SmartShoot Producer's Blogg

Cool Video App for the iPhone

 

We came across this interesting app while perusing the Apple Store today. Cinegenix has rolled out a pretty slick tool for capturing video on the iPhone.

The biggest features are variable framerates (everything from 24fps down to 1fps) as well as other neat gizmos like independent focus and exposure points, color bars, slates and more.

Quite a deal for only $2.99.

Does this make the iPhone a better video camera? - certainly. Does this make the iPhone a suitable tool for professional video work? - definitely not (the phone's extreme rolling shutter issues alone will drive any filmmaker mad). 

This being said toying around with this app is certainly worth the price tag

Rundown of 180° Shutter

If you're going for the film-look in your videos the 180° Shutter Rule is something you'll want to be aware of. This terminology is one of the hold-overs from celluloid filmmaking but still plays a large roll in digital videography.

When tweaking shutterspeed you're changing the amount of motion-blur in your shot. The 180° Shutter Rule gives benchmarks for the ideal shutterspeed to shoot at a given framerate.

Here's a quick breakdown for the most common framerates:

• 24fps = 1/48 SS
• 30fps = 1/60 SS
• 60fps = 1/120 SS

Shooting at a slower shutterspeed than what's listed above will start to introduce excess motion blur into your image which you'll want to avoid for the most part.

You might want to break this rule for artistic purposes - as always proper execution is what makes it a successful effect

We came across a great in depth explanation on Tyler Ginter's blog; includes some nice illustrative animations and examples too.