which framerate is most similar to 60i?

[Bevwood]

I shoot for broadcast news and am so confused about the framerate options on the C100mk2. The specs from the station are for video to be shot at 60 i. However I read that pf 29.97 is recorded at 60i (so do I chose pf29.97) or do I go with 59.94i? A shooters who has used the C100 classic for ENG work  told me I should find a framrate that shows 60i in the OLED window but none of the above options displays as 60I on the Mark2. Please help me understand.

Thanks.

[Bramsey]

Bevwood, in the Menu navigate to Other Functions>Movie Format and choose AVCHD. Right below that Menu option is AVCHD listed by itself. Choose AVCHD>Bit Rate>24Mbps LPCM. Also, under AVCHD, choose Frame Rate>59.94i. You should be good to go. You can also get a 59.94i signal from the HDMI output to an external recorder. Hope this helps.

[Bevwood]

Bramsey thank you for your reply to my question re frame rate similar to 60i. Can you tell me if 59.94p in mp4 would aslo work? I have to deliver a card directly after shooting to reporters who have Final Cut 7 (grrr), so no go on  AVCHD codec  Would 59.94p in mp4 avoid the motion shudder that I think I see in 29.97P? Trying to emulate 60i in mp4.

[Bramsey]

No 59.94P MP4 is not the same. If AVCHD conversion is out of the question, you would be best off using an external recorder and recording the HDMI output in ProRes @ 59.94i.

[Bevwood]

IBramsey,  I bought the Ninja Star for just that purpose but unforttunately all the reoporters do not want to deal with Cfast cards and Cfast adapters. They want an SD card they can pop into theri laptop and deliver to the editors. So your solution doesn't work for reasons beyond our control - it was a good idea though.

I think I'm going to have to shoot in  59.94p because the motion characterirstic most closey approximatels 60i on news pieces aired on either side of my footage. The  ediitors will just have to take the extra step of converting my footage to XDcam 60i for their Final Cut timeline - not good for my reputation, unfortunately.

Thank you for taking the time to help.

[cdn-bigfoot]

Don't listen to anyone who tells you that 24p or 23.97 set to 59.94 system is the same as broadcast 60p.

59.94i is exactly the same as broadcast "60p drop frame" the standard in North America for broadcast television. PF30 is Canon's version of PsF30 which is actually a 29.97 frame rate delivered within a 59.94i frame rate. so either PF30 or 59.94i will be completely compatible with broadcast in North America.

If the AVCHD wrapper is not compatible with your edit system first I would check how you are importing it. You must copy the disk image to your edit systems scratch disk as it appears. Do not try to import just the video files. Then import that copied AVCHD file into your edit system as it likes to import .mts video like RED or AVCHD. If it still doesn't work in your edit system you can easily convert the AVCHD card to .mov or other easily edited video formats in a program like iSkysoft Media Converter.

[Janekong]

I'm totally confused, "PF30 is Canon's version of PsF30 which is actually a 29.97 frame rate delivered within a 59.94i frame rate", what does a 29.97 fps file do with a 59.94i frame rate?

[JonKline]

in 59.94i, half of the image is changed every 1/59.94 ths of a second

in 29.97p, all of the image is changed every 1/29.97 ths of a second

59.94 is half as much image, twice as often. So it's the same amout of data. The only thing that's changing is the timing of which lines of it are drawn when.

If you put 29.97p in a 59.94i "container" it will look exactly like 29.97p. It will play back fine, even on older equipment.

If you put 59.94i in a progressive container, you will either create motion artifacts (seen as a comb-effect) or you will need to reduce resolution.