Is the EXZ1 suitable for Auto Racing?

[Don Greening]

Hi Bob,

Welcome to Creative COW. It’s been suggested that 1080i 60 and 720p 60 both have the same temporal resolution so either one of those should work provided you use your shutter speed accordingly. 720p 60 would be better if you want to export a still image, as there won’t be any interlacing artifacts, or “combing” in the still. It really boils down to the kind of look you want. You could conceivably use 1080p 30 and as long as you pan with the race car it will remain in focus and the background will have lots of motion blur.

In order to see what look you’re after you need to get you and your camera to the edge of a busy street and do some tests. For what it’s worth, Sony put several EX1 cameras in some aerobatic planes and they chose 720p 60 mode. The results were quite nice.

– DOn

[Bob Jackson]

Thanks Don
I am hoping that most of my footage will be closeup in the pit area. probably handheld.
Important detail shots will be on a tripod. So far i have only used the camera for mostly still type shots and very little motion. I have only been using the 1080p 30 mode.
Should i use a smaller shutter angle too? Shutter speed of 1/60th?
Bob

vidiot

[Don Greening]

[Bob Jackson] “Should i use a smaller shutter angle too?”

You can stick with the default shutter angle, which is think is 180 degrees. Minimum shutter speed for smooth slow panning is 1/60th per second for 60i and 30p. For freezing faster action you can increase the shutter speed up to a point, then you start seeing a stroby effect referred to as the “Private Ryan” look. Higher shutter speeds also affect the amount of light hitting the sensors, just like any other DV camera.

– Don

[Bob Jackson]

I expect that one aspect of reducing the shutter angle decreases the light, similar to stopping down the lens, but with additional effect of sharpening the shot.

vidiot

[Don Greening]

[Bob Jackson] “I expect that one aspect of reducing the shutter angle decreases the light, similar to stopping down the lens, but with additional effect of sharpening the shot.”

Exactly. The same rules apply between video cameras and still cameras. It’s just that with video you’re shooting 30 pictures a second. I recently shot a car show outside in sunny weather. My settings were HQ 1080p 30 1/60th shutter. I wish it was up on my web site for you to have a peak. I shot completely handheld over the course of 2 hours or so and was quite happy with the result. But what one is shooting definitely determines the shooting mode.

– Don

[Bob Jackson]

Very disappointed with my 1080p-30 shots.
I went to a local freeway, shooting at a 30º angle from the road, cars approaching at around 70 mph.
1/125 a sec frames were blurry, 45ºshutter angle looked better, and got progressively better at 22º, and 11.5º.
1/60 of a second was similar.
The problem is that the cars move so much at 70 mph, what will they look like at 180 mph?
I will have to try 1080i-60 today.

vidiot

[Don Greening]

[Bob Jackson] “I will have to try 1080i-60 today.”

Don’t forget to try 720P 60 as well, if you want to keep things in progressive format.

– Don

[Bob Jackson]

thanks Don
In the back of my mind 720p-60 was overcranking……..Don’t want 1/2 speed.
I should have known better, but have not used that function.
Might be good for pit stop analysis.
Bob

vidiot

[Don Greening]

[Bob Jackson] “n the back of my mind 720p-60 was overcranking……..Don’t want 1/2 speed. “

720p 60 isn’t for overcranking. It’s for regular speed @30fps but the advantage here is 60 complete progressive frames a second. For overcranking you use the 720p 30 setting, then enable S & Q mode and then change the frame rate up to 60 fps. When you play that back in a 30fps timeline it will be at half speed.

– Don

[Bob Jackson]

I think i will try the 720p-60 first.
That should give me what i need.
Thanks again Don

vidiot