Mirrorless Video at 24, 30 or 60 Frames per Second

Today’s Post by Mark Toal

When shooting video you can set your camera to shoot 24, 30 or 60 frames per second (fps). Almost all mirrorless cameras with video capability will record at 30 frames but 24 and 60 may not be available on all of them.

Movies are often shot at 24 FPS since it tends to produce a natural look, much as our eyes would see it. That’s why I use 24 FPS for interview videos because it makes people look more realistic. 60 FPS is usually used for slow motion and for fast moving subjects. Just like in still photography where a higher shutter speed will capture better action scenes each video frame will be sharper.

A rule of video is that your camera shutter speed should be twice the frame rate. If you’re shooting at 30 FPS your shutter speed should be 1/60 sec. This is not a hard and fast rule. Your video won’t be ruined if you don’t have the correct shutter speed. In this video you can see how the motion gets smoother as the FPS goes up to 60.

If you’re just beginning at video I would suggest that you shoot at 30 FPS and ignore the shutter speed until you get used to more comfortable when shooting video using some of the tools that I’ve previously suggested on this blog.