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Shutter speed


Tim Flower

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I'm interested in hearing people's different choices in shutter speed. I know that the standard for drama is 1/50 or 1/60. Does anyone prefer to shoot a faster shutter than that? and what is the standard choice for action, or offspeed (e.g 100fps) Does anyone's choice vary depending on what format they are shooting? If anyone has any standard format they follow with regard to shutter speed it would be great to hear.

Regards,

Tim.

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Well there are flicker regards, generally, but I'd say mostly everyone sticks to 1/48th for 24fps or 1/60th for 30 fps, and when shooting say 48fps you're at 1/96 so on and so forth. Sometimes you'll change shutter speed/angle when you're shooting and want an effect, such as the 90 degree shutter used in the opening of Saving Private Ryan, but a general rule of thumb, keep it standard.

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Well there are flicker regards, generally, but I'd say mostly everyone sticks to 1/48th for 24fps or 1/60th for 30 fps, and when shooting say 48fps you're at 1/96 so on and so forth. Sometimes you'll change shutter speed/angle when you're shooting and want an effect, such as the 90 degree shutter used in the opening of Saving Private Ryan, but a general rule of thumb, keep it standard.

 

Yes, tradition is to stick to the equivalent of a 180 degree shutter angle for any camera speed, so 1/48th for 24 fps, 1/200th for 100 fps, etc. However, you have some wiggle room within a range where the motion will stay "normal-looking" (traditional) because blur is determined by the amount of motion, and that can vary shot to shot. So often I've switched from 1/48th to 1/32nd for low-light scenes in digitally-shot productions -- as long as there isn't a lot of fast action, most people aren't going to notice the longer shutter speed, and it gives you another 1/2-stop of expsoure.

 

As for action scenes where you deliberately go for a shorter shutter angle/time to increase strobing, again, there is a whole range from barely noticeable to highly noticeable. I've used a 90-degree shutter angle for many fight scenes and whatnot and it's not too obnoxious, you just a bit of that strobier, crispier motion effect without hitting the audience over the head with it.

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The other thing you can do is go in the other direction, to a 360 degree shutter on a digital camera. That gives you lots more motion blur, thereby eliminating "strobing" (skipping or judder) completely. You can pan as fast or slow as you want that way, handy for accelerating spins.

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

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