suggestion on bitrate to mix in Vegas later....

[Marcus Martell]

Hallo guys,

i ' m about to shoot a video with the Panny AF 100. I have stock footage i shot in the past years with the old Sony fx1in 1080 50 interlaced. I'm planning to use just few clips shot with the fx1 and now i have to decide if i have to shoot Interlaced or Progressive with the Panny. What would be your suggestion?
Would i achieve a similar look in vegas mixing 50p and a few clips in 25p? What about if i wanna add even a few clips shot in 24p from a dslr?

I'm really scared to obtain an unpleasant conformity in Vegas.....
Thx a lot

[Kevin Wolff]

The question you are asking has to do with recording format, rather than bitrate (which is a totally different concept). With respect to your question, you might find the explanation of the different recording formats of the AF100 at pages 110-114 of Barry Green's AF100 book helpful. He explains there that the camera always records a progressive image from the sensor, but breaks it into two interlaced frames if the selected format is 1080i. Accordingly, if your concern is the look of the AF100 footage compared to your earlier interlaced footage, shooting 1080i on the AF100 is probably not going to help you. My understanding is that the footage from the AF100 will always look like progressive footage even if it is fit into a 1080i stream. There may be other reaons you would want to shoot with an interlaced format in your situation, but I don't think matching the look of your earlier footage would be one of them.

Good luck with your shoot,
Kevin

[Marcus Martell]

thx kevin...
Are u usinh the panny? _Where can i find the book u mentioned?

[Jeff Harper]

Marcus, I use Cineform, so if it were me, I suspect I would convert your interlaced footage with Cineform to progressive, and resize it as well to match the AF100. I think I personally would shoot 720 60p with the AF100.

Now what to do with the 24p? Same thing, I guess, except I don't know how 24p converts to 60p, probably not very well. The 24p would be an issue I would avoid with your mixture. No benefit to it at all.

So many ways to go, but I think I would forget 24p if possible. I think my method would not be what many would recommend, so be patient and see what others have to say.

[Mike Kujbida]

Amazon.com: The AF100 Book: Barry W. Green

 

Amazon.com: The AF100 Book: Barry W. Green

[David Jimerson]

1080/50i on the AF100 will have the same motion as 1080/50i from the FX1. The motion cadence has little to do with whether it's progressive or interlaced -- it's all about the number of motion samples per second. 50p and 50i have the same number, so the motion is the same. (720/50p will have the same motion, too.)

The AF100 *images* everything as progressive but *records* interlaced formats as interlaced. But again, that won't have an effect on the motion cadence; at 50 hz the motion is the same either way.

25p, having half as many motion samples, will have a very different look. 50p or 50i will look "live" or "video-like," whereas 25p will look more "movie-like."

24p will look very much like 25p. But I wouldn't recommend using it, because you're going to want to be editing on a 50i timeline, and 24p might end up with some random ghosting and other motion artifacts once you go to a final render. It's usually fine on a 60i timeline, but not so much on a 50i timeline.

25p, by the way, will retain its motion characteristics even when edited and rendered as 50i or 50p, so the motion will not match the 50i or 50p footage. That may be OK if you can come up with an editing style which makes it look intentional, but if you're going to be randomly cutting between them, it'll be noticeable.

The AF100 Book is bundled with Panasonic USA AF100s. The DVD version (I co-produced and edited) is also available on Amazon or at my sig link below.

[Marcus Martell]

Dave definetly i'll buy your dvd!
So which frame rate/settings would you suggest me to set the Panny to use 30% of 1080 50 i footage and the other 70% with the settings you suggest....

muchas gracias!!

[David Jimerson]

As I said, 50i or 50p will match the motion in the FX1 footage best.

But you have to decide what you want the overall project to be. Do you have a reason you want some of it to be 25p?

Generally, people use 50i/p if they want a "live" look, and 25p if they want a more "cinematic" or less real look, like you're telling a story.

If you want it all to look "live" or "real," then use 50i or 50p. If you have parts you want to look "dreamy" or "surreal," then 25p may be a good choice for those parts.

It just needs to make sense in the project.

[Marcus Martell]

ok then...i wanna try to shoot in 50 p to mix with old 50i but....When i go to rhe menu of the AF-100 i can't shoot in 1080 50p but just in 50i. The only way to shoot in 50 p is 720. Am i missing anything?
Forgot to say i'm in oal land


thx in advance

[David Jimerson]

Not missing anything. You only get 50p in 720 mode; 1080 mode has 50i.

But as I said, the motion is the same either way.