How to shoot slow/fast motion

[tadeo garcia]

Hello all, I would like to know if anyone knows the settings to shoot slow/fast motion on a RED ONE? Will I be able to see the results on the monitors/viewfinder as i SHOOT?

Thanks in advance!

Tad

 

[M Carter]

I'll be renting a Red (Red One MX) for the first time in a few weeks. I understand the menu procedure for varispeed, but would love to hear some comments about in-camera viewing, and shutter speeds.

 

[Leo Burton]

If your project timebase is 24p or 25p, then if you shoot something at higher speed on varispeed, it plays back in slowmotion in camera/monitor, and when you transfer it to your computer for editing. It will already be slow-motion, no conforming required.

I tend to use the 180degree shutter rule, but you need to be aware of rolling flicker if you get the shutter speed wrong. You sometimes need to adjust a bit depending on your country.

 

[tadeo garcia]

But where is the setting? i've looked intot he varispeed setting but i still don't see anything.

Thanks!

Tad

 

[Gil Taveras]

1) Project - Configure - Resolution 3k/2k
2) Project - Configure - Frame rate - 59.94

 

[T_Freundlich]

2) Project - Configure - Frame rate - 59.94

Actually, this is the project timebase, not the actual slow motion / varispeed setting that I believe Tadeo is asking about. So unless your project is actually being mastered for 59.94 fps there's no need to touch this setting. Also, you can't record multiple time bases onto the same media without formatting it in between.

@ Tad - how fast you can go with the varispeed depends on the project resolution. Basically 4.5K and 4K are max 30 fps, 3k is max 60 fps and 2K is max 120 fps for varispeed (though there are some variations based on Redcode setting and media type, see p. 47 of the Red One Ops Guide). So once you drop the project resolution down to 3K or 2K (as Gil mentioned, System -> Project -> Configure -> Resolution 3k/2k) and enable the varispeed (Sensor -> Varispeed -> tick the varispeed box) you can then go to the Varispeed frame rate in the same menu and set any value in increments of 1 fps up to the maximums mentioned above.

 

[ericyoung]

Varispeed is any time your Record Framerate is different from your Project Timebase Framerate. The Project Timebase is effectively the Playback framerate.

You won't see the effect while shooting, only when playing back.

You can use 180 degree Relative shutter - however, if you are say shooting at 48fps with a 24fps project timebase, a 180 degree Relative shutter is equivalent to 1/96 second and will have the motion blur characteristics of 1/96.
If you want to keep the motion blur the same as if you were shooting 24fps, then you'd either have to manually set the shutter speed to 1/48 sec or set 360 degree Relative Shutter.

Note that a Varispeed above twice the Project framerate will limit your slowest shutter speed to 1/Record Framerate, and so motion blur will be less than shooting at the more usual 24, 25, 30 fps.

 

[M Carter]

...and I assume that when you're shooting with the windowed sensor (3k, 2k, etc) the display remains the same - full frame on the LCD with the same framing guides, etc? (I can't imagine it would be the thumbnail-ish size of the actual sensor crop...) (And thanks for all the info guys).

 

[T_Freundlich]

Yep, the display works exactly the same except for the fact that the angle of view available from any given lens becomes narrower due to the sensor crop. Mostly just feels like having a longer lens on the camera (or switching to a smaller format, i.e. S16 for 2K, depending on which way you want to think of it)... and to be precise, the depth of field for a given angle of view will of course also be different...

One thing that many people have noted (and my experience has been similar) is that at very high framerates (e.g. 100+ fps) the image quality does seem to lessen a tiny bit, beyond just the drop in resolution. Apparently something to do with the sensor being sampled more times per second (somebody please add/correct if you have more exact info)... But not complaining, that 2K raw @ 120fps is still pretty darn sweet. :wink5:

 

[M Carter]

Yes, there's a handy FOV simulator on the main RED site where you enter focal length, sensor crop, FPS, etc. Nicely done, though i'd prefer it was a photo of a human being or something that the brain relates to the scale of.

Going 120 FPS does make me think about the quality of wider focal lengths. With many wider lenses having some amount of barrel distortion, seems like renting the best primes you can get is a good plan for an extremely cropped sensor.

 

[andy black]

wont it only use the middle of the lens tho, thus wide angle distortion is not such a problem?

 

[M Carter]

Not as bad as the edges, but looking at reviews with graphics there's still a fair amount - might be more a problem for effect work, motion tracking footage for set extensions, etc? On the other hand, everyone shooting APS-C DSLRs have gotten used to the fact that most lenses performance falls apart at the edges. So you do get the benefit of a nice center area with little or no CA and softness.

 

[tadeo garcia]

Thank you thank thank you for all the info!