6.6 (Movie) Record Setting

Menu Position MENU --> Image 2 --> Record Setting

What it Does Lets you specify frame rate for the video specified in MENU --> Image 2 --> (Movie) File Format

Recommended Setting 60p 50M

 

The video file formats and their tradeoffs are discussed pretty thoroughly in the chapter about Video, Section 12.3. In it I explain why I recommend “60p 50M” for those who aren’t sure which format is best for them.

 

6.7 Dual Video REC

Menu Position MENU --> Image 2 -->Dual Video Rec(ord)

What it Does Tells the camera to store a high quality and a low quality file for every video clip you shoot.

Recommended Setting Tough call. If you’re going to want to share this on Facebook I’d set this to “On” if the camera allows it

 

Basically this feature lets you save both a high- and low-quality video clip on the memory card each time you shoot a video. It’s designed to give you something that’s easy to share via social media (the low-quality .mp4) and still get high-quality footage for later use.

Interestingly, the smaller, social-media-friendly .mp4 file this feature produces is of noticeably MUCH lower quality than any video setting you can choose manually (the "worst" being MP4 and 1280 x 720 30p 6M) – the resolution is lower and the file is compressed to about 1/3rd the size of the "worst" setting just described. (The good news, if you can call it that, is that Facebook crappifies all uploaded video anyway so nobody is going to notice the reduced quality.)

There are lots of constraints for this function. The feature is not available if you’ve chosen MENU --> Image 2 --> (Movie) File Format --> MP4, or have chosen any other video Record Setting of 60p or faster. (AVCHD's 60i is OK though.)

 

6.8 HFR Settings

Menu Position MENU --> Image 2 --> HFR Settings

What it Does Lets you specify the frame rate when shooting High Frame Rate (slow-motion) videos.

Recommended Setting PAL video users don’t have a choice. NTSC users can choose between 4x and 5x; I like 5x personally because it’s 5/4ths cooler than 4x.

 

We all know by now that high frame rate video mode shoots at either 100 frames per second (PAL) or 120 fps (NTSC). But when the camera goes to store the video on the memory card, it will save it using one of the following frame rates from which you can choose:

NTSC

PAL

30p 16M (4x slower)

25p 16M (4x slower)

24p 12M (5x slower)

 

 

In order to have the camera actually shoot slow-motion video, the camera’s MENU --> Image 7 --> Movie / HFR function must be set to either Image Program Auto, Image Aperture Priority, Image Shutter Priority, or Image Manual Exposure. (Section 6.39).