The Beauty of 24p

There's something very special about watching footage shot at 24p versus 60i. What I'm trying to say is that watching cinema style video versus home video camera video is very different. I'v0e long been a fan of 24p. It flows and is so fluid, and for a long time, it was hard to come by.

I shoot almost everything I do in 24p, and I think it's the best way to shoot a wedding. It may sound strange that shooting at 6 pictures less a second than typical video (30 frames per second, with each half frame at 1/60th of a second) is actually more difficult to come by in most cameras—shouldn't it be easier for a camera to do that? Well, not exactly.

Most electronics are based off how AC power alternates at 60 times a second (or 60 hertz). That's why you'll see that many videocameras, especially ones from a couple years ago, could not film anything but 60i, or 60 interlaced or something else based of AC power's natural frequency. To better understand what 60i and 24p mean, check out Wikipedia.

So, strange as it seems, shooting at a slower rate produces a more dramatic, cinematic effect to the footage. It's something that I crave in video. Next time you go to a movie theater, compare the image and motion you see to what a typical home camera does. It's a remarkable difference that I think we often take for granted. 24p is virtually what you see in a movie theater. Maybe you've been in love with it for a long time and just haven't known it.