Should I record at 60 fps or 30 fps

This is surely a noob question but should I take my recordings at 30 fps or 60 fps? I mean can one purchase a 60 fps video and render it as 30 and be totally cool with it?

The reason I ask is majority of authors have their videos at 30 or 29.5 fps.

Please help. Thank you

hi there.

In terms of videography, this is quite a pertinent question.

If there is no justification for you to use 60fps, do not use it - it will only degrade your footage. If your end output is to slow down the video (using, say Twixtor’ in post), then you may use it, but it may introduce artifacts - again, degrading your footage.

The reason why i say do not use 60fps if it cannot be justified, is that, as a newbie, i suspect the limitations of your equipment might mean you are not going to be able to shoot Full HD<s/trong> at 60fps . You may be ‘scaling up’ a 60fps footage at 640x360 res or something) - not good. And therefore, any video you shoot at high frame rate will be seriously degraded and not up to native Full HD quality.

There are plenty of cheap cameras out there that can shoot 60fps or even 120fps (at 420x360 res) … believe me just because your camera can shoot 60fps, doesn’t mean you should. Believe me, i’ve toyed about with Magic Lantern on my 5D III trying to get 60fps at Full HD… you need to be spending at least $7,500 for this.

So ask yourself. What am i shooting? If you are shooting a close-up of a Humming Bird fluttering it’s wings, or an action shot of a skateboarder jumping, this might be good to use 60fps (with the idea of slowing it down to look dramatic). - but just be wary of your final output.

Good luck,

hi there.

In terms of videography, this is quite a pertinent question.

If there is no justification for you to use 60fps, do not use it - it will only degrade your footage. If your end output is to slow down the video (using, say Twixtor’ in post), then you may use it, but it may introduce artifacts - again, degrading your footage.

The reason why i say do not use 60fps if it cannot be justified, is that, as a newbie, i suspect the limitations of your equipment might mean you are not going to be able to shoot Full HD at 60fps . You may be ‘scaling up’ a 60fps footage at 640x360 res or something) - not good. And therefore, any video you shoot at high frame rate will be seriously degraded and not up to native Full HD quality.

There are plenty of cheap cameras out there that can shoot 60fps or even 120fps (at 420x360 res) … believe me just because your camera can shoot 60fps, doesn’t mean you should. Believe me, i’ve toyed about with Magic Lantern on my 5D III trying to get 60fps at Full HD… you need to be spending at least $7,500 for this.

So ask yourself. What am i shooting? If you are shooting a close-up of a Humming Bird fluttering it’s wings, or an action shot of a skateboarder jumping, this might be good to use 60fps (with the idea of slowing it down to look dramatic). - but just be wary of your final output.

Good luck,

I think your informations are a bit outdated Panda :slight_smile:

When you are talking about Canon DSLRs, you may be right (though I doubt it is close to 640x360 resolution, that is really low. Some really cheap cameras and smartphones record 240fps in that resolution already. I mean really, 640x360? We don’t have 2008 anymore).

Many Camcorders can record perfectly fine 60fps in FullHD resolution, a bunch of DSLRs can that, too, for quite some time now.

We have already a few 4K shooting cameras for under $2,000, recording FullHD in 60fps is really not a big deal these days.

Panasonic GH3 can record 1080p60, the 4K-able GH4 can even shoot 96frames per second in FullHD, although that seems to not be the best quality, but 60 frames is no problem.

Sony A7S, also 4k-ready, also no problem with 1080p60.

And Camcorders have for quite some time very good 1080p60 modes for way less than $7500.

Canon was always known for having a totally rubbish resolution and they don’t bring anything new to the dslr-video-table for years now.

Thank you both for your replies. OK so the point I got is, when recording at 60 fps, do not compromise quality and pretty much i have something to look out for when getting a new camera.

I guess the follow up question is:

Does the market want 60fps recordings like when a video editor shops around and sees a clip he goes… “O hey thats a cool footage of a puppy… awww… unfortunately its in 60 FPS… I wish the author would have made another recording in 30FPS like the rest of the folks…”

or would he go

“o hey cool footage… its in 60fps… ok no problem… i will just convert it to 30 fps”…

Based on your experiences being experts… which is likely to happen?

60fps can be converted to 30fps, but 30fps can never be converted to true 60fps (just every frame will be shown twice).

The main difference between these two framerates are aesthetics and feel.
Most people are trained to associate certain framerates to certain media. For example, movie theaters are showing their films in 24 frames per second, and many people believe that with this low framerate comes a big part of the “movie look and feel”.

50 or 60 fps are highly used in television, some in interlaced formats (50i, 60i), many people associate with those framerates a cheaper, television-soap-kind of look, although technically it is a more advanced technology.

What makes the difference in these viewer experiences is not only the amount of frames shown, but also the shutter speed these frames are captured with, which is most of the time directly related to the framerate. Usually, you expose one frame half as long as it stays on screen, e.g. with a framerate of 30fps, your shutterspeed is 1/60th of a second. With 24fps, your shutterspeed is ideally 1/48th of a second and with 60fps you probably go with 1/120th of a second.

This differences in exposure lengths highly affect the achieved motion blur. Things in motion recorded at a long shutter like 1/48th will have a longer motion blur trail, and look much more blurry, than a video recorded with a shutter of 1/120th.

Sport events, where fast moving objects are common, are often filmed in a higher framerate, because the resolution of the motion is much higher with a higher framerate and faster shutter speed.

Many people refer to the super-sharp, not so motion-blurry look as the “videolook”, opposed to the movie look.

The question to what framerate you want to use, or what shutterspeed you should use, can be answered by thinking about in what area your footage will be used in most likely, and what kind of things you record.
For static shots, you don’t really need 60fps, as the amount of motion does not require such a high framerate.

It all comes down to personal taste, aesthetics, feels, and what people are used to look at.

This is awesome… I got it now… Thank you

Excellent answers by other. I won’t add anything technical-related, just want to chime in with this info: Canon 7D mk2 can shoot 1080p in 60fps and is pretty much below $7500 :slight_smile:

Perhaps i should clarify. You cannot get a pure, genuine uncompressed 1080p video shot at 60FPS for under $7500.

You can if you are happy with mpeg lossy compression.

So really, i am talking about the upper Prosumer range.
And great answers guys !

In general your camera can record in one codec, no matter what mode it is set in.
as 60fps have twice the amount of info as 30fps, it should be recorded at twice the bitrate, though.

The new Samsung NX1 records in h.265 which is one of the newest and most advanced compressions these days. Should make a decent 1080p60.

I’m pretty sure a lossy codec is what most of the files here are recorded with, they are also delivered in a lossy codec (Quicktime Photojpeg).

Many people here are working with DSLRs like Canon 5d Mark 2/3, which record in lossy codecs.

What do you use Panda?

Thank you, Inoxide. We videotape horses and someone who recorded something for us (a pro), told us he recorded it in 60 frames so it would look better when it is slowed down. I typically slow it down when editing because the owners want drama…the horses gaits and flowing hair (mane, tail, and feet)…BUT I want it to be great quality too. So, would that “dramatic look” be better shot at 60 frames? We are currently shooting with a Canon XF305 pro video camera.

What to consider when trying to decide whether to shoot in 30 or 60 fps.