Just pondering and reading some of the stuff about reactions to The Hobbit and its 48fps version.

Talking consumer gear and hobbyist level productions though.

What do we see as the pros and cons of 1080p 25/30fps against 720p 60fps (assuming the hardware won’t do 1080/60)?

Currently moving towards 720/60 myself I think (certainly for bike stuff).

slainte ❓ rob

The main advantage of 720/60 is the file sizes are smaller, and you can slow it down better for nice smooth slo-mo. If the video is just getting viewed mostly on the web 720p is fine.

The stuff about The Hobbit really sounds bad to me, but I think it’s also about using higher shutter speeds as well as frame rates. 24p is normally filmed at a 1/40-50 shutter speed which means there is motion blur, which actually smooths things out and is more flattering/’cinematic’ looking. Maybe not what you want for action stuff like biking though.

colournoise – Member

Just pondering and reading some of the stuff about reactions to The Hobbit and its 48fps version.

Talking consumer gear and hobbyist level productions though.

What do we see as the pros and cons of 1080p 25/30fps against 720p 60fps (assuming the hardware won’t do 1080/60)?

Currently moving towards 720/60 myself I think (certainly for bike stuff).

slainte rob

The main reason they are shooting The Hobbit at 48 fps is because they can. If a film maker can afford to store, process and edit the extra data (which they can) then they will. It gives them much more creative freedom in post. Plus it will have the added benefit of adding clarity and definition to 3d versions of the film.

For you or the average joe, I would say you almost certainly don’t need to worry about it. If you plan to do slow mo, shoot the highest frame rate you can achieve at your final output res. If you want your finished piece to look cinematic aim for 24 fps.

A lot of people are saying the 48fps in the Hobbit looks terrible? Like a day time soap opera show?

bwaarp – Member

A lot of people are saying the 48fps in the Hobbit looks terrible? Like a day time soap opera show?

A lot of people have seen The Hobbit?

On consumer gear it’ your data rate that’s important. Lots of camera try and squeeze HD into the same 18 Mbit/s as DVD – or even less. This is when you get horrible stutter and motion artefacts, They’re applying too much compression. it’s just not much good for filming anything moving (it’s why bike videos look awful on youtube).

Still searching for a small 720p 60fps solid state camcorder that do up to 18 Mbit/s and above. but I guess in the rush to higher resolution the manufacturers missed the sweet spot.