Comments

JumboTech wrote on 4/30/2003, 6:43 AM
Randini

It depends on what your family likes to do. The main advantage of a variable shutter speed is that if, for instance, your family races cars or whatever, you won't just get a blur as they go past at high speed. The camera will only "see" certain time intervals as the event occurs depending on what speed you have set.

It's one of those things that's easier to see than describe. Try shooting some shots with plenty of movement using various speed settings and then watch the playback.

Another use might be if you have a pool. You'll watch the water droplets fall back into the water rather than a vague blur of water.

One thing to consider is that using shutter speeds other than the default will cut down on the light entering your camera which is logical if you think about it since at a high speed, the "shutter" is closed for much of the time. The consequence is that it can be hard to use indoors where there is not enough light.

Hope this helps, sorry I couldn't say more, got to go to work...

Al
mikkie wrote on 4/30/2003, 8:12 AM
When talking about shutter speeds and such, I think it's useful to read up a bit on still photography - in essence all we're doing is taking still pictures anyway, just an awful lot of them.

Also, what might seem logical isn't always the best approach, as we've all been trained as viewers to expect certain things, so consider the look that you want to suggest. For example, if you're trying to emulate film a little bit, a certain amount of blur is expected, even added to DV video on occassion.

IMO, best thing to do is play... Shoot a lot of video at all sorts of settings in all sorts of situations and/or environs taking notes. Then look carefully at the results. Accumilating experience this way, when doing that critical shoot everything kind of pops into place.
vicmilt wrote on 4/30/2003, 8:40 AM
For typical family outings???
just leave it the way it is -
slo motion effects are neat for a special look in (for instance) parties and dancing.
High speed looks lousy in regualar playback and is only useful for slowing down to analyse a golf swing or ballet move.

For normal use (and basically everything you see on television) leave the preset alone.
mysteryno wrote on 4/30/2003, 1:00 PM
Slo-Mo with a high shutter speed, in my opinion, looks bad. It is more like flipping trough a stack of stills, and you lose the fluid motion of the blur. High shutter speed is great for picking out a good still.
-Robert
vicmilt wrote on 4/30/2003, 6:35 PM
You're right about slo-mo with high speed shutter - ugh.
I meant sometimes you might want to Shoot with a Slow Shutter to get a blurry, soft and very pschedelic effect - great for dancing at parties.