7d video – shutter speed suggestion

[Robbie Carman]

[brian hoven] ” It is at a photo shoot so lighting should be fine. Is faster or slower shutter speeds more for effects to perform later in post? or will it effect the look/feel of the video? “

I wouldn’t assume since its a photo shoot lighting will be fine. On a photo shoot you’re probably going to get strobes or at best small light panels or HMIs that are being diffused with a soft box. You may want to be prepared with some additional lighting even if its small. Light Panels makes a super easy to use and bright on camera (mounts to the hot shoe) little guy that might help or if you can swing it a bigger panel could be very useful.

As far as the shutter speed thing – while shutter speed adjustment can be used as an “effect” I suppose you’re going to be very very very unhappy with the results you get using shutter in this way. Instead if a strobe or even blurred effect is what you’re going for do that in post

Here is the general guideline about shutter speed when shooting video – You should follow the 180 degree shutter rule. So lets say you’re shooting 1080p24 your shutter speed should be set to 1/48 which is double or 180 degrees (comes from the motion picture film camera world) of your frame rate. If you were shooting 60p you’d go for 1/120. Now there can be slight variance there as most DSLRs don’t let you dial in 1/48 but rather 1/50, you might also increase the shutter slightly to avoid flicker etc but only a touch to say 1/60.

Robbie Carman
—————-
Colorist and Author
Check out my new Books:
Video Made on a Mac
Apple Pro Training Series DVDSP
From Still To Motion

[Brian Hoven]

cool – thanks for the tip!!

[Bill Oneil]

With the Canon 7D, I have found that when shooting 30fps, 1/60 is the correct number to simulate proper film motion blur. Your aperature setting will be a slave to this shutter setting so if you want shallow depth of field you’ll need some neutral density filters on the front of the glass.

[Robbie Carman]

exactly 180 degree shutter

Robbie Carman
—————-
Colorist and Author
Check out my new Books:
Video Made on a Mac
Apple Pro Training Series DVDSP
From Still To Motion

[Pat Smith]

Avoiding flicker is a pretty big deal. If you are going to be around ambient light in the US use a fraction of 120 (60, 30) and you will side step the issue. I just screwed up some footage that had low ambient light in the background.

[Scott Mayo]

Ok, so I just got my hands on a 5D Mark ii with the latest firmware.
My shutter settings are …30, 45, 60, 90, 125, 180….
I’m shooting at 24, what most closely simulates 180 degree shutter?

[Mike Craig]

If you are using an AC power source i.e. tungsten lights you need to use a shutter speed that will not cause flicker.

The USA uses 60 Hz (60 cycles per second)

The UK uses 50 Hz (50 Cycles per second)

To avoid flicker your shutter speed should be be a multiple of twice the line frequency.

So for 60 Hz shutter speeds of 120, 60 should be good.

So for 50 Hz shutter speeds of 100, 50 should be good.

For lights that do not fluctuate (DC – Battery powered) flicker should not be an issue if all the lighting is from this source. If you have mixed lighting always use a multiple of twice the line frequency to avoid flicker.

Note I suggest using a shutter speed faster than the frame rate.

Mike

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