Exposure and 24p 1/50

[Cracker Funk]

I've shot a lot of footage at 1/100. For really slow-moving scenes (dialog-heavy), honestly, nobody can notice, except for maybe DPs. For action-scenes, the difference is rather pronounced. I think even non-filmmakers can tell that something is just...off.

There was a ways back when we had a BIG-ol' debate on the merits of the 180-rule. I really just wanted someone to explain to me WHY we followed it -- what was the link between shutter speed and frame rate?

The general consensus we reached is this -- there is no link between shutter speed and frame rate (except that your shutter speed obviously can't be slower than your frame rate). The 180 rule exists simply because of the history of how cameras were made, and more importantly -- audiences have grown accustomed to it. As a general rule, it's good to keep your shutter speed at or near 1/50 or 1/60, simply because it creates a motion blur that audiences accept as normal, and anything different will weird them out, consciously or not.

Disclaimer: there's always an exception to the rule, Private Ryan, yadda yadda.

Anyway, to answer the OP's question -- if you can't up your f-stop, yeah, you're gonna need more ND filters. Keep in mind that this of course is gonna keep you at a really shallow depth of field; maybe you want that, maybe you don't.

[wheatgrinder]

order of operations?

Decide your shutter speed based on the look you want.
Decide your fstop based on the depth of field you want.

Set your SS as decided
Set you fstop as decided
Look through the viewfinder and check the exposure:
If its too dark add some light
If its too bright take away some light.

• literally take away the light, using flags, scrims etc..
• use ND filters to lower the light amount entering the lens

Now, if your not dead set on a specific DOF, then you can try lowering or raising the fstop to see if you can get the exposure right. Understanding that doing so will change the DOF.

[Rob B]

I went with 1/50 for 24p for most of my footage. I feel like it's a tiny bit soft. I think we are trending away from the look really. Folks are getting so many impressions on clearer and more definition the old style rules will feel fairly dated in a few years.