Why recording at 50p, 60p etc?

Yes, essentially, recording 50p or 25p and editing 25p will have the same result. If you're not doing a speed change there is no advantage to the higher frame rate.

Don't confuse frame rate with shutter speed. Shutter speed is basically to allow or prevent motion blur.

I guess I missed that aspect of your original post.

Yes, even if you're not editing 50p or HD there is more information available. You could use Cinema Tools to conform (slo-mo) the 50p down to 25p for excellent 50% speed slo-mo. You can use the HD resolution to reposition and zoom into areas if your editing Standard Definition.

The primary reason to shoot 50p is of course to produce 720p HD programming, it is not for slo-mo or re-framing.

Nexus_9 wrote:
But.... there has to be some way of taking advantage in shooting at 50p somehow.. What is the sense of doing it. I mean if want a really nice slowmo shot even working at 25p fot TV comercial for example.... The editing system should take advantage somehow of that extra amount of frames, even if the en product is at 25p...
Anybody could give some useful info about this please?

As you're finding out, most QT-powered apps will disregard the additional frames. The playback usually looks like nothing special. Not slow.

If you want to use the footage as a real slow-mo you would take the 50p clip into Cinema Tools. I think the process there is to "conform" the clip. If you conform to 25 and then save the new clip, when it plays back in QT or FCP, it should be 1/2 speed.

Haven't had to do this in a while, but I think that's the proper workflow. Try it with a COPY of a clip to test.

It all depends.

There can be exposure differences, because the shutter is open longer at 25p if you haven't set a certain shutter speed.

If you're shooting to a native setting then 25p will take less memory space than a 50p (fewer images), but some formats still record all 50fps.

Unless you're looking for a specific effect, don't shoot 25p and slow it down. There's not manipulation you can give to make it look as smooth.

But as long as the camera settings are the same, the individual frames from 50p and 25p would theoretically be very similar except for any shutter difference.

I've been shooting 1080 at 50p on a Panasonic TM700, and there is a big difference between 50p and 25p capture. I don't fully understand the technology, but 25p still has 50 frames... though each frame is repeated to allow for the 50 fields. Yet with 50P, each field is used as part of the capture sequence to create a highly detailed and smooth looking image .... which is not the same as the 'video look' that interlacing gives you .... it's so much better... more like a moving photograph.

Johnny

I have the HS700 and I would agree that there is a difference in quality. Slightly richer colours in 1080p50 as opposed to 1080i50 (25fps), and smoother as noted.

Here is my understanding of how this works (open to correction of course):
The Panasonic HS700 has 4 x 1080i50 capture 'modes' which are really just different quality bit rates.
HA: Approx. 17 Mbps (VBR)
HG: Approx. 13 Mbps (VBR)
HX: Approx. 9 Mbps (VBR)
HE: Approx. 5 Mbps (VBR)
These are essentially captured at 1080i50 (according to Panasonic manual), meaning they are captured at 50 interlaced frames per second, but when you transcode or rewrap, it seems to get converted into 25 frames per second (still interlaced as far as I can see on my monitor).

But when you export (output) the final footage to quicktime or mp4 you can choose to de-interlace and it remains 25 fps but it's now progressive or 25p, so it seems that Final Cut Pro recognises the 1080i50 as 1080i25 kinda of (hiding the 'extra' frames)? Is that accurate?

1080/50p: Approx. 28 Mbps (VBR)
This is essentially genuine 1080 50 progressive frames per sec, looks great (no interlacing) and runs smooth at 50fps, but as far as I can see, you cannot export to 1080 50p in Final Cut Pro, only 720 50p.

Please correct me if there are any inaccuracies.

Thanks

I don't know the answer, but I'd like to.

So that makes two of us asking now.

You can certainly use that process, but it is doubtful that it would have better quality. If you feel it does, then by all means use that workflow.

Remember that when shooting 50P to end up in a 25P project/sequence you're generally shooting at 50 to overcrank for slow motion.