Here at Naik Media, we’re always looking to expand horizons – not just ours, but yours as well. Camera aficionados will have heard of the Shutter Angle setting – but what exactly does it mean? Naik Media’s resident physics expert is on hand to explain the history of this setting and why it persists today!
The shutter angle is something we’ve mentioned before – you can adjust the shutter angle of almost every camera there is, in some way or another (more on that in a minute!) The result is that at a lower shutter angle, your footage has reduced motion blur, and at a higher angle, there is more. There, it’s that simple! But what is the best shutter angle to choose, and why does it really matter? Where possible, we’ll always recommend a shutter angle of 180° – this is because a lower shutter angle results in a somewhat jarring, sharp look with reduced motion blur. It never looks brilliant, especially in video, as motion looks choppy. However, a shutter angle that is set too high swings too far in the opposite direction; motion blur looks exaggerated, too soft.
These days, most every pro-grade camera you can lay your hands on has some kind of setting that affects your shutter angle – whether it is a dedicated setting that changes your frame rate and shutter speed automatically, or in some cases, you need to change both manually. But why a shutter angle?
Way back when, during the time when all film cameras were entirely mechanical, a piece of film would pass in front of the lens. At the same time, a disc would rotate between the two – on this disk, there would be an aperture, the idea being, that as the film passed through, it would be exposed by the aperture on the disk. Filmmakers had different apertures to play with, each exposing the film for differing periods of time.
The disk would complete one full rotation per frame – thus, the more of it that was open would result in a longer exposure. The aperture in the disk was measured in degrees – 45° would equate to one eigth of the disk being open, thus allowing in light for a one eighth of a frame – 90° for one quarter of a frame, 180° for half a frame and 270° for three quarters of a frame.
The higher the shutter angle, the more open it was – thus, your film is exposed to light for a longer period of time through the lens. And as everyone with a camera knows, the longer a sensor is exposed, the more blurred the eventual image is. So a 90° shutter angle means, in older camera terms, that only one quarter of the disk is open, resulting in a shorter exposure time per frame – this results in a less blurry image.
Over time, film was replaced with a digital sensor, and the mechanical disk is nonexistent in modern cameras – but shutter angle, in some form, remains as a basic principle of videography today. The shutter angle on modern DSLRs, for instance, actually describes the relationship between the shutter speed and the frame rate – Adrian covered this in the video below:
The equation is simple – you should generally set your shutter speed to be double your frame rate. So, if you are shooting at 25fps, your shutter speed should be 1/50th; this is called the “180° rule”. As I mentioned earlier, on certain cameras, you may find a dedicated shutter angle setting that allows you to change the angle itself. his is essentially telling the camera to set the frame rate and shutter speed automatically. On other cameras, there may not be such a setting, and you may need to set the frame rate and shutter speed manually, according to the equation. Some more examples include:
30p = 1/60th
50p = 1/100th
etc.
So, what effect does this have on your footage? Many videographers seek a so-called cinematic look to their footage, as this can improve the overall quality feel of their content, in the same way a shallow depth of field would. This forms the basis on a setting on most modern TVs – and it’s a setting I recommend you change immediately. On most TVs, it’s called “filmmaker mode”, and it’s the one setting you should definitely switch on.
This setting disables the artificial ‘motion smoothing’ that results in the so-called “soap opera” effect. It doesn’t look good, and completely ruins anything you happen to be watching, as it goes beyond the cinematic effect that motion blur is there to achieve – content looks soft and wishy-washy. Setting your shutter angle to 180°, or 50p with a shutter speed of 1/50th, results in the most natural look, with motion blur that most closely resembles the natural blur we see.
Overall, shutter angle has a big effect on the look of your footage, and it’s important to make sure you find the setting that’s right for you – but remember, your friendly neighbourhood content creators (that’s us!) always recommend you follow the 180° rule, or 25p and a shutter speed of 1/50th.
Check back for the next post for more tips, tricks and other great content!