Somebody is making videos with Z9? Help appreciated!

[ElenaH]

I've got my Z9 and actually I bought it preferably for video-making. I am still better in BIF with my D850! Perhaps, it will change in the future ;-) But my main goal for Z9 was filming.
I saw one thread about filming on Z9 but it didn't answer my questions.

The first one is where to find information about right settings or right settings for right condotions on Z9 for Wildlife filmming? Can anybody post some links on videos, articles and web-sites? Please! Very appreciated!

The other question about the lens. I don't have any Z-lens and I am thinking to buy one for filming (my parner has only Z 800mm). I was OK for years taking pictures and videos with F-Mount lenses on Z7 but if I film the silent scene then I can hear the lens-motor.
I am going to make videos in Africa in September of Wild Dogs and other mammals. That means - normally during the day light but sometimes in the dusk. I don't need long focal lenght becasue I need to show the scenes rather than film portraits or details. I have an experience that you can still make videos in the dark when there is no enough light for taking pictures becasue for pictures you need the shutter speed according to the moving subjects to get the sharp pictures and it can be about 1/80s if the enimal sits and not less than 1/120s when it is moving. For video I can go with 1/30s (or frame-rate) because in video the sharpness is not so important but the story.

Some videos live from sound and or me it is important, that lens-motor is not heard (I use video-mic from Rode). Threfore, I thought about Z-Mount lens for video. I ordered one lens, it is 100-400mm, but it will be rather for photography. I think, it will be too long to film the wildlife scenes. However, I used 300mm/f4 IF-ED sometimes...
I was thinking about those lenses:
24-70/4 - 500g - 749€
24-70/2.8 - 805g - 2129€
24-120/4 - 630g - 1299€
28-75/2.8 - 565g - 919€
24-200/4-6.3 570g - 819€
The price is not really so important! I was just thinking why shound I pay 2129€ for 24-70/2.8 if 24-70/4 will do the job? The sharpness on the edges is not really important for videos, I think. The weight is important becasue perhaps, I need to put it on the rig. Camera = 1,34kg. Normally rigs/gimbals allow max 2,5kg.

I also love landscape photography but I can use F-Mount lens for landscapes because I don't need fast reliable AF and silent motor for that but of course, it is "nice to have" a lens which I can use for landscapes as well.
So, I was thinking about 28-75/2.8 but it has a Tamron design of generation 1! for info: now Tamron 28-75 (for Sony E only) has already generation 3. So much about "better" Z-lens... obviously not better than Tamron of first generation ;-) . But for filming it would be good enough. Unfortunately, I cannot find some sample pictures or reviews for that lens. Does anybody have it?

The other option would be 24-120/4. I think it has a god IQ for landscapes as well. The 24-70/2.8 looks rather expensive and heavy... The 24-70/4 is nice and light but 24-120/4 is probably better... ?
I am not sure if 24-200/4-6.3 will be an option becasue of f6.3 already by 100mm (as I heard).

In any case I have none of those lenses and never filmed with them. Somebody of you did? What do you think? Is somebody filming with Z9? What would you recommend? What is your experience? Please, share your thoughts. Thank you

 

[Wes Peterson]

There is no easy way to answer your first question the settings in the Z9 in regards to video are pretty standard for most cameras that shoot video. Your best bet is to get on youtube and start looking for beginner video content. If sound is important you WILL need an external microphone preferable one that is powered. Deity makes a great mic for a good price. If you can get by with f4 then the 24-120 would be my choice. Especially with the option of 4k with a 2.3X crop.

Some people will tell you RAW or LOG recording isnt needed and to a point thats true.... but the same thing could be said about still photography and Im quite sure those people are shooting RAW. If I was going to africa I would want to make sure the footage I shot had the absolute best resolution and color depth possible given the conditions.

 

[ElenaH]

thank you, @Wes Peterson ! I have Video Mic from Rode. It was not cheapest, rather very good quality, powered of battery. I even have a good Mic for voice-over. I just need to improve my skills. Here is an example:

A big part of this video was taken with iPhone 11 Pro Max , some parts with 300/4 and some with 105/1.4. My goal is to use Z9 instead of iPhone and Z7.
I thought about 24-120/4 because it must be better than 28-75/2.8 (??) And 28mm probably will not be wide enough.
The RAW and LOG for video sound from me like new planets from the other galaxy . RAW lokks familiar to me becasue I take pictures in RAW but LOG is something I have no idea about ;-)

 

[Venkatesh VT]

I've got my Z9 and actually I bought it preferably for video-making. I am still better in BIF with my D850! Perhaps, it will change in the future ;-) But my main goal for Z9 was filming.
I saw one thread about filming on Z9 but it didn't answer my questions.

The first one is where to find information about right settings or right settings for right condotions on Z9 for Wildlife filmming? Can anybody post some links on videos, articles and web-sites? Please! Very appreciated!

The other question about the lens. I don't have any Z-lens and I am thinking to buy one for filming (my parner has only Z 800mm). I was OK for years taking pictures and videos with F-Mount lenses on Z7 but if I film the silent scene then I can hear the lens-motor.
I am going to make videos in Africa in September of Wild Dogs and other mammals. That means - normally during the day light but sometimes in the dusk. I don't need long focal lenght becasue I need to show the scenes rather than film portraits or details. I have an experience that you can still make videos in the dark when there is no enough light for taking pictures becasue for pictures you need the shutter speed according to the moving subjects to get the sharp pictures and it can be about 1/80s if the enimal sits and not less than 1/120s when it is moving. For video I can go with 1/30s (or frame-rate) because in video the sharpness is not so important but the story.

Some videos live from sound and or me it is important, that lens-motor is not heard (I use video-mic from Rode). Threfore, I thought about Z-Mount lens for video. I ordered one lens, it is 100-400mm, but it will be rather for photography. I think, it will be too long to film the wildlife scenes. However, I used 300mm/f4 IF-ED sometimes...
I was thinking about those lenses:
24-70/4 - 500g - 749€
24-70/2.8 - 805g - 2129€
24-120/4 - 630g - 1299€
28-75/2.8 - 565g - 919€
24-200/4-6.3 570g - 819€
The price is not really so important! I was just thinking why shound I pay 2129€ for 24-70/2.8 if 24-70/4 will do the job? The sharpness on the edges is not really important for videos, I think. The weight is important becasue perhaps, I need to put it on the rig. Camera = 1,34kg. Normally rigs/gimbals allow max 2,5kg.

I also love landscape photography but I can use F-Mount lens for landscapes because I don't need fast reliable AF and silent motor for that but of course, it is "nice to have" a lens which I can use for landscapes as well.
So, I was thinking about 28-75/2.8 but it has a Tamron design of generation 1! for info: now Tamron 28-75 (for Sony E only) has already generation 3. So much about "better" Z-lens... obviously not better than Tamron of first generation ;-) . But for filming it would be good enough. Unfortunately, I cannot find some sample pictures or reviews for that lens. Does anybody have it?

The other option would be 24-120/4. I think it has a god IQ for landscapes as well. The 24-70/2.8 looks rather expensive and heavy... The 24-70/4 is nice and light but 24-120/4 is probably better... ?
I am not sure if 24-200/4-6.3 will be an option becasue of f6.3 already by 100mm (as I heard).

In any case I have none of those lenses and never filmed with them. Somebody of you did? What do you think? Is somebody filming with Z9? What would you recommend? What is your experience? Please, share your thoughts. Thank you

I also bought Z9 for wild life video. I have set it up after going through Thom Hogans guide

 

[janzin]

This is so timely because I was just about to post a similar question, although I am even less familiar with video than Elena. Basically I need a quick "Z9 video for dummies" answer but I'll follow along here in hopes I can learn something. I am leaving for Kenya in just a few days and would love to shoot some very basic video with my Z9 (no special mic, no special lenses, just short clips) but I have no idea which settings I should be using.

 

[RJW]

thank you, @Wes Peterson ! I have Video Mic from Rode. It was not cheapest, rather very good quality, powered of battery. I even have a good Mic for voice-over. I just need to improve my skills. Here is an example:

A big part of this video was taken with iPhone 11 Pro Max , some parts with 300/4 and some with 105/1.4. My goal is to use Z9 instead of iPhone and Z7.
I thought about 24-120/4 because it must be better than 28-75/2.8 (??) And 28mm probably will not be wide enough.
The RAW and LOG for video sound from me like new planets from the other galaxy . RAW lokks familiar to me becasue I take pictures in RAW but LOG is something I have no idea about ;-)

Love the video and narration Elena!

 

[agdoherty]

I've got my Z9 and actually I bought it preferably for video-making. I am still better in BIF with my D850! Perhaps, it will change in the future ;-) But my main goal for Z9 was filming.
I saw one thread about filming on Z9 but it didn't answer my questions.

The first one is where to find information about right settings or right settings for right condotions on Z9 for Wildlife filmming? Can anybody post some links on videos, articles and web-sites? Please! Very appreciated!

The other question about the lens. I don't have any Z-lens and I am thinking to buy one for filming (my parner has only Z 800mm). I was OK for years taking pictures and videos with F-Mount lenses on Z7 but if I film the silent scene then I can hear the lens-motor.
I am going to make videos in Africa in September of Wild Dogs and other mammals. That means - normally during the day light but sometimes in the dusk. I don't need long focal lenght becasue I need to show the scenes rather than film portraits or details. I have an experience that you can still make videos in the dark when there is no enough light for taking pictures becasue for pictures you need the shutter speed according to the moving subjects to get the sharp pictures and it can be about 1/80s if the enimal sits and not less than 1/120s when it is moving. For video I can go with 1/30s (or frame-rate) because in video the sharpness is not so important but the story.

Some videos live from sound and or me it is important, that lens-motor is not heard (I use video-mic from Rode). Threfore, I thought about Z-Mount lens for video. I ordered one lens, it is 100-400mm, but it will be rather for photography. I think, it will be too long to film the wildlife scenes. However, I used 300mm/f4 IF-ED sometimes...
I was thinking about those lenses:
24-70/4 - 500g - 749€
24-70/2.8 - 805g - 2129€
24-120/4 - 630g - 1299€
28-75/2.8 - 565g - 919€
24-200/4-6.3 570g - 819€
The price is not really so important! I was just thinking why shound I pay 2129€ for 24-70/2.8 if 24-70/4 will do the job? The sharpness on the edges is not really important for videos, I think. The weight is important becasue perhaps, I need to put it on the rig. Camera = 1,34kg. Normally rigs/gimbals allow max 2,5kg.

I also love landscape photography but I can use F-Mount lens for landscapes because I don't need fast reliable AF and silent motor for that but of course, it is "nice to have" a lens which I can use for landscapes as well.
So, I was thinking about 28-75/2.8 but it has a Tamron design of generation 1! for info: now Tamron 28-75 (for Sony E only) has already generation 3. So much about "better" Z-lens... obviously not better than Tamron of first generation ;-) . But for filming it would be good enough. Unfortunately, I cannot find some sample pictures or reviews for that lens. Does anybody have it?

The other option would be 24-120/4. I think it has a god IQ for landscapes as well. The 24-70/2.8 looks rather expensive and heavy... The 24-70/4 is nice and light but 24-120/4 is probably better... ?
I am not sure if 24-200/4-6.3 will be an option becasue of f6.3 already by 100mm (as I heard).

In any case I have none of those lenses and never filmed with them. Somebody of you did? What do you think? Is somebody filming with Z9? What would you recommend? What is your experience? Please, share your thoughts. Thank you

The 24-120 f4, 24-70 f4 and 24-70 2.8 both shoot well for video on the Z9 and are some of the quieter lenses. I haven't tried the others you've listed for video, but the 50 1.2 and 105 macro are some of the louder lenses I've used so far. I only keep the camera audio as a scratch track to sync my external audio mic/recorder, so I've never worried about focus noise, but my external mic hasn't picked up any of them. If the mic is physically connected to the camera body I can't speak to that situation since I don't mount to the camera directly.

The autofocus settings are worth playing around with too. I tend to slow the default speed a bit in video mode and it's worked really well to give a more natural transitional feel, like you're manually focusing a bit slower vs an instant snap of focus that feels more like the camera doing the work - which is what you'd want when shooting stills, but felt wrong for video.

If you're shooting 4k/24fps you'll want a shutter speed of 1/50th (or 30fps - 1/60, 60fps - 1/120) so depending on your iso you may need to consider an ND filter to get a proper exposure. The SDR footage turns out really well and you can set any iso you want, so you may not need to worry about it. If you want to play around with color grading your video in RAW or N-log though, you'll be at iso 800 minimum which is tough in full daylight without ND. You can crank your shutter speed but it will start looking a bit unnatural.

You're right that the lens clarity needed for video is a bit different than stills since there is going to be motion blur across frames anyway. That can really help with budget! I've been super happy with the Z9 autofocus for video, though I do work with people much more than animals. Eye-tracking has been great along with the new wider zones so you can frame the subject for height and allow side to side movement. If you'd catch the focus for stills it will be the same for video based on my experience so far.

 

[Wes Peterson]

The 24-120 f4, 24-70 f4 and 24-70 2.8 both shoot well for video on the Z9 and are some of the quieter lenses. I haven't tried the others you've listed for video, but the 50 1.2 and 105 macro are some of the louder lenses I've used so far. I only keep the camera audio as a scratch track to sync my external audio mic/recorder, so I've never worried about focus noise, but my external mic hasn't picked up any of them. If the mic is physically connected to the camera body I can't speak to that situation since I don't mount to the camera directly.

The autofocus settings are worth playing around with too. I tend to slow the default speed a bit in video mode and it's worked really well to give a more natural transitional feel, like you're manually focusing a bit slower vs an instant snap of focus that feels more like the camera doing the work - which is what you'd want when shooting stills, but felt wrong for video.

If you're shooting 4k/24fps you'll want a shutter speed of 1/50th (or 30fps - 1/60, 60fps - 1/120) so depending on your iso you may need to consider an ND filter to get a proper exposure. The SDR footage turns out really well and you can set any iso you want, so you may not need to worry about it. If you want to play around with color grading your video in RAW or N-log though, you'll be at iso 800 minimum which is tough in full daylight without ND. You can crank your shutter speed but it will start looking a bit unnatural.

You're right that the lens clarity needed for video is a bit different than stills since there is going to be motion blur across frames anyway. That can really help with budget! I've been super happy with the Z9 autofocus for video, though I do work with people much more than animals. Eye-tracking has been great along with the new wider zones so you can frame the subject for height and allow side to side movement. If you'd catch the focus for stills it will be the same for video based on my experience so far.

You do not need to shoot at ISO800 in RAW. you can shoot in any ISO that you can use in photo mode.

 

[agdoherty]

You do not need to shoot at ISO800 in RAW. you can shoot in any ISO that you can use in photo mode.

Thanks for catching that, I meant N-log requires iso 800 vs SDR. I was flipping through my camera menu and forgot RAW has both modes!

 

[MartyD]

I may add this comment to several threads.

I am working at becoming better at video on my Nikon Z6ii, I don’t shoot a Z9 but I think these apply. I have established a whole new level of respect for those that shoot and edit good wildlife videos. There is a creative element from start to finish that I just haven’t mastered yet that doesn’t exist for still images. I am not an expert by any means on shooting video but I have found learning to shoot videos is about much more than camera settings.

The best advice in learning to shoot video is to shoot and process lots of video. Shoot as many different situations as possible in different resolutions and fps to get a feel of what the video looks like in different settings and how it edits. I have never found a definitive answer as to the best fps for different situations, I find many references to “getting the look” you want.

Resolution is great but if you plan on sharing the video it might be necessary to create a lower resolution video to be shared via the internet. Even short videos can be 2Gb so uploading and downloading will take time, but it is always nice to have the high resolution to work with.

It is good to explore the features of a good video editing software to understand the tools available for editing. There are many options for editing video, and you need to know what the original content needs to look like in order to produce good results. For example, image stabilization is a great feature in video editing, and it can do a great job of stabilizing a subject but in order to do so will need to crop the video. If the original video is too tightly cropped the image stabilization over crops the image. if that makes sense.

Know how camera and lens image stabilization works with video shooting especially panning actions. In some situations, I have found panning can produce jerky video because the image stabilization can try to stabilize the panning motion.

You need to think the video process from capture to process to share. I have found that I have captured some great video but did not have adequate supporting video to really complete a proper edit. I also found that I needed to shoot a little wider at times and have a little more before and after video to make the edit easier.

When shooting stills a faster shutter speed is rarely a bad thing, need a wider aperture, no problem, increase the shutter speed, I don’t know that I ever had issues with too much light when shooting stills. Video is just the opposite in that too much light can be an issue. During a bright sunny day with an EV of 16 you can shoot stills at iso 100, f4, 1/4000, but with video if you shoot at iso 100 at 1/125 you have to be at f22. In the same setting I must watch my iso getting too high when shooting stills to my iso getting too low when shooting video. I like the easy switch on the Z camera from still to video but in many situations, I have to think about having a neutral density filter handy to quickly swap on and off.

Know exactly how your AF system will behave and the best focus modes for video, the Z9 is far superior to the Z6ii but it still might be an issue. If shooting stills and you shoot a burst of images and a few of them are out of focus you just discard them, but in video shooting if you shoot 15 seconds of great video and there is a 1 second interval where the focus drifts out the entire 15 seconds might not be usable.

I do use a Rode microphone and it works well but I have found the biggest issue when trying to shoot video with sound is to keep the background noise and chatter to a minimum. I now know while “quiet on the set” is important. If you are with a group or others on a trip you might want to make them aware of the fact you are shooting video and ask them to keep the chatter down or try to distance yourself as much as possible from them. A directional microphone is helpful, but it will still pick up background noise.

I have considered purchasing a gimbal stabilizer for video shooting, I think they would be very helpful in some shooting situations.

The Z6ii does not shoot raw video so I have not considered that option. I am not good enough yet to worry about the possible increase in quality using RAW video formats.

As far as lenses go, I have the Z 24-200, Z 28-75, Z 100-400, Z 24-70 f4, and F 70-200 f2.8 FL. They all work well for video, and I have not had any focus noise issues. I do like a little more zoom range for shooting video. I don’t find sharpness to be as much of a concern with video, it just isn’t normal to pause a video and zoom in to check.

I have really enjoyed leaning to shoot and edit video, but I have found it very time consuming. It just seems to me that video has added a whole new creative process to capturing a scene and producing a meaningful video of that scene. You have to think like a videographer instead of a photographer and I think they can be very different at times.

 

[frdjohns]

thank you, @Wes Peterson ! I have Video Mic from Rode. It was not cheapest, rather very good quality, powered of battery. I even have a good Mic for voice-over. I just need to improve my skills. Here is an example:

A big part of this video was taken with iPhone 11 Pro Max , some parts with 300/4 and some with 105/1.4. My goal is to use Z9 instead of iPhone and Z7.
I thought about 24-120/4 because it must be better than 28-75/2.8 (??) And 28mm probably will not be wide enough.
The RAW and LOG for video sound from me like new planets from the other galaxy . RAW lokks familiar to me becasue I take pictures in RAW but LOG is something I have no idea about ;-)

Wow! what an impressive video. It did such a great job of telling the story of your campsite. I don't think I would have been brave enough to sleep in a tent - I would stay locked int the auto. Great narration as well. Thanks for sharing that.

 

[Alistair]

Wonderful video, looks like you are already well underway in your video journey. But you are sleeping in a tent with the Lions outside? - wow that is brave but be careful!

For your next lens, without question the 24-120. If you are shooting 8k for use in 4k timeline then you have 24-240 in that lens already. You have also the 100-400 so you have everything covered in those two lenses. The 24-120 is extraordinarily good given its flexibility and a jewel in the Z range for video and stills (travel and landscape).

I too am trying to learn video. I see it as two parts of learning; the shooting and the editing. For the shooting there are lots of resources for this online - udemy.com has lots of nice courses available. Then there is the editing and for this will you use Apple or Linux/Windows? If the latter then you can use DaVinci Resolve which is quite a complex thing but there are again lots of online courses for this. Personally I like https://filmsimplified.com for this but that is just a personal preference for the style of video. For Apple, you will have their own proprietary software already in your system and the Z9 shoots Apple Pro Res raw internally too (albeit only 4K). Again lots of online material for Apple software.

 

[ElenaH]

@Venkatesh VT , thank you, I will definitelly have a look at Thom's Hogan website.

Basically I need a quick "Z9 video for dummies"

I need that, too, @janzin . Perhaps, we shall rise that topic in Safaritalk as well?
Thank you, @RJW and @frdjohns ! very appreciated!
@MartyD , thank you for very detailed reply.

You have to think like a videographer instead of a photographer and I think they can be very different at times

It will be definitely a challenge!

If you're shooting 4k/24fps you'll want a shutter speed of 1/50th (or 30fps - 1/60, 60fps - 1/120)

That also means if I want to shoot in 120fts than I need to take 1/240, I assume. As I remember, in Europe we need to take 25fts and in US - 30fps, it depends on PAL or SECAM - am I right? I also read about N-log a bit. It is used for better color-grading in post as I understood. You have more dynamic to work with. I think, one can know what he or she is doing. All parts of video, all feetage must match together. I think, it is not easy and rather for experts. I would be happy to start with simple things, learn to make them good and then to develope my skills. Somehow, I feel like I am not ready for shooting in N-log, not yet.

Then there is the editing and for this will you use Apple or Linux/Windows?

I use Apple and Final Cut Pro plus some plug-ins like maps, texts and annimations which I bought additionally. Actually there are only two or three. Enough for the moment. The maps and titles were important for me.
Somewhere I saw that 4K ProRes HQ 50fts takes 1,42Gbit/sec. That means my Angebird of 160GB will be eaten in 15mins. So, we, who are doing video need to think about the cards as well. And about the hard-drives, about processing. We need to put all footage somewhere... better on internal disk for processing becasue USB can be a bottleneck. Then we need to have enough RAM... etc. So, it is definitely a different story than pictures.
And taking video is very different than photos. Sometimes I think it is another universe. Hopefully, there is not soooo much information and skills we need to master.
But I know, that when the light is not enough for photos and when I stop taking photos I can switch to video. And we need to make a use of that.
Thank you, all, for the links!

 

[agdoherty]

That also means if I want to shoot in 120fts than I need to take 1/240, I assume. As I remember, in Europe we need to take 25fts and in US - 30fps, it depends on PAL or SECAM - am I right? I also read about N-log a bit. It is used for better color-grading in post as I understood. You have more dynamic to work with. I think, one can know what he or she is doing. All parts of video, all feetage must match together. I think, it is not easy and rather for experts. I would be happy to start with simple things, learn to make them good and then to develope my skills. Somehow, I feel like I am not ready for shooting in N-log, not yet.

Correct for 120fps 1/240, the shutter speed is typically 2x the framerate you're shooting to keep the look more natural. You can record outside that for certain effects, though I don't really play around with it enough to explain well. You're correct, PAL and NTSC are different, 25/29.97fps. I generally shoot at 24fps so that 120fps is 1/5 speed in a 24fps editor timeline. When rendering to an mp4/mov file for the final video, I think the PAL/NTSC question is less important if the file is being played back by a computer, vs over the air broadcast/DVD. Things like drop-frames and conversions turn out best when you shoot in multiples of your editor timeline, but that's getting really nit-picky so recording at 25fps for PAL and using 120 footage should look fine. And yeah, N-log is complicated!

 

[ElenaH]

oh, I think, I found an expert in you, @agdoherty .
OK, for my understanding it doesn't matter if I shoot in 25fps or 30fps if I put it on YouTube , right? Because it is not going to DVD player and only such equipment differs in EU and US (PAL/NTSC)
And you are shooting in 24fps for better rendering in post? because if you shoot a part in 120fps then you just apply 1/5 speed during the processing, it will give you 24fps, match to the rest and looks like a slow motion what it very beautiful when bird is taking off and catching a Fisch and so on. I'd like to learn how to make such footage. Actually, I thought that if I shoot in 60fps or in 50fps I can always drop the speed in post. The question is how to do it correct or better.
As I remember 24fps is a movie or cinema speed, it makes a cinematic look.

when you shoot in multiples of your editor timeline

what do you mean by that? to shoot the same scene with two cameras? or with camera + mobile phone in a flash-shoe? Sorry for stupid questions but I am only a beginner ;-)
N-Log and Pro-Res I will put for the future because it could look just like a bad try or kitsch if I am not skilled enough
At the moment my goal is to be able to take videos of starting birds in slow motion and that colours are natural and everything looks just ok.. I think, it is already quite a challenge! ;-)
Thank you very much for help!

 

[agdoherty]

oh, I think, I found an expert in you, @agdoherty .
OK, for my understanding it doesn't matter if I shoot in 25fps or 30fps if I put it on YouTube , right? Because it is not going to DVD player and only such equipment differs in EU and US (PAL/NTSC)
And you are shooting in 24fps for better rendering in post? because if you shoot a part in 120fps then you just apply 1/5 speed during the processing, it will give you 24fps, match to the rest and looks like a slow motion what it very beautiful when bird is taking off and catching a Fisch and so on. I'd like to learn how to make such footage. Actually, I thought that if I shoot in 60fps or in 50fps I can always drop the speed in post. The question is how to do it correct or better.
As I remember 24fps is a movie or cinema speed, it makes a cinematic look.

what do you mean by that? to shoot the same scene with two cameras? or with camera + mobile phone in a flash-shoe? Sorry for stupid questions but I am only a beginner ;-)
N-Log and Pro-Res I will put for the future because it could look just like a bad try or kitsch if I am not skilled enough
At the moment my goal is to be able to take videos of starting birds in slow motion and that colours are natural and everything looks just ok.. I think, it is already quite a challenge! ;-)
Thank you very much for help!

This is the basic idea, and I'm sure there are people who might explain it better than me! But so far in my experience:

The 24fps vs 30-60-120 choice is about the smoothness of the look, and yes 24 is the baseline for what people define as cinematic. Sports on TV is often shot at 60 (here in the US at least) because then you see more detail in a fast moving moment - and TV refresh rates have increased from 60-120-240 and so on since they are multiples of 60. If you want to capture faster motion for wildlife, 30 or 60fps is good, but you have to set up your timeline to be a match to get realtime playback for those moments. e.g. if you record lions running at 60 and elephants walking at 30, you'd want to edit in a 30fps timeline and 2x the lion footage to get it to play in real time with an option to swap it to 1x to get them to appear to run at half speed more smoothly.

Multiples of your editor timeline means something like having a 24fps timeline and importing 120 footage which is 5x 24. Or a 30fps timeline and importing 60/120. In the end they all work pretty decently for a general audience who may not notice drop frames (because the data is thrown out if you try to combine footage that isn't direct multiples, like 24/30 or 24/60)

If you import 120fps footage into a 24fps timeline, it will essentially appear slow motion without needing to apply effects at all. You can then digitally ramp up the 120fps to 5x for real time video and then make a cut at the moment of takeoff/catch to give a jump back to the native 120fps footage so plays in a more natural looking slow motion. Without the 120fps people often record 24fps and then apply a 1/5 speed effect, but that's basically simulating frames so you lose detail and smoothness vs having all that data to play back in each frame with a faster framerate.

Planning to shoot 24/120, or 30/60/120 would be your options, and I'd edit in either a 24 or 30fps timeline. The question is do you want half and quarter speed options, or 20% speed playback. I would personally avoid shooting in 24/30/60/120 because it can be a headache even though it can work if you really need it to.

 

[agdoherty]

One other thing, if you plan to cut in your iPhone footage, make sure to take it out of high efficiency 4k, and change the format to most compatible. (and choose a matching base framerate to your camera.) The high efficiency modes have variable framerate and can make editing a real pain in a fixed framerate timeline in your editor.

 

[ElenaH]

if you plan to cut in your iPhone footage, make sure to take it out of high efficiency 4k

thank you for reminding it to me! my iPhone 11 Pro Max can do 4K 60fps but I need to be careful and watch the setting becasue they can be set back to HD whithout me paying attention...