What are the best project settings in (Sony Vegas 11) to use with Canon Legria HFG40

[John Rofrano]

[Chaz Tin] “What are the best project settings in (Sony Vegas 11) to use with Canon Legria HFG40 .”

The best settings are those that match the format that you are shooting. Since you didn’t tell us that and since the Canon Legria HFG40 shoots a multitude of resolutions and frame rates (i.e., AVCHD – 1080: 59.94P / 59.94i / PF29.97 / 23.98P and MP4 – 1080: 59.94P / 29.97P / 23.98P; 720 and 360: 29.97P / 23.98P) we can’t answer that question. But the answer is to match exactly the resolution and frame rate that you are shooting with.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasstsoftware.com

[Eric Clinch]

Actually the Legria is probably the PAL version of this camera so will be shooting PAL framerates? Canon usually label Vixia as the NTSC version. I’ve an older Legria HFG10.

[John Rofrano]

[Eric Clinch] “Actually the Legria is probably the PAL version of this camera so will be shooting PAL framerates?”

You are correct. The Legria version shoots:

AVCHD
1920×1080 50p 28Mbps
1920×1080 50i/25p 24Mbps 17Mbps
1440×1080 50i/25p 5Mbps

MP4
1920×1080 50p 35Mbps
1920×1080 25p 24Mbps, 17Mbps
1280×720 25p 4Mbps
640×360 25p 3Mbps

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasstsoftware.com

[Chaz Tin]

Thanks for your replies, they’re very helpful.

I film interviews and the occasional music videos. Could you suggest what framerate is best in SV11 & Legria for those?

[Eric Clinch]

Personally I’d use 50p.

[John Rofrano]

I would use 25p. 😉

I just had a friend shoot a 2 hour talking head at 60p and boy did he regret it. The files were huge, playback skipped and he needed to deliver 29.97 and had all sorts of problems down-converting. It would have been much easier had he shot 30p.

So there isn’t one answer. You have to think about what you are shooting. Talking heads only needs 25p. In fact most video only needs 25p. I would only use 50p for motorcar races and other fast moving objects or for slow motion effects.

Then you need to think about how you will deliver these videos. If it’s for TV or DVD you might want to shoot 50i (interlaced). If it’s for web delivery you will want to shoot progressive. 50i will be smoother than 25p even thought they are both 25 frames per second. If you are delivering 25 fps then shoot 25 fps.

If you are looking for an overall go to setting, when in doubt, shoot on the AVCHD 1920×1080 25p 24Mbps setting. Make sure that your pans are very deliberate. You can’t swing a camera around at 25p like you could with 50i.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasstsoftware.com