Topic: Need help with settings on new camera

[jsand0101]

So i just bought a Panasonic Zs50 to film concerts with. I previously owned the Zs20 and while it was good it still wasnt great. Im still not good with filming but any help with the camera settings would be great. Thanks

[xjsb125]

Your camera settings will always vary, based upon the lighting situations you are in. If you are in a low light situation, you will want to let more light into the camera. From what I understand, the ZS50 traded off resolution for sensor size. In other words, they made the image sensor bigger to allow more light, and gave it a lower pixel resolution to compensate for it. Regardless, in low light situations try to refrain from using the zoom as much as possible. The maximum aperture for the camera is F3.3, which isn't bad at all for a point and shoot. However, as you zoom, that aperture gets smaller, letting in less light. The shutter speed should be about double your frame rate. So if you were shooting at 1080p60, you would try to set your shutter speed around 1/120. Likewise if you were shooting at 1080p30, your shutter speed would need to be around 1/60. I don't know the shutter speed increments on that camera, but try to to keep it double the frame rate. ISO in low light will probably need to be 800, 1600 max. Anything above 1600 will be very grainy. If you are in situations that are in good to great lighting or outdoors, your settings will start to move in the opposite direction, as you don't want to let too much light in, blowing out the image (making it very white).

As with any new camera, audio recorder, microphone, etc, take time to read the manual and learn how to use the manual settings. Practice, practice, practice! The better you understand the manual controls, the better chance you have of maximizing your camera's potential with video. I hope this helps you out a little, and good luck!

[fguidry]

... The shutter speed should be about double your frame rate. So if you were shooting at 1080p60, you would try to set your shutter speed around 1/120. Likewise if you were shooting at 1080p30, your shutter speed would need to be around 1/60. I don't know the shutter speed increments on that camera, but try to to keep it double the frame rate...

What issue or visual effect would you expect if one chooses not to follow the 180 degree "rule?"

I've shot 30 fps video with a 1/40 shutter often and it looks OK to me.

Fran

[xjsb125]

Shooting a shutter speed at double the frame rate helps to keep movement looking natural. A shutter speed that is too low can cause motion blur to happen, and if it is too high it can cause the motion to become jerky, almost stop motion-like. However, it's subjective to you who is shooting the video, and if you like what you see, ultimately that is what matters. But, you can always try that double the frame rate rule. You might like it better!

[morst]

What issue or visual effect would you expect if one chooses not to follow the 180 degree "rule?"

I've shot 30 fps video with a 1/40 shutter often and it looks OK to me.

Wow, I'm super glad that I looked at this thread.

I've never heard of the 180 degree "rule" for shutter speed on video before, but now I've just looked it up, and here's a pretty cool youtube video that demonstrates why the guy who posted it prefers to stick to the 180 rule.
https://youtu.be/npCs9BijTEc?t=3m25s

At 3:25 he explains that exposure can be controlled using shutter speed, ISO, and aperture settings in still photography, but for video, we want to leave shutter speed at 1 / (2x frame rate), and control exposure only with aperture and ISO.

at 4:33, he discusses that high shutter speed can be very useful if you plan to slow the footage down, which reminds me of the only audio reason to record with high bit rates like 96kHz!

OMG, at 6:34 he goes to 360 degree shutter. His hands look like hams when he moves them quickly!!!!!!! The detail of his fingers disappears into motion blur!

PS- the reason it's called the 180 rule, if you don't wanna look it up, is that the mechanical shutters on film movie cameras typically had a half-disk for a shutter that spun in a circle once for each exposure.

[fguidry]

The thing is, motion blur is part of the look of video. Many video shooters demand a 24 fps frame rate precisely because they feel it gives the "right" motion blur, and higher frame rates and faster shutters with their lesser motion blur are "too videoish" as opposed to "filmic."

I'm simply suggesting that the 180 "rule" is a rule for film with its rotating shutter and not necessarily for digital imaging. And further that one would be well advised to experiment to see the effect of different frame rates and shutter angles on their own footage rather than accepting any "rule" based on a completely different technology. I have certainly found times when a slower shutter was preferable to a wider aperture or higher ISO.

Fran