In working with sports video, one of the problems I have run across is smooth motion and smooth slow motion.
The secret to really good slow motion video appears to start with the video camera itself.
As of now (2009) one of the cameras being touted as providing awesome slow motion potential is the RED ONE.
According to the informaiton on the RED ONE camera:
"Typical high-end HD camcorders have 2.1M pixel sensors and record with 3:1:1 color sub-sampled video at up to 30fps.
RED offers the Mysterium ™ Super 35mm cine sized (24.4×13.7mm) sensor, which provides 4K (up to 30 fps), 3K (up to 60 fps) and 2K (up to 120 fps) capture, and all this with wide dynamic range and color space in 12 bit native RAW. At 4K, that’s more than 5 times the amount of information available every second and a vastly superior recording quality.
In addition, you get the same breathtaking Depth of Field and selective focus as found in film cameras using equivalent 35mm P/L mount lenses. Mysterium ™ boasts greater than 66db Dynamic Range thanks to its large 29 sq. micron pixels. And 12,065,000 pixels deliver resolution that can only be called Ultra High Definition."
RED offers the Mysterium ™ Super 35mm cine sized (24.4×13.7mm) sensor, which provides 4K (up to 30 fps), 3K (up to 60 fps) and 2K (up to 120 fps) capture, and all this with wide dynamic range and color space in 12 bit native RAW. At 4K, that’s more than 5 times the amount of information available every second and a vastly superior recording quality.
In addition, you get the same breathtaking Depth of Field and selective focus as found in film cameras using equivalent 35mm P/L mount lenses. Mysterium ™ boasts greater than 66db Dynamic Range thanks to its large 29 sq. micron pixels. And 12,065,000 pixels deliver resolution that can only be called Ultra High Definition."
I found a great example of the type of slow motion available with this camera posted on Vimeo. To watch this video in high definintion, you will need to actually view the video from Vimeo, but this embedded video will give you a good idea of what's possible.
skate - shot on red #1347 - 120 fps from
Opus Magnum Production on
Vimeo.
Not having the tens of thousands of dollars this camera costs, my challenge is how to produce a good sports action video with slow motion on the equipment I currently own, the Canon HV30 HDV.
While the RED ONE can produce a frame rate of 120 frames per second, awesome depth of field, at fantastic ultra high resolution, the Canon HV30 is limted to three different frame rates - 24P, 30P, and 60i and 1440 x 1080 (HDV) resolution.
By the way, there is a good article on Canon HV30 frame rates posted on camcorderinfo.com. This article also disscusses what frame rate to use for posting videos to places like YouTube (30 fps).
Some of the best slow motion I have created using the Canon HV30 used a frame rate of 24p with a shutter speed of 1/2000, editing in Sony Vegas, and then rendered to a WMV at 30p for upload.
My production of a backyard hummingbird video showcases the result.
Humming Bird Slow Motion Sample from Holly View Video on Vimeo.
The problem with this video is that it seems to be missing some of the motion. Its an interesting effect to almost see the hummingbird wings frozen, but I want to try the same subject using a 60i frame rate. This should capture more of the orginal motion and then provide better a slow motion result after editing (I hope).
