooting 1/60th sec in Frame Mode, again the answer is no. What you WILL get by shooting at 1/30th sec interlaced over 1/60th sec in Frame Mode is less resolution and more exposure due to the slower shutter speed.

>>>>2) Is it really critical to shoot in 1/60 if we weren't going to do a film blow-up? 1/30 seems to look a LOT nicer to me, certainly a lot more "filmic".

- no. Hey, the bottom line is if your footage is to end up in a 320x240 window on the web, not many people will be able to tell the difference. If you are going to full frame NTSC or film blowup, you will see the jaggy lines and less res. But you benefit by keeping it in Frame Mode when shooting 1/30th over standard interlaced mode due to the progressive scan nature of Frame Mode. For instance, if you shoot 1/30th sec on another cam, let's say a PD-150, it will look somewhat like "Frame Mode" due to the "strobier" (is that a word?) 1/30th shutter speed, but it will have less resolution because you aren't shooting at a full 1/60th. For instance, you will notice a greater amount of jaggy lines. You won't really suffer that loss when shooting 1/30th in Frame Mode on the XL1(S) because of the "progressive" nature of Frame Mode. Shooting at 1/30th sec in Frame Mode will net you more exposure level basically... whew that was wordy...


>>>>3) Is there now NO chance of a blow-up since we shot in 1/30? Every transfer house seems to say no.

- don't buck the system!

4) We looked at using DVFilm to process our footage, even though deinterlacing won't work since we shot at 1/30, the grain setting of 5 and the red boost sure make it look like 16 to us.

- and what did you think of the result?


5) Nobody is talking about this much, but "Park" was shot on an XL-1s, I have no idea of the frame rate, but they shot a studio monitor with a 35 camera and that print went to theaters and looks great! If that is something we can narrow down a bit, everyone would be free to shoot, edit and add effects however they want and for less than 2,000.00 have a print on 35! Before everyone determines that the quality would be terrible, check it out, you might be surprized.

We will live through the DVD release on this project as is, but would love to know any tips or trick to enhance what we have shot at 1/30 and what we should do as we start the next one in June.

- let's ssee who chimes in on this thread. Should be pretty interesting :)

- don