How important is the FS700, and slow motion in general, for weddings?

[Adrian Tan]

The thoughts I'm having include:

-- Some (most?) of the highest priced videographers in the world are just using 5DMk3 or C100 cameras, and no slow motion at all. You don't need slow mo to shoot an awesome wedding film.

-- I've seen some breathtaking FS700 wedding videos, particularly from the Philippines, and I've seen some very ordinary ones that were full of slow motion just for the hell of it.

-- But, quite apart from being just another useful gimic in the toolkit to add eye candy or production value, I think slow motion is a natural fit for weddings -- not necessary, but very useful. I think if a couple look back on their wedding day, they do want to really savour the moments. And slow motion seems naturally to complement romantic emotions, even if it can be easily overdone.

-- In terms of workflow, videographers I've spoken to have often found they can get away with shooting a lot more things handheld, particularly detail shots, if they're using slow motion. So, it does potentially make things easier on the day.

-- Having an FS700 means you could do a slow motion booth at the reception.

-- The way the FS700 works wouldn't suit my shooting style. I hate the idea that you have to, in effect, press record after the action has happened, and I hate even more that your camera then goes inoperative as it processes that footage.

-- But here's one thing that's on my mind, and must have occurred to you also -- that so many other cameras within reach of consumers now have slow motion -- Sony a7s and GoPro 4 can do at 120fps at 720; iPhone 6 can do 240fps at 720 and 120fps at 1080.

-- Sony F7, probably out of reach of most consumers, can do 180fps at 1080, and I think it can do this while recording continuously, rather than in 8-second-then-wait-for-processing bursts.

-- So do you feel that it's important to have at least 120fps capability on your cameras? Or else the little child with an iPhone shooting the rice/confetti/petals/bubbles shot outside the church could get better footage than you...

[Noa Put]

I only use slowmotion in my trailers that go on my site or which give client gets to share on their facebook, I almost never use slomo on my finished film. My latest trailer I posted here was full of images slowed down 50% as I find that for these very short clips they do give an extra dimension.

The camera on my steadicam has to be able to shoot 50p and I leave that camera in that mode all the time, also if my other cameras have 50p it stays in that mode all the time so I could select some footage to slow down if needed, only my 4K camera's shoot 25p but I use them mainly for the ceremony where I don't need 50p.

If my cameras could do 120fps, I would only use it if there was no loss in image quality, I just don't want to deal with sharpening or work around moire or aliasing artifacts that might occur in such a mode. But do I need 120fps or more? No, 50P is fine enough for nice slowmotion at weddings.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Adrian Tan

-- So do you feel that it's important to have at least 120fps capability on your cameras? Or else the little child with an iPhone shooting the rice/confetti/petals/bubbles shot outside the church could get better footage than you...

Do you really worry about that? :) That doesn't even cross my mind, for all I care guests can show up with a Arri alexa.

[Chris Harding]

Hey Adrian

I can see that slomo impresses the pants off you BUT the end product is for the bride is it not ? If you are 100% certain that you would triple your booking rate and income by supplying lots of slomo on a wedding disk then spending $8K on an FS100 makes sense. However I very much doubt that will happen and slomo done on 50P 1080 footage will impress the odd bride plenty enough without you having to spend a fortune on new gear.

Just make sure you are not looking at this from your point of view! Putting super slomo on this forum will undoubtable get you plenty of "oohs and ahs" but it won't put any money in your pocket.

Chris

[Andrew Maclaurin]

I use the C100 and sometimes use the 50i slomo for dancing ( not the main dance) or moments like when the couple are having a 20 min private photo shoot.
I sometimes use the 25p clips at 70% speed with flow motion in FCPX and it works pretty well. I have a GoPro 4 black so I'll be experimenting with that at some points in my next wedding. Maybe stuck on top of the C100 when the rice and confetti are thrown, with the camera set at 120p?

[Daniel Latimer]

Originally Posted by Adrian Tan

-- The way the FS700 works wouldn't suit my shooting style. I hate the idea that you have to, in effect, press record after the action has happened, and I hate even more that your camera then goes inoperative as it processes that footage.

I've rented an FS700 and there's two ways to shoot the slow motion. You can do as you described above or you can set it so that the slow motion starts when you hit record and then after it records (however long it can go or you stop it) it will process the footage. So that may help a bit, but it is annoying that you have to wait after the fact.

For weddings, I use the GH4 slow motion during dancing. I've never felt like it needed to go any slower than 96 fps or that I was missing out. I do wish the picture was better quality while recording 96 fps, but you can usually get away with it by using a very shallow depth of field.