NERD DEBATE!!! Frame Rate vs Resolution

“Unfortunately, one of the tragedies of digital imaging is that now we’ve got these ridiculous numbers games. Because so few people understand the fundamentals of imaging technology, everybody wants a number to latch on to.” – John Galt, Creative Cow Magazine 2010

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So, arguably this is one of the nerdier posts on MindoMondo yet, but I think an interesting one with consideration to the multitude of camera options these days. Each claiming to be the best, the highest resolution, the clearest picture. Each backed by an army of loyal supporters, adorned in t-shirts featuring their favorite product, with an air of fierce superiority to those not on board with the newest, hottest camera.

So, what do a few cinematic experts say. Is it the almighty pixel that reigns supreme? Or is it the camera’s speed?

“It’s all about framerates, man. It’s very hard to get into a discussion about framerates because, first of all, it’s a very technical aspect of filmmaking.” – James Cameron, CinemaCon 2011

You may be surprised that many say it’s actually not the resolution but the speed that makes for a sharper image. James Cameron (world renowned director and an active supporter of faster frame rates) and John Galt (opinionated expert in imagery innovation for Panavision) give their opinions in the following articles, making reference to “Marketing Pixels”, or meaningless numbers designed to sell cameras to the masses.

On James Cameron’s vocal opinion on 60fps, John Galt has this to say: “I subscribe to Jim Cameron’s argument, which is that we would get much better image quality by doubling the frame rate than by adding more pixel resolution.”

If you are – like many – in love with the RED, if you feel that there’s “something special” about 24p, and most importantly, if you just mortgaged your home to finance whatever brand new, high resolution, million-pixel camera system just came out… these guys do not pull their punches.

John Galt on Marketing Pixels: “The great perpetrators of the mythology of what I call “marketing pixels” have been RED and Dalsa.”

Ouch.

James Cameron on 24p: “I want to get rid of the motion artifacting associates with 24 frame display. To many cinematographers, this is sacrilege… but there are problems with 24 fps. It’s the reason we watch such a dim picture on the movie screen: if you pump up the screen brightness, you would notice the flicker.”

These guys aren’t just Negative Nancies, either. James Cameron shares his attraction to the Phantom, the current Hercules of the high-speed cameras, easily able to shoot over 1000fps. Cameron talks about the excellent image quality, contrary to what one might think if just examining the resolution numbers: “They are actually quite low-resolution, but because they’re shooting at such a short shutter speed, they look much much sharper than cameras that have four times the resolution.”

If you’ve ever seen footage shot with a Phantom, I think that sums it up right there.

But this is a debate. What do you think?

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James Cameron at CinemaCon 2011:

http://www.firstshowing.net/2011/cinemacon-james-cameron-demos-the-future-of-cinema-at-60-fps/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+firstshowing+%28FirstShowing.net%29&utm_content=FaceBook

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John Galt and James Cameron – Creative Cow Magazine Dec 2010: CC Article: Pg#14, 16, 18

http://magazine.creativecow.net/issue/5th-anniversary

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