# 1DX II 1080p @120fps real resolution issue.



## uxr51 (Aug 17, 2016)

Hello, 

I have been looking at videos from the 1DX II at 1080P 120FPS but all of them look more like 720p. This is an issue I've read many reviewers mention. 

Does anyone have an idea if canon is able to address this in the future with a firmware update? Or is it not likely?


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## mistaspeedy (Aug 17, 2016)

My wild guess is that probably nothing will change.
I don't remember Canon ever significantly improving video quality with a firmware update.
The 1-series bodies never had, and probably never will have Magic Lantern, so that is another dead end.

My guess is that it probably isn't possible, and even if it was, they simply want you to go and buy one of their dedicated video cameras.


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## marvinhello (Aug 23, 2016)

uxr51 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have been looking at videos from the 1DX II at 1080P 120FPS but all of them look more like 720p. This is an issue I've read many reviewers mention.
> 
> Does anyone have an idea if canon is able to address this in the future with a firmware update? Or is it not likely?



Yes Canon uses pixel binning to read entire sensor, the resulting RAW bayer is about 700 lines of resolution. the 60p and 120p on 1DX II are the same quality and on par with 5D III 1080p.

Unfortunately this is the only efficient way of reading out a pixel dense FF sensor without lineskipping.


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## Jack Douglas (Aug 23, 2016)

marvinhello said:


> uxr51 said:
> 
> 
> > Hello,
> ...



From someone who knows a lot more than me please comment. I understand that the 4K 60p of the 1DX II is actually quite good and a worthy feature but beyond that it doesn't sound impressive. So realistically, as a Canon shooter what is fine and what isn't with the 1DX II. I'm not familiar as yet with all the catch-phrases or jargon so please be fairly explicit if you don't mind.

Jack


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## marvinhello (Aug 24, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> marvinhello said:
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4K at various frame rates on 1DX II are excellent quality. People just complain about the soft 1080p mode.

For comparison, S35 HD mode on 1DC is very sharp and on par with C100/C300.


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## PureClassA (Aug 28, 2016)

I'm not so sure, I''ve seen some very good looking 120fps footage from the DX2. Some from pros who use REDs on a regular basis.


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## Jack Douglas (Aug 29, 2016)

PureClassA said:


> I'm not so sure, I''ve seen some very good looking 120fps footage from the DX2. Some from pros who use REDs on a regular basis.



All I've been able to find is rather disgruntled comments regarding the video of either the 5D4 or 1DX II that are based on folk being annoyed mostly by missing features. When I viewed 1DX II video samples they looked good to me but I'm one of the least knowledgeable, for sure. It would be nice to see samples with commentary demonstrating why it is "crap". The 5D4 is getting all kinds of ridicule from some and clearly some of it is not well founded and I have trouble knowing who to believe.

Jack


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## East Wind Photography (Aug 29, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> PureClassA said:
> 
> 
> > I'm not so sure, I''ve seen some very good looking 120fps footage from the DX2. Some from pros who use REDs on a regular basis.
> ...



I have not noticed a large degredation at 120fps. However i will admit, my standards are low for that purpose. 1080p as of late has seen a big hit in iq. Digic 6. There are a lot of threads here as to why but i think it has to do with compression and perhaps the need to differentiate the dslr line from the cinema line.

However when iq counts, i go to 4k and downsample...doesnt help with 120fps mode. Ill pay more attention and see if i can get some real world examples of all modes to compare.


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## Jack Douglas (Aug 29, 2016)

East Wind Photography said:


> Jack Douglas said:
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> > PureClassA said:
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Thanks. I suspect for my needs it'll be just fine. My problem is I got kind of psyched up about getting the 1DX II and now have shifted because of the 30 MPs of the 5D4 being more important to me.

Jack


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## East Wind Photography (Aug 29, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> East Wind Photography said:
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Yes its a moderate increase. I think the 5d4 will be an excellent camera. Im still not quite sure how they are going to get 4k to write reliably to a CF card. I hope its not because they are compressing it more. I am completely statisfied with the 1dx2 and the low noise factor makes up for the sensor resolution. Perhaps the 5d4 will have better noise NR.


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## Jack Douglas (Aug 29, 2016)

Thanks East Wind, I'm giving myself till February and then I will get one or the other, so you views will be much appreciated. It really is the 30 MPs over the 14 fps that I'm trading off against and of course disappointed about not getting some 1 series features. Mind you, touch screen is a nice addition, etc. 

Cost wasn't a factor until Friday when I up and bought the 400 DO II. Now I may have to give up my 300 if I go for the 1DX II. Can't explain the lens purchase since it wasn't even on the radar! 

Jack


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## East Wind Photography (Aug 29, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> Thanks East Wind, I'm giving myself till February and then I will get one or the other, so you views will be much appreciated. It really is the 30 MPs over the 14 fps that I'm trading off against and of course disappointed about not getting some 1 series features. Mind you, touch screen is a nice addition, etc.
> 
> Cost wasn't a factor until Friday when I up and bought the 400 DO II. Now I may have to give up my 300 if I go for the 1DX II. Can't explain the lens purchase since it wasn't even on the radar!
> 
> Jack



Its called GAS (gear aquisition syndrom) and we are all afflicted. I traded in my 300 f2.8 for a 300 f2.8II. That was a GAS purchase for sure...


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## privatebydesign (Aug 29, 2016)

East Wind Photography said:


> Jack Douglas said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks East Wind, I'm giving myself till February and then I will get one or the other, so you views will be much appreciated. It really is the 30 MPs over the 14 fps that I'm trading off against and of course disappointed about not getting some 1 series features. Mind you, touch screen is a nice addition, etc.
> ...



Ha, does that mean I am immune? I am still working with my 1DS MkIII's and 300 f2.8 IS MkI 

Mind you I did get the 11-24 and I will be getting the Pro-2000 at some point, so maybe not........


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## Jack Douglas (Aug 29, 2016)

All it proves is that there are different stages of the disease, just like cancer.

Jack


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## East Wind Photography (Aug 29, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> All it proves is that there are different stages of the disease, just like cancer.
> 
> Jack



It very much is like cancer. It either eats you to death or ends in divorce.


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## PureClassA (Aug 30, 2016)

East Wind Photography said:


> Its called GAS (gear aquisition syndrom) and we are all afflicted. I traded in my 300 f2.8 for a 300 f2.8II. That was a GAS purchase for sure...



LOL - you didn't "trade" for that. You gave up that old 300 PLUS some cash : ;D Fixed that for ya


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 7, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> Thanks East Wind, I'm giving myself till February and then I will get one or the other, so you views will be much appreciated. It really is the 30 MPs over the 14 fps that I'm trading off against and of course disappointed about not getting some 1 series features. Mind you, touch screen is a nice addition, etc.
> 
> Cost wasn't a factor until Friday when I up and bought the 400 DO II. Now I may have to give up my 300 if I go for the 1DX II. Can't explain the lens purchase since it wasn't even on the radar!
> 
> Jack



Guess I'm not a man of word after all. I will be receiving my 1DX II on Wednesday.

I understand that frame grabs of action would require a high shutter speed and that high shutter speeds don't make for smooth video. Does anyone have a sample of the degradation that would be observed in the video in that case, is it really noticeable?

Jack


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## asmundma (Oct 7, 2016)

I have the 1dx2 and its excellent at 4k60p video, better then my Sony's. What I found, shoot 4k60p, then you can run it at 50% speed without any frame blending. However using "optical flow" in FCPX at 25% it gives better quality then the 100-120frame 1080.

So I would say - forget the 100 or 120p 1080 and use the 4k. I will probably not use any 1080 resolution on this camera.


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## East Wind Photography (Oct 7, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> Jack Douglas said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks East Wind, I'm giving myself till February and then I will get one or the other, so you views will be much appreciated. It really is the 30 MPs over the 14 fps that I'm trading off against and of course disappointed about not getting some 1 series features. Mind you, touch screen is a nice addition, etc.
> ...


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## East Wind Photography (Oct 7, 2016)

asmundma said:


> I have the 1dx2 and its excellent at 4k60p video, better then my Sony's. What I found, shoot 4k60p, then you can run it at 50% speed without any frame blending. However using "optical flow" in FCPX at 25% it gives better quality then the 100-120frame 1080.
> 
> So I would say - forget the 100 or 120p 1080 and use the 4k. I will probably not use any 1080 resolution on this camera.



Im forced for the time being to use 1080 when recording sporting events for my teams. I could get a 2nd 256gb cfast card but ....

For short scenes 4k is great.


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 8, 2016)

Makes me kind of laugh relative to the outspoken comments about the 5D4 needing CFast and why isn't it in there, even though that's not a bottle neck for the camera. Imagine the screaming if it was. The camera is too expensive for so many but it should have CFast! 

What brand 256 do you have?

Jack


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## East Wind Photography (Oct 8, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> Makes me kind of laugh relative to the outspoken comments about the 5D4 needing CFast and why isn't it in there, even though that's not a bottle neck for the camera. Imagine the screaming if it was. The camera is too expensive for so many but it should have CFast!
> 
> What brand 256 do you have?
> 
> Jack



I use the lexar 3500X. Works just fine recording 4k60. Thats about as taxing as it gets for this camera.

The 1dx2 can record 4k30 on a good CF card. Im wondering if the 5div compresses it more in order to meet the write speed? Anyway im sure it works fine. The only thing i wish the 1dx2 had was the ability to switch recording modes when failing over to the CF card. That is if younare recording 4k60 and the card fills and fails over to the CF, it would fail over to 4k30 to keep recording without skipping a beat.


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 8, 2016)

Well, it's going to be taxing for me learning all these things I've never done! 

But it'll be fun! 

I tried to get a sub and pay the difference on the 64 to go to a 128 but they didn't even have one in stock. 256 is so expensive. What I imagine is that wildlife video would generally be more segmented unlike recording a performance. However, if you're not near a computer to dump the files there is still a problem. Maybe I'll have to ask Santa for CFast cards.

Jack


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## East Wind Photography (Oct 9, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> Well, it's going to be taxing for me learning all these things I've never done!
> 
> But it'll be fun!
> 
> ...



Ive found that once you start doing 4k you realize how poor your computers are and need to upgrade them too. Its never endng....


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 9, 2016)

East Wind Photography said:


> Jack Douglas said:
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Just what I was suspecting! I have one advantage - my wife is always encouraging me to upgrade, believe it or not. 

Jack


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## Besisika (Oct 10, 2016)

East Wind Photography said:


> The only thing i wish the 1dx2 had was the ability to switch recording modes when failing over to the CF card. That is if you are recording 4k60 and the card fills and fails over to the CF, it would fail over to 4k30 to keep recording without skipping a beat.


That would be nice!
I haven't used 30fps before, but I find myself using it more and more. The rolling shutter on the 4K24fps is unacceptable, while on the 60p is very well controlled, the 30fps seems reasonable. Besides, my CF can handle the 30fps very well.
I used to use 5D III as my B camera, but I have more difficulties matching the footage. Most likely I will have to upgrade it to 5D IV someday. It has 30fps as well. If, your fail over to CF, works then I am good. I have few CF.
A little bit off topic, I am wondering (a little negativity) if it is a technology related issue, if they will fix it on next firmware or if this is their way to tell people to upgrade but 4K24fps worries me. It forces me to use only one camera and running all over the place in between to get some B rolls, and 60fps eats up my card, and so far I have only one C-fast. A-roll goes to Ninja Assassin.


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 10, 2016)

Besisika, or others that do DSLR video a lot, if you are able please recommend a good book that will help get me started with the 1DX II. I've been reading all I can but it's difficult getting up to speed, especially with the jargon. I think it would be close to a crime for me to have purchased a 1DX II and not shoot wildlife video to some extent! 

Jack


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## Besisika (Oct 10, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> Besisika, or others that do DSLR video a lot, if you are able please recommend a good book that will help get me started with the 1DX II. I've been reading all I can but it's difficult getting up to speed, especially with the jargon. I think it would be close to a crime for me to have purchased a 1DX II and not shoot wildlife video to some extent!
> 
> Jack


Jack,
I am not a professional when it comes to videography and I don't think I am the right person to suggest. But, I can tell you what I did, and let's wait for others to comment.

I am a lifestyle storyteller. 
In photography I value creativity, but in motion I focus mainly in history (not even story). That's mainly because I am an amateur. I use video to complement the missing aspects of photography: motion (hence 3D) and sound.

1 - The main source of my knowledge is Lynda.com
I subscribed for about 6 months and that was enough to get me started.
Look at 
https://www.lynda.com/Video-training-tutorials/78-0.html
and start with the category DSLR video.

2 - I expanded my knowledge a bit, even though I am not interested in cinematography at all, by reading outside of my interest.
This is an advanced and addresses the needs of cinematographers (which I am not or intend to be at all)
The book is called the 5 C's of cinematography

https://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Five_C_s_of_Cinematography.html?id=0gBMAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y

Yes, it is a crime (not close to) to have 1DX II without using it for video. But you know this already; in order to learn: shoot as much as you can, even insignificant stuff. You will understand and remember much better issues that you encountered.


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## syder (Oct 10, 2016)

I've used https://www.amazon.com/Cinematography-Theory-Practice-Cinematographers-Directors/dp/0240812093/ref=zg_bs_2023_9 as a text for teaching cinematography before, but it's quite heavily geared towards fiction (or at least situations where you'll be able to use lights to shape your image).

One big thing to consider with any DSLR for video is the ergonomics - will you be primarily using a tripod? If not holding the camera out in front of you (especially with a big telephoto lens for wildlife) is unlikely to be stable and will get very heavy very quickly. There are a multitude of 15mm rails systems out there that will let you shoulder mount for stability (and you dont need to spend a huge amount on one).

Also look into getting a good quality variable ND filter (singh-rey or similar). When your shutter is mainly going to be set at 1/2*frame rate there are times when there's just too much light without some ND. But cheap NDs are likely to soften your image and give it a colour cast.

Video pretty much always has a lot less latitude than 14bit RAW images, so you want to get your image close to right in camera while using a profile that will avoid clipping blacks or whites - probably the Prolost flat settings (neutral profile, no sharpening). I also had some good results with the Visioncolor profiles when I was doing some DSLR video. And try to manual white balance before you shoot, having to fix it afterwards is far more of a pain than it is with stills.

Once you're happy with your filming setup I guess you'll want to think about editing software and grading images... If your computer will run it you might want to look at DaVinci Resolve, as it's free (or at least has a free version that will probably do everything you want in an NLE) and has some very powerful colouring tools.


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 10, 2016)

Besisika and Syder, thanks very much for these tips and suggestions. I'll be doing all I can to learn quickly but I know there are challenges. Do you guys have any thoughts on these active gimbal set-ups as well as a general purpose lens that's not for wildlife? I guess that is very personal based on subject matter but what do you think of the 24-70 F4? Initially anyway, I'd be shooting in wilderness holiday situations.

Jack


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## Besisika (Oct 11, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> Besisika and Syder, thanks very much for these tips and suggestions. I'll be doing all I can to learn quickly but I know there are challenges. Do you guys have any thoughts on these active gimbal set-ups as well as a general purpose lens that's not for wildlife? I guess that is very personal based on subject matter but what do you think of the 24-70 F4? Initially anyway, I'd be shooting in wilderness holiday situations.
> 
> Jack


Correction to my previous post: the 5D III shoots 30fps but HDMI is only 60fps and that's why I didn't like it. I did some extensive tests today and I prefer using it than the 24fps on the 1DX II. This way, all my footage will be 60fps with cinestyle.

Back to your Q; I don't use gimbal much due to time to set it up. I know that they are getting faster but I prefer not for now. I am a single band anyway. I use a tripod and a monopod.

I own the 24-70f4. It has a very good stabilization for video and I really like it, however I shoot only indoor video and f4 won't cut it most of the time - but it is perfect for handheld 10s snippet. For those who shoot outdoor, I guess, it would be a perfect lens and it takes the same ND filter as the 70-200 2.8


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 11, 2016)

Thanks for that. I was reading the manual and boy it's not easy to extract shooting guideline information for a novice. 

Someone has made a comment about shooting 4k and outputting 2k - I didn't seem to see anything on that??

Also in buying another CFast card, I see Delkin being recommended - any thoughts?

I'm afraid my head is spinning.

Jack


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## syder (Oct 11, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> Thanks for that. I was reading the manual and boy it's not easy to extract shooting guideline information for a novice.
> 
> Someone has made a comment about shooting 4k and outputting 2k - I didn't seem to see anything on that??
> 
> ...



Shooting 4k and outputting 2k/HD is a way of ensuring that you get very sharp HD footage, and that you dont lose any resolution if you need to stabilize footage or crop in slightly to reframe. Its been one of the common uses of 4K cameras so far, as so little content has been watched at native resolution. It wouldn't be in the camera manual as it's something you typically do in postproduction, indeed if you did downsample in camera and then stabilized or cropped you would be losing resolution.

Active gimbals are relatively specialized tools for adding fluid movement rather than general purpose supports. They tend to work best with wide/UWA lenses and will add a lot of bulk to your wilderness kit (although if you have a 4x4 with you i guess that wouldn't matter). I wouldn't worry about them for now if I were you. The main support you'll likely use is a good tripod with a fluid head. What kind of tripod setup do you have for your wildlife photography?

Besisika - how do you find Cinestyle? I never liked it at all. I thought it rendered skin tones horribly and the log curve just brought out a lot of the noise in the shadows with the 5DmIII's 4:2:0 footage. I've generally been unconvinced by log gamma with 8 bit video outside of shooting CLOG using DNx + Atomos recorders with a C100 which is 4:2:2 and a fairly high bitrate, it just means your already very thin image is being compressed into too small a luma range. The high bitrate 4:2:2 footage from the 1DX2 might be a significant step up when compared to earlier canon DSLRs though, I've not used one so cant say.


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 11, 2016)

syder, when I use a tripod, which isn't too often it's a carbon fiber lightweight unit that I put my Jobu Jr. on. I'm guessing the gimbal might work for video if it's carefully balanced and kept lose?? How would a fluid head differ?

Thanks about the 4k->2k.

Jack


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## Besisika (Oct 11, 2016)

syder said:


> Besisika - how do you find Cinestyle? I never liked it at all. I thought it rendered skin tones horribly and the log curve just brought out a lot of the noise in the shadows with the 5DmIII's 4:2:0 footage. I've generally been unconvinced by log gamma with 8 bit video outside of shooting CLOG using DNx + Atomos recorders with a C100 which is 4:2:2 and a fairly high bitrate, it just means your already very thin image is being compressed into too small a luma range. The high bitrate 4:2:2 footage from the 1DX2 might be a significant step up when compared to earlier canon DSLRs though, I've not used one so cant say.


Frankly, that is one of those things that my eyes don't see: skintone. I am sure that it is very important, since many claims to stick with Canon because it produces nice skintone, but my eyes don't see it.
I use atomos and prores HQ with my 5D. Yes, I see big difference in quality between the 5D III and 1DX II so most likely that's what you are referring to. I interpreted it as the difference between 1080 and 4K

I stick with Cinestyle because all of my past footage were shot with it. 10+ years ago, when I began photostory I decided to use it and changing profile will make my post even more time consuming when mixing and matching nowadays's footage with the old ones. Using the same profile and LUT tweaking is more manageable.
My main concern is now that I shot old stuff in 24fps, and it looks like I am going to shoot at 30fps the new ones, unless they fix the rolling shutter thing in next firmware.


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 11, 2016)

Is it "smoothness" that determines the speed you shoot at?

Jack


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## East Wind Photography (Oct 11, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> Is it "smoothness" that determines the speed you shoot at?
> 
> Jack



There are a lot of factors but to get the smoothest action you should use a shutter speed of 1/fps. That is when shooting at 4k 30fps, you should use 1/30s shutter speed, and vary your aperture and/or ISO to adjust exposure. That should give you the best smoothness.

There are times when you should/can deviate depending on how much movement there is and wether you are shooting from a tripod. Some forms of special effects require deviation as well.

Its always best to fill up as much of the frames as possible with content and eliminate gaps between frames.


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 11, 2016)

East Wind Photography said:


> Jack Douglas said:
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Thanks for that. The pieces are falling into place. Now, what exactly happens if there is action and you think you might want to extract a frame and so choose to go much higher in shutter speed. How bad does it get and are there remedies?

Jack


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## East Wind Photography (Oct 12, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


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Usualy your eye can filter out the missed data but on action like a soccer player kicking a ball, it will end up not as smooth. There is software that can fill the missing data but generally you would want to just use more frames per second and thus a shorter shutter speed.


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## syder (Oct 12, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> Is it "smoothness" that determines the speed you shoot at?
> 
> Jack



The system you use is what traditionally determined your frame rate. Cinema was 24, PAL tv systems (EU, UK, AUS) were 25 progressive or 50 interlaced frames and NTSC (US, Japan, S America) were 30p/60i (well 29.97 but lets not go there). HDTV still tend to be an interlaced signal so you're working at 50/60i

Playing footage back on a computer you don't have interlacing or frame rate as a constraint. 24/25 is considered to look more cinematic, because we are used to seeing cinema at 24fps. 50/60i looks like video - motion is smoother, but because the traditional associations are video=cheap cinema=expensive and expensive=good cheap=bad a lot of the videos you'll see online are shot at 24 or 25fps. Consequently, when Peter Jackson released the HFR version of the Hobbit at 48fps most reviewers went yuck, it looks like a cheap 1990s tv series.



Jack Douglas said:


> East Wind Photography said:
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This is wrong. Sorry, but the usual rule of thumb for shutter speed in video is the 180 degree rule (http://www.red.com/learn/red-101/shutter-angle-tutorial) which states that your shutter should be 1/(2*frame rate) so for 30p use 1/60th and for 60p use 1/120th.

There are a few times when you'll deviate from that - if you're planning to use a slow motion plugin like twixtor, if you're shooting something like rain falling which is too fast to see at 1/50th, or to create a jarring motion effect for your zombie chase sequence, but 95% of the time for video stay at 2*frame rate.

And from a cinematography perspective you don't use aperture or ISO much for exposure, your aperture is used for DoF and your ISO is kept as close to base as possible (as you don't have tools that are anything like as good as still for NR, and movement of noise over time can be a lot more distracting than in a single frame). Your go to changes are ND and lighting the scene, then ISO (particularly with a 1DX2 which should allow some pretty clean highish ISO video) then aperture.


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 12, 2016)

Thanks to all who offer help, I'm appreciating all the comments and of course have to trust what I'm being told since I can't judge yet for myself. Hours of reading and videos are helping and it's slowly making sense.

This may be a repeat of what I've said previously (I'm too tired to remember) but it would seem most of the condemnation of the 1DX II video capability comes from folk that want PP grading capabilities that it doesn't support. One video I watched suggested being careful to set things up right before shooting (custom 0 -1 +1 +1) and then there isn't need for much grading.

For me just getting super nice, usable video out of the camera would be great.

Jack


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## East Wind Photography (Oct 12, 2016)

syder said:


> Jack Douglas said:
> 
> 
> > Is it "smoothness" that determines the speed you shoot at?
> ...



Maybe thats the case with the red system. Ive used both on the 1dx ii and can see little difference...the 1/fps tends to give a bit smoother image when panning or when something moves across the screen quickly. 1dx ii definately does something different as far as reading data off the sensor.


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 12, 2016)

East Wind Photography, so it's not that critical, but what about when you use 1/1000, how bad is it. I'm waiting for my battery to charge but it'll be a while before I'll be trying video.

Jack


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## East Wind Photography (Oct 13, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> East Wind Photography, so it's not that critical, but what about when you use 1/1000, how bad is it. I'm waiting for my battery to charge but it'll be a while before I'll be trying video.
> 
> Jack



At 4k60 1/1000 is OK but at 4k30 you can see the difference with fast movement. If you goal is to.do frame grabs from it though you don't have much choice.


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 13, 2016)

East Wind Photography said:


> Jack Douglas said:
> 
> 
> > East Wind Photography, so it's not that critical, but what about when you use 1/1000, how bad is it. I'm waiting for my battery to charge but it'll be a while before I'll be trying video.
> ...



Well known bird photographer, Glenn Bartley, shoots 7DII for extra reach and did a 1DX II review where he mentioned that the frame grab was one reason he'd consider the camera. It sure sounds inviting but there wouldn't be any focus correction if it was a bird who was changing position, or would the camera track that. I guess I need to start answering my own questions now by trying it out. I'm overwhelmed by it all.

Jack


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## Besisika (Oct 13, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> East Wind Photography said:
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I have tried it and I am very please with result.
I did not intend to shoot usable video footage and frame grab at the same time. I simply separate the two due to shutter speed.
When shooting for frame grab, I set my camera like I was about to shoot photo (high shutter speed to freeze motion) and when I want to shoot video I switch it back to video set up.
Frame grab doesn't have to be 10min long, actually they are (the way I used it) series of 3 to 10s snipek, but contain enough frames for you to choose. 64gb card was enough for 3 hours.
You set your focus mode to tracking + face recognition; and when shooting you rely on face recognition (if the subject is close enough and human) or just tap on it and let the camera track it.
Yes, it stays in focus (depending on your depth of field). You can pre-focus it as well.
Below is an example taken using it. I tried all 3 methods here, the face recognition failed due to the hat and the movement of the head, but tapping works fine. This one was manual with pre-focus.
To practice, you don't have to wait for birds, just try it on the street with cars and people.



Verdun Cricket-0002 by Besisika, on Flickr


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 13, 2016)

Besisika, thank you for the helpful comments and encouragement. Of course I have to start using it and as you say small bursts will function much like high frame rate photos. I guess it goes without saying, that a tripod would be indispensable. For bursts a small CFast card is no problem. Is the AF fast enough to adjust with each frame or is there noticeable loss of frames?

I'll be fiddling around trying to get things setup for photos with my new 400 and trying to AFMA etc. It's a challenge but fun times are ahead.

Jack


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## Besisika (Oct 13, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> Besisika, thank you for the helpful comments and encouragement. Of course I have to start using it and as you say small bursts will function much like high frame rate photos. I guess it goes without saying, that a tripod would be indispensable. For bursts a small CFast card is no problem. Is the AF fast enough to adjust with each frame or is there noticeable loss of frames?
> 
> I'll be fiddling around trying to get things setup for photos with my new 400 and trying to AFMA etc. It's a challenge but fun times are ahead.
> 
> Jack


At high speed, I don't actually use tripod. That was shot around 1/1600 - 1/2000th sec so tripod was not required, but you can use it if you want. My opinion, monopod would be more suitable. I use tripod for actual video shooting as these are usually around 1/60th sec.
My AF was fast enough. It was bright sunny day and I had not trouble. Tap on the subject first and once you see it grabbed then press the record button. After 30min -ish of trying I got the hand of it. I had some missed focus but I guess these were mainly user error.


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## East Wind Photography (Oct 13, 2016)

Yes, dual pixel AF works very well in live view and can track subjects very well. It does much better if a face is involved but it can track based on color and contrast as well. Af tracking and tracking speed can be adjusted. Usually for video you want slow and dramatic focus shifts, but for action and best tracking, particularly if you are frame grabbing, you just set it to its fastest settings.


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 13, 2016)

Thanks guys. I actually pressed the shutter this morning. It scared me it's so loud compared to my 6D. The viewfinder is awesome and of course that red focus point!! AF at F8 with 400 DO II X2 III is super. I have it set for cross points only, which is that center vertical region with spot focus. This is going to be so great having the reach of 800 (I was worried when I was MF on 6D).

Jack


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## East Wind Photography (Oct 15, 2016)

Jack Douglas said:


> Thanks guys. I actually pressed the shutter this morning. It scared me it's so loud compared to my 6D. The viewfinder is awesome and of course that red focus point!! AF at F8 with 400 DO II X2 III is super. I have it set for cross points only, which is that center vertical region with spot focus. This is going to be so great having the reach of 800 (I was worried when I was MF on 6D).
> 
> Jack



Ive found the AF is so great with this one that i dont need to restrict it to cross points like i did on the 5diii and 7dii.


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## Jack Douglas (Oct 15, 2016)

East Wind Photography, thanks for that. I'm going to change it to the whole region. With the 6D the non-cross points were noticeably poorer.

Jack


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