Video shooting on Canon cameras?

Just starting to dabble in video after many years of still photography. A couple of questions:

1. I have been shooting in manual mode after selecting an appropriate shutter and aperture. ISO is set to auto for proper exposure. Does this work best or is there a better method? My owners manual doesn't point me towards any one method.

2. I have a couple options for video recording speed - 24, 30, 59. What are the benefits of each? If I'm shooting action such as sports is 59 the best?

3. I shoot virtually always in HD vs 4k if that matters. Any special advantages to 4k shooting?


Cameras are 5D MKIV and 1DX MKII. Thanks for any helpful advice. Hopefully some coaching here will speed up my learning curve.

24fps is the most common frame rate for TV shows and movies. Even if a film is shot at a higher frame rate, it’s often produced and displayed at 24fps. Most feature films and TV shows are shot and viewed at 24 fps.

US broadcast TV is 30fps. Anything higher than 30fps is mainly used to create slow-motion video

Thanks for the reply Wilt. I keep trying to relate still photography to video. The 24 setting seems (to my old thinking) slow for action but I'll give it a try. So the old rule of reciprocal shutter speed versus lens length doesn't apply for video?

The information given above is a bit old now, and was appropriate in the days of analog TV and film. We've transitioned to HDTV, so frame rates are 25, 30, 50, or 60 frames a second now:
https://www.etsi.org …01154v011101p.p​df#page=19

Digital cinema runs at 24 or 48 frames per second.
Google accepts many different frame rates for youtube:
https://support.google​.com …hl=en#zippy=%2C​frame-rate

Keep in mind that a movie broadcast over TV will be transmitted at television frame rates, no matter how it was recorded.

Higher frame rates show less flicker and are easier on the eyes.
https://www.pcmag.com …ned-60hz-120hz-and-beyond

cristphoto wrote in post #19308067
Thanks for the reply Wilt. I keep trying to relate still photography to video. The 24 setting seems (to my old thinking) slow for action but I'll give it a try. So the old rule of reciprocal shutter speed versus lens length doesn't apply for video?

Shutter speed and frame rate have a relationship to each other (too slow shutter speed can prevent achieving frame rate!) but you can have 24fps with shutter 1/1000 or 24fps with shutter 1/40, just not 24fps with shutter 1/20 or slower.

Capn Jack wrote in post #19308120
The information given above is a bit old now, and was appropriate in the days of analog TV and film.

50p/60p is a progressive format and is used in high-end HDTV systems. While it is not technically part of the ATSC or DVB broadcast standards yet.
Even DVD is only 29.97fps Indeed, gaming puts the requirement at a another level not yet achieved with video. So ultimately, the question that is pertinent is "What is it for?!"

Wilt wrote in post #19308131

Capn Jack wrote in post #19308120
The information given above is a bit old now, and was appropriate in the days of analog TV and film.

50p/60p is a progressive format and is used in high-end HDTV systems. While it is not technically part of the ATSC or DVB broadcast standards yet.
Even DVD is only 29.97fps Indeed, gaming puts the requirement at a another level not yet achieved with video. So ultimately, the question that is pertinent is "What is it for?!"

Please look at table 6.2, page 9 in this link:
https://muygs2x2vhb2pj​k6g160f1s8-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com …1/04/A_53-Part-4-2009.pdf
You'll note that ATSC version 1 (https://www.atsc.org …ments/type/1-0-standards/ ) allows several frame rates, including those I listed. Version 3 will include those as well as 120 frames/sec in the USA if it is adopted. I haven't bothered to look up the current DVB. In the future, when you copy from Wikipedia, please cite it.

As I posted earlier, the higher frame rates look nicer, with less flicker. and smoother motion. Of course, that means more storage is needed for higher frame rates too.

Thank you much for providing that information.

The question still comes back to 'What is the purpose of your video?', for the OP.

Videos are mostly sports and grandkids. I gather that whatever video speed selected the shutter should be twice that, correct?

cristphoto wrote in post #19308462
Videos are mostly sports and grandkids. I gather that whatever video speed selected the shutter should be twice that, correct?

I think you are referring to the 180° rule?
That is something from the film industry, and it means more at the slower frame rates. The shutter speed lets you control the amount of blur (shutter close to framerate speed = more blur) or jerkiness. But if you use the higher frame rates, there is less opportunity for blur and the video will look more life-like, so my opinion is that rule is less important at high frame rate.

Having said that, I take little video of things people would be interested in seeing, so take my thoughts on this subject with some salt.

Oh, my...
I'm in the TV, broadcast and now so called media, streaming since 1991. And still learning.

In short, ask those whom your video is going to be aimed for. They will provide you their specs for framerate, resolution and files, video, audio format.

If you are after slowing down, so called, TV, then some of them are struggling even with HD. I had major TV network in States as client during my in support time switching down to 720p, in 2018... Have to RMA some equipment to do this downgrade. They just upconvert, if needed, to UHD. Old trick, first it was for all SD archives to HD. And then where is signal quality loss from contributors to distributors and from distributors to set up boxes...

I just checked, company I work for now is third nation wide broadcaster, in the file format document it is 1080p 29.97.
But no sports.

I was in part of the manufacturer's team supporting USA, Canada sports broadcasting trucks in 2018, 2019 and the trend was to update to UHD, which is incredibly costly.
But we went to update production center for sports at FSU and it was no 4K, still HD.
I doubt college, university sports are willing to spend four time more for 4K.

And if you are after growing steaming, OTT services, check their requirements as well. Those are more trendy for 4K, high framerate.

And if you want slomo, your cameras might be no good...

kf095 wrote in post #19308548
In short, ask those whom your video is going to be aimed for.

But in this case it's aimed for himself. That's why he's asking here, when he doesn't know the answer himself.

When I do videos just to document something, I use Full HD (1080) at 25 frames/s.

cristphoto wrote in post #19308462
Videos are mostly sports and grandkids. I gather that whatever video speed selected the shutter should be twice that, correct?

I have done a little bit of video for sports, specifically T&F. Used a SL-3 with the 18-135mm NanoUSM. Since these videos were for coaching purposes and YouTube, we used 1080 and the 30 fps settings. Basically set in auto mode and for those purposes, the results were pretty good. Not professional video in any stretch of the imagination but for the intended use, worked great.

Oh, and a good tripod with a actual video head. Didn't have this and it would have been very helpful.

At least a separate microphone, but preferably a separate sound recorder improves the result too. Bad sound ruins many video attempts.