Re: Cineframe 30/Cineframe 25 resolution loss vs. 60i

[Moses] "PS. Am I right in assuming that a smart de-interlacer in post could turn 60i of a STILL resolution chart into 30P without sacrificing resolution?"

Forgot to answer this part. Yes, a properly intelligent smart de-interlacer should be able to turn a still shot from 60i to 30p with no resolution loss.

However, the very process of shooting the chart at 60i is causing resolution loss. Between the row-pair summation, the low-pass filtering, and the kell factor, you'll see a much lower resolution picture coming from an interlaced camera, as opposed to a progressive-scan camera. The XL2 and FX2 in 24P mode can turn out a picture with 480 scan lines of resolution, but when you put them into interlaced mode the best they can do is about 360 lines (NTSC numbers here). Interlaced cameras blur the fields together to minimize interline flicker.

So if you're shooting your res chart in 60i mode, you'll get the highest res that the interlaced camera can deliver, which in the case of the FX1 is about 775 lines (even though the pixel count goes up to 820). Then when wanting to make a 30P simulation of that, you could use a smart de-interlacer (such as DVFilm's Maker software), which could theoretically preserve all that resolution (and, in which case, would look no different than the 60i shot).

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