Disadvantages of shooting in 50i?
 

Hi,

I am currently shooting a project on downhill mountain bikes. I have been shooting alot in the 50i (pal) mode of the XH-A1 because it is the only way I can find that allows for smooth slow motion in post. Most of the shots are in 50i so I can choose what shots to slow down at the editing stage.

The final output I want to go for is progressive, because I prefer the more film like look, so I am dropping the 50i footage into a 25p sequence with a field dominance of 'none' in Final Cut Pro. Am I loosing much resolution by doing this? Are there better ways of de-interlacing? Is there an equivalent of converting the 50i footage to the 25f setting on the XH-A1 in post?

Any advice or suggestions on improved workflow would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not sure how FCP works but Adobe Premier will use the fields for building slow motion frames. Yes, you do lose resolution when you do that but it's not really noticeable and the trade off of using frames gives you a better slow motion effect.

The alternative is to use After Effects, if you have it, and use the Timewarp effect.

Your ultimate problem is that when rendered to DVD at 25p you will suffer from judder to much the same effect as you saw when you shot 25p.

Just want to wish you luck with your project mate - am not too great with the finer details of FCP like you're enquiring about, but as a fellow Belfast-man I just wish to say good luck :o) The XH-A1 rules!