Motion Blur, Shutter Speed, & 180° Shutter Angle // TESTING the RULES!

Did you take it to consideration the hz of the monitors they were watching the footage on? Because if you see stutter on a 60hz monitor, it might be because the monitor is doing a pull-down

Super educational... thanks for sharing!

As usual, very informative video. Thanks. I strongly this kind of "nerdy" approach but this SS thing is also about creative choices. Typically, higher shutter angle may help to bring a sort of "intensity" to the footage when filming action.

Ive gone down a rabbit hole trying to figure out which shutter speed looks most "realistic" to the motion blur our eyes see. Im leaning towards 1/80th of a second. 1/120th starts to introduce the soap opera effect but to me 1/48th of a second seems too blurry When you pan your camera at 1/48th everything becomes an unrealistic blur imo. But focal length seems to also have a big impact on how much motion blur youll get.

Great great video!!

Motion blur does not exist in reality. Only cameras record it due to the principle, the human eye works completely differently and that's why you can't see it. The human eye never expects motion blur. That is complete bullshit. The human eye has a problem with fast movement and since it only distinguishes between important and unimportant, it is also not possible to consciously perceive unimportant things. Because as soon as it becomes important, it can be recognized sharply again.

The 180 degree shutter rule was never the reason to create motion blur, this rule only had something to do with exposure metering. That's why the 180 degree shutter rule is complete nonsense today.

The soap opera effect also has nothing to do with high frame rates or fast shutter speeds. This was old video technology and is caused by intermediate image calculation during film playback and describes a clear separation of moving actors and objects from the background due to system-related image errors in the intermediate image calculation.

I have always consistently ignored this stupid rule and have always filmed at high frame rates and the fastest shutter speeds. This means high image quality and very smooth motion. Blurred frames always look like shit in motion. Poor quality over the length of the film. And that's just because of something stupid like conservative backwardness and stupid habit.

I checked the 60fps video from the description. Interesting how big is the difference between 1/50 shutter speed vs the 1/60 shutter speed. Basically the brain is able to recognize that the movement is fully captured at 1/60, and all the other values are too much/too little. To me the 1/60 shutter at 60fps looks the most natural, in the sense that it looks the most like the real world. It looks "solid".

Super late to the game, but as someone who hates judder/jitter/stutter (whatever you want to call it) from 24p footage when panning, I wonder:

If this “judder” phenomenon is reduced drastically by shooting in 30p, but one dislikes the “look” of 30p, would this help:

The test: Shoot 30p footage at 216deg shutter angle to match blur of 24p (bonus — this combo also allows you to match exposure to 24p, 180deg shutter!)

The question: With this higher shutter angle (more blur), do you think the 30p footage would look more like 24p (aka, more filmic/cinematic)?

I’ve done my own tests on this, but wondering what others think?

One thing that people from a film background (rather than television or traditional electronic video) seem to overlook is that broadcast television is shot and transmitted in 30i (interlaced), not 30p (progressive), and each 30i frame contains two distinct points in time, which are recorded and displayed 1/60 second apart (as even and odd "fields" of scan lines or pixels), which effectively makes it look like 60 frames per second, hence the more lifelike look that is traditionally associated with soap operas, news, sports, and live broadcasts.

Motion blur is basically the projection of the filmed object moving across the pixels of the sensor. So motion blur is a direct mathematical function of exposure time, sensor pixel size, field of view (or magnification) by the glass used and relative distance of the motion from the camera.

A spinning blade moving quickly in front of a fish eye lens, but 1 km away from the lens, exposed with a shutter speed of 1/50 s (shutter speed, not frame rate) using a 0.5 M sensor (low resolution) will likely not create any motion blur at all since it is questionable if the blade can even be seen on the video. To make myself clear: there is minimal motion of the blade across the pixel of the sensor.

A spinnnig blade moving at the same speed 3 m in front of a 1000 mm telephoto lens used for wildlife or sports photographie, shot with a 1/250 exposure time per frame and with a camera featuring a high resolution 100 M sensor will certainly show motion blur.

So the equation shutter speed = 2 times the frame rate does not make any sense since things called "shutter angle" are only very indirectly related to motion blur. Frame rate is only about how many times per second an acquired image is stored on memory support, exposure time is the time the sensor will collect photons.

The experiment with the rotating blade shown is incomplete. Effekt of sensor size, distance, and glass used should also be tested.

And there is more. For example, a 8K video shown on a Full-HD screen will not show the same motion blur as if the central part of the 8K video, corrsponding ot a FullHd image, is croped and then projected on a FullHd screen. This time it's the motion across the pixels of the screen which differ. And I haven't even touched upon the distance of the viewer from the screen, and the optical resolution of the retina.

In conclusion, the shutter angle rule is not based on science, it's an empircal compromise to help filmmakers. More often than not, it's use will give suboptimal results. It may be better than no rule of thumb at all, but one should be aware of it's limitations.

Gerald, am I losing it? Contrary o what you say in the intro, I actually think an object moving in slow motion footage should have more motion blur than something that moves just as slowly but in real time. To me, that is what tells my brain that it's slowed down. Otherwise it can feel eerie and weird to me. So I guess I''m with Dunna on this one.

Superbly explained and researched. I wonder if you can help. I am getting choppy footage even when shooting using the 180 rule. The only way I can reduce the choppiness is when I increase the framerate to 50p. It is mainly a problem when shooting hard contrasting edges, ie. panning shots of buildings, window frames etc. I am using the Sony A7IV. I have heard that this camera has bad rolling shutter, so is this the issue?

It’s really weird, but since this video was made, I have experimented and continually returned to watch this again and again! I’m really sensitive to judder. 24 and 25fps makes me too worried to move the camera around so everything becomes a moving image in front of a static camera.

There is one thing that has always puzzled me about digital. When we watch the video, each frame is displayed right until the next frame replaces it. If the motion blur is for half a frame, then the blur doesn’t extend until the end of what we see. So the next frame inserts a slight gap. (Judder?)

In the days of mechanical film, there was half a frame of black. So the motion blur covered all of the half frame that we saw and our minds ‘filled in’ the black part. (Persistence of vision) That black part no longer exists, but we still insert in effect, half a frame’s worth of blur. But then it stays like that until the next frame, where things have moved by not half a frame, but a full frame.

Maybe Gerald, that’s why 60fps at 1/60th was pleasant for you? It gave ‘almost’ the same motion blur of 1/50th but didn’t in effect freeze the second half of the frame.

24fps at 1/24th so that each frame is fully motion blurred gives a smoother image, but the blur is too much in most cases. But, 48fps with 1/48th shutter would give exactly the same blur but lose the judder!

Because of judder, I generally stay with home videos at 60fps at 1/60th or if I have lights going on, 1/50th at 50fps. No judder and close (ish) blur. In really low light, I drop to half speed frames at 180 degrees, so 25 or 30fps and mix it in with higher frames!

I think frame rates will probably creep up eventually because of judder. Sometimes in the cinema, it’s terrible! We just accept it as looking ‘cinematic’.

While I like the look of 24fps, I’m not certain that I’ve ‘learned’ to like it or whether it is just a judder festival that I try to overlook because of the motion blur. But for general run around videoing, I find 24fps lacking. Great for static shots, but not running around.

Thanks for such a good test Gerald. I constantly return to it in my battles with judder!!!

i shoot at 24 fps at 1/24 shutter speed , (Not double), in low light situations..
lower shutter speeds will increase exposure but, also increase motion blur; may need a tripod or hold steady.
high shutter speeds will decrease exposure but, also decrease motion blur; may need to add lights or shoot in day light.

Did you tested higher shutterspeed tho ? I'm doing some test with shutter like 1000/s while filming when I'm not working when I don't have nd's on me. I'm still testing on that with various results.

could you even imagine breaking the 180 degree framerate rule, AND the 180 action line rule. Zach Snyders head would implode. Someone, please do this, like right now. The world would thank you.

Watching 60p at 1/60th rather than 1/125th? That doesn't make any sense at all, you are negating all the advantage of high frame rate video, the whole advantage of high frame rate is that each frame should be sharper but because there are more frames per second, you don't get this choppy effect.

you are very helpful, as usual. would you take it personally, if i suggested that it would be easier to follow if you talked just slightly slower.. most probably i am not clever enough to juggle all the technical details all in my mind as fast as you can speak..

Confused even more now, because of how everyone words their sentences differently

I think the shutter speed is too slow for all of the videos. Trust your eyes to choose what looks best and to hell with specs.

The most of the time I use 60p I set my shutter speed at 1/100, I don’t know why, but I feel like is the perfect combination to use in a 24p project at 100% and 40% in the same timeline

Very informative. It puzzles me that EVERYBODY talks about, the necessity of ND filters and the 180 shutter-rule. Can’t you get as good as a motion blur in post (like Davinci Studio)? One would be more flexible and wouldn’t have the hassle with the NDs all the time. Hardly anybody talks about the negatives/restrictions of using an ND filter like, color-casting, vignetting, not being able to use polarizers with a variable ND filter which is usually less of a quality anyway, bad stabilizing results, etc.
If the motion blur is only done in post, without NDs, how good and easy is the result of a proper motion blur and quality?

Very informative, the only thing I would add to this video is discussing angle. I know shutter is the standard and the most popular but, to me at least, angle is so much easier to work with.

My professor loves refereeing to your content .... but i never understood half of your videos

This video was so much helpful to determine which shutter speed to use. Thank you very much!

Fantastic video! Have to agree with you and Jordan Drake. Also love you watch.

Why is there no 24p 1/25 test???

I have come back to this video several times. Such a fantastic treatment of the subject

I shot with 90 degrees or less because i use gyroflow to stabilize the footage in post. Then i apply rsmb plugin for add motion blur and it work very well for me.

Thanks a bunch you crazy number person G. The 180 deg shutter rule gives us a good guideline to maintain what we are conditioned to perceive as "natural" and "cinematic" look. At the end of the day film makers can do whatever they want. I follow a loose version of the rule where a lower shutter angle is for dramatic action sequence and higher shutter angle for more dreamy smooth effect. It is also worth noting that your edit fps determines the final "smoothness" of the film so you need to ajdust your shutter speed with consideration of your editing fps, if it is going to be different. For example, I shoot 50fps 1/100 in a live show setting where I do not want to be changing camera settings due to the lack of control of the situation and unpredictability of the moments, then edit in a 25fps timeline for faster workflow, will yield a final shutter angle of 90 degrees. That angle is half of 180 which makes the scene more action packed and jarring. Addtionally, I reserve the "right" amount of motion blur expected from a fast moving object if I choose to slow down by 50%. Even If I don't use a slowmo at all, shooting at 25fps 1/100 is not that beneficial to me because my camera somehow produces the same file size regardless of what fps I shoot.

Four years later we have more choices as to which speed we can watch this video and I found 85% to work perfectly. I hope that helps

Why does my ZVE1 say 180.1 degree for the shutter angle?

This is all well and good - but this test only works properly with handheld, where the whole scene is moving. Then you will see that 1/50 shutter at 50/60 fps exported on a 25/24fps timeline is absolutely not the same as shooting at 24/25 with 1/50 shutter. Dropping every other frame doesnt work and the footage is way too smooth to look cinematic. I have no idea on the explanation of how!

Amazing video!

Great material however, I would somewhat disagree with you Gerald on the part "only shutter speed determines the blurr". Yes you are right when comparing still frames only. But try to compare two shoots with the same shutter speed (let's say 1/50) and different frame rates (let's say 25p vs 50p). You will clearly see the jittery (or even blinking) 25p becomes much more fluid at 50p. Your white ruler on dark background test is actually perfect setup (more genius than crazy :)). I see this happens a lot when panning across vertical, highly contrasting lines, (example: a wall edge, where a bright, exposed to sunlight wall is followed by a dark wall in a shade. The edge between them will look like juping or blinking from frame to frame. What would you say for 24(25)p at 360deg (1/25 or 1/30) shutter? I might look smoother than 24p at 1/50. Bottom line, I wouldn't stick to 180 rule for real time playback. Especially 50p at 1/50 looks more pleasing than 50p at 1/100.

Is there something you can do on post to fix the motion blurring ?

Is there a way to fix a video shot at 60fps 1/125 to make it look and feel natural at 30fps? Adding pixel blur seems to help, but I was wonder if your expertise has a better solution. This is extremely hard to Google and I messed up big time a paid project T_T

hello very nice!! why you dont make the hole in the white bar in the center so doesnt accelerate and one end painted black?

Great Video! My camera is a Panasonic HC-X2 and i use only 50p 1/50th or rarely 50p 1/100th for 4k slomo scenes.

I don't agree on the 60p @1/125th and the 60p @ 1/50th ones. If you film in 60p and set the shutter speed to 1/60th or even slower than that, the motions will be blury as hell. I live in PAL region and I always film 50p at 1/100.

Can’t believe I’m only now finding this video. I’ve been arguing this point for years in UK TV production. For so long we’ve rarely done anything but shoot 25p 180* 1/50 or double to 100p 180* 1/200 with the intention of slowing down. However, as cameras have improved and 4k came into mainstream broadcast I also noticed 50p 1/100 coming in as a standard, and it’s so noticeable. The ‘soap opera effect’ is the perfect term for it. How often I’ve sat with my parents and they complain about ‘new cameras’ and high-def ruining their favourite shows & I’m like no, it’s the shutter ratio. Great video, really gives me confidence in opening that shutter.

Considering this video is 4 years old im a little late to the comment party, however better late than never. I come from a PAL TV background where 50i is and continues to be the staple. For the first 15 - 20 years of my Career (gives away age) the only 'professional' cameras were either Film or Broadcast. Then the Canon 5Dii comes along and blows the market wide open. Today I personally have 2 Broadcast and 4 Cine cameras all from Sony. I still use all of them depending on the job requirements and the 180Deg shutter rule annoys the hell out of me. As Gerald says at the end "do whatever you want" I guess there isn't a completely right answer.
Whenever I use my PXW z450 Broadcast camera I shoot internally in 50p 4k. The camera doesn't give me the option to shoot 4K in 50i (that's only available in 1080). the SDI output is set to 50i for broadcast compatibility, and finally I generally Edit in HD on a 50i Interlaced timeline again to keep in step with the 50i legacy setups where it will be sent to. Now on that broadcast camera the shutter is to off as default with a physical switch. If i shoot 25P on this camera then a 1/50 shutter is needed.
Now moving to the Sony FX6 for instance. the shutter is always on on that camera. You cant turn it off like on the broadcast camera. I had to shoot Tennis the other day and chose 50p with a 1/50th shutter. it came out looking absolutely fine however I was mildly panicking that I should have been in degrees and 180Deg. the tennis material was only for real time with no slow mo so again another thing to think about.
I know I'm rambling now but it would be great to have a cheat sheet that spells out every frame rate/shutter relationship in relation to what is being filmed. but then again i guess there is no right answer is there?
And my final thought could be seen as a bit controversial but please don't let it be. When I started there was a running joke that Film guys talked and worried all day about shutter angles/ ISO/ noise etc etc where at TV guys just picked up the camera and shot. I feel that now we have cinema cameras that Line has completely blurred and so much time is spent talking about Noise in the blacks, over exposing, under exposing, Luts, Log footage etc etc that a lot of just shooting has been lost. Lets be honest back in the day you needed to shoot it the first time and shoot it right. If the white balance was wrong then you were toast. If you were under or overexposed you were stuffed. we are very lucky to have the camera technology we have today but it does make us a little more lax knowing it can be fixed in post (sometimes).

I have one problem When I am Using 180 degree Shutter speed . Lumix S5iiX .. If Any fan Rotating in Room Or Location video is flickering How to solve this

This needs to be a blind test.

I'm adding this as a non-video geek... I do not really get the whole "24 fps is magical" belief system. The only thing I have ever noticed on my own is some sports footage shot at what I assume is extremely fast shutter speeds looking a little weird... I don't know really how to describe it. BUT... I'm rare I guess. I don't have a t.v. and I don't go to movies. After 99% of all movies I have ever watched, the thought "Well... that's two hours wasted" goes through my mind. So, I'm probably not indoctrinated into the 24 FPS kool-aid stand.

One side note: the clips sent to the others to be reviewed should have been simply labeled A, B, C, ... so they would not be predisposed into picking one over the other simply based upon the label.

I often feel 180 gives too much blur (especially with high speed / action).. it ends up looking unnaturally soft & blurry.
In those situations bumping up to 90 degree or so shutter angle looks more ‘filmic’ in my opinion.

And the reality.. the average person is hard pressed to noticed even when VERY over-cranked.

the most interesting one to me is the 60fps at 1/50 because it looks like 24fps at 1/50. Should movies just be 60fps?!