Drop frame option?

[Don Greening]

Hi E. J.

There is no setting to choose between the two types of TC on an XL1S. MiniDV, which is what you’re using, is drop-frame by default. So, not to worry. Also, any video editing system will auto-detect whether or not the footage is drop-frame or non drop-frame by reading the TC on the tape. So just start shooting the way you’ve always done in the past. There is no difference between the two TC formats as far as the actual passage of time goes. It’s just two different ways of arriving at the same conclusion 🙂 Just make sure your client wasn’t really asking you to shoot in interlaced mode as opposed to frame mode on your XL1S. It would be important to find that out first before you start shooting.

Best of luck.

– Don

[Editing Jane]

Yes, your are right!! They did want 30fps interlaced and not the 24p setting. When I edit in the Avid using tape from the XL1s I get 29 frames. So, I thought my camera was already set for 30 interlaced…….am I wrong? How do you change it? Thank you again for clarifying this.

Also, now the shoot is done (yikes). If they did get 24p, how much trouble are they/me in?

[Don Greening]

Hi Jane,

You refer to your camera as being the XL1S but your concern about inadvertantly shooting 24p can only be done on the XL2. If you did indeed shoot with an XL1S then you can only shoot in 2 modes: 30 interlaced frames a second or in ‘frame’ mode, which was Canon’s version of progessive with the XL1S. On The XL1S one can only change the shooting mode by drilling down in the menus, so unless you made a concious decision to change the mode it was probably still set to do interlaced.

Easy to tell if it’s interlaced or not: in your video editor just pause the footage in the middle of some movement and you should see the two interlaced fields clearly i.e. sorta like a ghost image of one of the fileds that doesn’t quite line up with the other image. Does this all make sense so far?

Let’s review now, shall we? 🙂

XL1S – 30fps interlaced is also called 60i which is an actual frame rate of 29.97fps NTSC
– 30fps in ‘frame’ mode is also called 30 progressive. But Canon’s frame mode is not true progressive, but for the purpose of explaination we’ll call it 30p. Progressive mode is when the camera records a complete frame every 30th of a second instead of 2 interlaced fields every 30th of a second. The actual frame rate of 30p is still 29.97fps NTSC.

XL2 – 3 shooting modes: 24p – this is true progressive aquisition with an actual frame rate of 23.98fps.
– 30p – true progressive @ 29.97fps NTSC
– 60i – 30fps interlaced which is an actual frame rate of 29.97fps NTSC

– Don

[Editing Jane]

Whew, I think I am OK. Thank you sooooo very much for taking the time to give a detailed explanation. I really appreciate it and will be more prepared on the next shoot. Have a great weekend….Jane.