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Slow Motion Characteristics
A few years ago, it was very expensive to purchase a slow-motion camera. Today SloMo cams has become quite affordable. This is a huge opportunity for amateur filmmakers and photographers, to produce stunning Slow Motion Shots.
Of course, there is still a big price range. This is exactly where 1000fps.net should help you. On 1000fps.net you will find High-speed cameras in different price categories, therefore you can get the most out of your available budget.
Now I would like to list a few technical aspects, what matters when buying a slow motion camera.
Framerate / frames per second
The "framerate" or also called "frame frequency" indicates how many frames are recorded or played back in a certain period of time. The time span usually corresponds to one second and the framerate is therefore specified in fps (=frames per second). The more frames per second are displayed, the smoother the video looks to the viewer. That's why modern monitors, have a playback frequency of 144Hz or higher.
Note: The frame rate is also called frame frequency and is specified in Hertz (Hz).
The human eye can detect up to 24fps. Below this limit, we immediately recognize that a film does not run smoothly. That’s why 24fps is a standard framerate. There are also other framerates like 25fps/50fps (= European standard called PAL format) or 30fps/60fps (= American standard called NTSC format). If you are interested in the topic of slow motion videos and slow motion cameras you should also get more familiar with 24fps. 24 frames per second is the best playback framerate for slow motion sequences. The reason is that 24fps is the lowest playback frame rate that still gives a smooth video. To understand this, here is an example.
Calculation of the slow motion factor
If a SloMo cam can record for example 240fps, then a slow-motion effect of 10x times can be achieved. This means you can slow down the original recorded video 10x times.
This results from the calculation: 240fps/24fps = 10x
- 240fps is the recorded frame rate of the SlowMo camera
- 24fps is the frame rate at which the SloMo video is rendered (=played back)
That's why 24fps playback framerate is best for slow motion Shots. If we playback the video at 30fps instead of 24fps, we would only get a slow motion factor of 8 (240fps/30fps = 8). So always playback the recorded highspeed videos with 24fps to achieve the maximum slowdown.
Resolution
The video resolution is an essential aspect of slow-motion cameras, because it significantly influences the quality of the high-speed video. In practice this means: Can the SlowMo cam record in 4K, Full HD (1080p – 1920x1080), HD Ready (720p - 1280x720) or even less?
It makes no sense to buy a slow motion camera that can possibly record 1000fps but only at a very very low resolution (= poor quality). You will not enjoy watching the slow-motion video later on a TV or monitor.
Therefore the recommendation:
Always take a close look at the resolution at the respective frame rate.
At least HD Ready (1280x 720) is necessary. This still provides a usable and good quality
Bitrate
In the case of slow-motion videos, the bitrate is the number of bits recorded per second. Since the term byte (in particular megabyte) is more familiar to many, I use it. The converting factor is eight. 1 byte is equal to 8 bit.
If a SloMo camera can record videos at 100Mbps (=Megabits per second), this means that 12.5 MB/s (=Megabytes per second) of video data is written to the memory card. The higher the bitrate per second, the better the quality of the video. It is possible, if you record a highspeed-video in 4K with a low bitrate, that a video recorded with "only" Full HD will have a better quality. So the bitrate criterion should not be neglected. Especially when buying the memory card for the slow-motion camera, the biterate must be considered.
Other
Here are listed other important slow motion characteristics, which are important.
Manual operation
One of the most important points. To achieve the best results, the slow motion camera should be manually operable. By this is meant:
- Can I set shutter speed, aperture, the ISO value manually, or is everything set automatically by the camera.
- Can different lenses be used.
This is the key point to achieve a professional result . Here we are mostly in the area of SLR or system cameras.
To achieve the best possible results with your high-speed camera, it is necessary to understand the interaction of shutterspeed, aperture and ISO values. This article summarizes everything very well.
Lighting conditions
When high frame rates are recorded, this results in a low shutter speed. For example, if 1000fps is recorded, a shutter speed of at least 1/1000 must be selected. The camera's aperture is usually opened completely at such high frame rates. The third parameter, the ISO value, can then be adapted. If the lighting conditions are not good and the ISO value is too high, you get noise in the video, which is reflected in poor video quality. You can find more details about the lighting conditions in this blog post.
For us this means in summary:
We give the SloMo camera as much light as possible, so that the ISO value remains as small as possible.
Mobility
This aspect is aimed at universal use. Can I take the slow-motion camera with me everywhere, or does it even fit in my pocket? Is it light or heavy? It may also be very large and bulky and may require an external power supply?
The list could be continued, but the listed characteristics are the most important criteria. You should definitely not be scared off if you've never heard some of these terms before. it's not as complicated as it sounds. However, some initial research might be helpful.
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