Shutter settings for film look
 

Would I be right in thinking that the best shutter settings to achieve a film look with 25F are 50 or 120?

It is common to have a 180 degree shutter angle for film - which means that shutter speed for 25F would be 1/50. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_angle

Cheers, Erik

I'm not 100% but I think it's 1/48 for the equivalent of 180 degrees.

I think 1/48 is for 24F, which is NTSC film, or the next closest thing :)

I'm using PAL so do the same speeds apply?

As the formula on wikipedia states:

Shutter angle/360 = shutter speed/frame interval

PAL is 25 frames per second (that is frame interval 1/25), NTSC 24 fps. Hence, a 180 degree shutter angle in PAL corresponds to shutter speed 1/50 and in NTSC to 1/48.

Cheers, Erik

What constitutes video that looks like film is highly subjective.
I think shutter speed formulas detract from creating what you like the 'look' of.
Use the force Luke.

There's way more that goes into making video look like film other than the shutter speed. That's probably the least of your worries. Shooting 25f for PAL is a good start. You'll also want to get some distance between the camera and the subject so you can zoom in a little and get a shallower depth of field. We all could write a book on trying to get video to look like film. Go research that topic on these threads and try to soak up and practice as much as possible. If you've got the A1 or G1 then you've got a good start.

You personally, will never get your video to look like film. Mainly because you will know your filthy little secret that you shot it on video.

The crispness of the picture.
The brilliant color.
The fluid motion.

It will always be there. Haunting you. Teasing you.
Begging you to shoot more.

Your audience will be awestruck. Your family will finally accept your “genius.”

But, the tiny voice in your head will always be ghoulishly whispering,
“You’re not fooling anyone…..video guy.”

Eric, I LOVE that post. By far the funniest thing I've read in a while. Funny because it's so dang true. :)

We all really have...there's tons of data on the "film look" on this board. Specifically, that the camera is the least of your worries. Lighting, set & costume design, makeup, acting, editing, sound design, color grading...and a great script to start the whole process play a much larger role in the "film look" than most anything you can do in the camera above and beyond correct exposure.

I'll re-iterate (from other posts) that I've seen 60i footage that looks like film and 35mm film footage that looks like video based purely on movement of objects within the frame...keep in mind these were all presented on a tv screen, not on a theater screen...but we have certain expectations visually as an informed audience and can tell when something was shot wrong.

My understanding is that one of the primary features of the "film look" is low depth of field. You achieve low DOF by opening the iris as wide as you can get it. If you do that, and at 1/48 your exposure is totally blown, then you have a choice to make: higher DOF by closing the iris, or faster shutter. I think that the DOF is more important, so I'd rather go with a fast shutter, as fast as is necessary to get good exposure. This is a great question though, and I'd be curious to hear more about what makes 1/48 exposure (at 24f) contribute to the film look.

Not necessarily. This is where the ND comes in handy...

Well, you would just add ND filters if it's too bright. 1/48 is isn't in stone.
You can increase the shutter speed to get that more crisp, action style look.
If it's realy low light with not too much movement you can get away with 1/24. Lower than this will be more "artistic."

It's the frame rate that makes the difference. 24f/p is softer..it takes away the harsh edges of video and removes the "reality" from 60i.

Ah yes... good point. I'm coming from a photographic background, and didn't have much experience with ND filters.