Can you record 12fps or 60 fps to Firestore Drive from HVX?

[Tony Cope]

I still help (if possible) with recording this type stuff to the Firestore… but as far as getting the film smearing effect on quick camera movement… I found that you change the shutter (under the SCENE FILE menu) to 350 degress. This keeps the shutter open as long as possible, which would also help in low light conditions – and the result is that fast camera movement smears, but the static images are crisp.

I think this will also help with making my timelapse shots more fluid.

Thoughts?

T

[Barry Green]

The FireStore won’t record variable frame rate footage in the “native” simulation mode, at least as per version 3.0 of the software. If you change your frame rate, it’ll revert to the regular 60fps recording system. You can still access the variable frame rates but you’ll have to use a post tool like Apple’s Frame Rate Converter.

As for the smearing, yes the 350d shutter is the key, but it also helps to set it to a lower frame rate. The HVX menus allow you to go down to 12fps, but the camera itself can go as slow as 2fps. 2fps + 350.0d shutter = magnificent streaking effects. Google for HVX “frame rate hack” to find out how to get 2fps (and all the other frame rates that are possible in an HVX, there are about 36 in total.)

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Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available on ebay and at Amazon (https://www.fiftv.com/db)

[Tony Cope]

Thanks for the response.

I just started going through the HVX book. Wow – very technical, but also very enlightening. This camera is very impressive — as far as applying my film techniques to video. Many of the tricks I loved using with 16mm now apply.

I’ve been playing around a lot with time-lapse (Firestore.) One issue is that the trees and water movement are distracting, very spastic – wanting to blur it. I was wondering if I used the 350d shutter, and then planned on recording twice as many frames as needed, then in FCP — cut the speed in half and use the frame blending… would that help make things look more fluid? Just a thought…

Thanks
T

[Edward Chick]

I’ve searched google for the “frame rate hack”. No obvious answers to the the menu process you need to perform to get the hvx 200 down to 2fps. Can you provide some details or a site that gives the low down?
Thanks.

edward chick

[Majorasshole]

It’s a scene file you need to edit copy to an SD card and load on the camera. Its not a series of menu steps, it is a “hack”

[Barry Green]

I’ll copy and paste from the other site. Just be aware, this is UNSUPPORTED and if you damage your camera or you fail to record footage or anything like that, you cannot hold Panasonic responsible. With that said, I’ve done a ton of 2fps recording and never had a problem. I have, however, seen “P2 Micon” errors when trying to use one or two of the frame rates. But it has never destroyed footage or caused any complications. Your mileage may vary.

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Here’s the procedure:

1) Get a scene file text file on an SD card, usually by going into menu 8, CARD FUNCTIONS, and saving scene files to your SD card.

2) Open the scene file text file in the PRIVATE\MEIGROUP\PAVCN\SBG\P2SD directory, called SCENE1.TXT (or scene2.txt, scene3.txt, or scene4.txt) using a text editor like Windows Notepad

3) Look for the next-to-last item in the scene file. Here’s what a sample scene file text file looks like:
00005000: 8 ; DETAIL LEVEL: 0
00005001: 8 ; V DETAIL LEVEL: 0
00005002: 8 ; DETAIL CORING : 0
00005003: 8 ; CHROMA LEVEL: 0
00005004: 8 ; CHROMA PHASE: 0
00005005: 8 ; COLOR TEMP: 0
00005006: 16 ; MASTER PED: 0
00005007: 8 ; A.IRIS LEVEL: 0
00005008: 1 ; NEWS GAMMA: OFF
00005009: 0 ; GAMMA : HD NORM
0000500A: 0 ; KNEE: AUTO
0000500B: 0 ; MATRIX: NORM
0000500C: 1 ; SKIN TONE DTL : OFF
0000500D: 0 ; V DETAIL FREQ : THIN
0000500E: 0 ; OPERATION TYPE: VIDEO CAM
0000500F: 0 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT
00005010: BE026801 ; SYNCRO SCAN :

That next-to-last item is:
0000500F: 0 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT

You can ignore everything after the semicolon; the semicolon indicates that it’s a “comment” and will have no bearing on anything else (so, in this example, the part that says “; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT ” is useless, it affects nothing, it’s just there for human-readable description).

So the relevant part is:
0000500F: 0

The only thing you would want to change is that last number (in this case, “0”). To get different frame rates, use one of the following numbers:

0 = DEFAULT
1 = 2fps
2 = 3fps
3 = 4fps
4 = 6fps
5 = 8fps
6 = 10fps
7 = 12fps
8 = 14fps
9 = 16fps
10 = 18fps
11 = 20fps
12 = 22fps
13 = 23fps
14 = 24fps
16 = 26fps
17 = 27fps
18 = 28fps
19 = 30fps
20 = 32fps
21 = 34fps
22 = 36fps
23 = 38fps
24 = 40fps
25 = 42fps
26 = 44fps
27 = 46fps
28 = 48fps
29 = 50fps
30 = 52fps
32 = 54fps
33 = 56fps
34 = 58fps
35 = 60fps
36+ = repeat of sequence from 50fps to 60fps

So, for example, if you wanted to get a frame rate of 2 FPS, your modified line would look like this:
0000500F: 1 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT

And if you wanted 44 fps, it would look like this:
0000500F: 26 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT

(don’t try higher than 35; I tried 36 and it set it to 50fps, 37 set it to 52, so I think it just repeats 50-60 for all fields set higher than 36)

4) Save your modified text file back onto your SD card

5) Put the SD card back in the camera, go to CARD FUNCTIONS, and read the scene files into the camera.

Now, when you go to the appropriate scene file, you’ll see the new frame rate there. But be aware, the only way to assign these “nonstandard” frame rates is through the SD card. If you use the menu to try to change the frame rate, you’ll lose it — it’ll immediately jump to 60, and then only allow the normal rates to be selected. You’d have to re-load the scene file from the SD card in order to re-establish your “nonstandard” frame rate.

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—————–
Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available on ebay and at Amazon (https://www.fiftv.com/db)

[Tony Cope]

I’ve read that you can use the intervelometer function to record in timelapse-type mode. I can not figure out how to do this yet – but I think it has to do with the INTERVAL TIME and/or ONE SHOT TIME in the RECORDING SETUP menu. If you can alter it to shoot 1 frame every 30 frames (if you are shooting in 30p mode) – then you end up with 1 fps. Using this function, you could shoot 1 frame every 2 frames and end up with 15 fps, or 10 fps, etc. Seems to make sense, but 2 concerns… how is audio treated with the (recording someone on camera talking at 1 fps would be unusable. Also, how does this interact with the fps you select in the SCENE FILE?

Thoughts?
T

[Tony Cope]

Using the INTERVAL TIME mode – first, you can not use this in the FILM mode, you must be in video mode. Then go under the (5) RECORDING SETUP menu, make sure you use 1080i or 480i mode (I think you might be able to use the 720p/60 mode), then you can select the interval to record in (it starts at 1 frame every 2 frames(2f) – which would give you 15 fps.) If you want 2 fps, the you divide the fps you selected in the SCENE INFO menu in half (24 fps — shoot 1 frame every 12 frames to get 2 fps.)

If you’re using a Firestore drive, using the timelapse is a lot more flexible.

So, if you’re shoot in 30p, then you get 15 fps, 10 fps, 7 fps, 6 fps, 5 fps, 4 fps, 3 fps, 2 fps, 1 fps. Again, I think this would only work if you were not concerned with getting usable audio.