Hi everyone,
I’ve just put together a short tutorial explaining the 180° shutter rule and how it helps create smooth, cinematic motion in drone footage.
It’s something I wish I’d understood much earlier when I started flying.
Hope you enjoy it, and as always any comments or feedback are very welcome.
Thanks Paul, another insightful lesson 
Keep them coming. These are excellent, thank you.
Thanks Ian. I will definitively keep them coming . The next one is ND filters to go along with this one. Depending on the weather I should have it out early next week.
Keep watching and enjoying and keep the comments coming.
No good for slow motion though
Thanks for your comment Ron. Glad you enjoyed it and hope you get better cinematic pictures because of it. As, I always concentrated on stills in my youth, when I graduated to drones and cine, I went for years not knowing anything about the 180 degree rule and how important it was to smooth cinematic films.
Quite right Chris — for slow motion it changes a bit.
If you’re planning to slow footage down in post, you’d normally shoot at a higher frame rate first, like 60fps or above, and then use roughly double that for shutter speed while filming. So for 60fps, you’d aim for around 1/120s.
The 180° rule still applies — it just applies to the frame rate you’re actually shooting at, not the speed you play it back.
That’s a really good point though, and probably worth me covering in a future video.
I must say I really don’t like motion blur, and avoid it whenever possible. I think it simply imitates the failings of early-twentieth century cinematography, and I’m not using a mechanical Arriflex to make Gone with the Wind - I’m trying get an accurate record of what was actually there, so I shoot at 60 fps, keep the ISO as low as I can and let the shutter sort itself out.
That’s a fair point and a perfectly valid approach depending on the look you’re after.
Shooting at 60fps with a faster shutter will certainly give a very sharp, “hyper-real” image and can work well for certain styles of filming.
The 180-degree rule is more about achieving the cinematic motion blur that audiences are used to seeing in film and TV. That’s why most filmmakers still use it today, even with modern digital cameras.
With drones in particular it can help smooth out movement when flying sideways or orbiting a subject.
At the end of the day it’s another creative tool in the toolbox — there’s no single “right” way, just different looks depending on what you’re trying to achieve.
A bit of history on the reasoning
That’s really interesting Chris. Thanks for sharing.
I had a chat a few years ago with an eminent senior lecturer at the Department of TFTi at work, around the relevance of 24fps with modern kit, around the time Crank was released, he pointed me towards this ;o)
Informative video though I did notice the darker elements in the video were too dark and an over all too much saturation
Hi @Russell1, it looks as though you’re quite new here 
Why not nip over to the Introductions page, and say hello properly and tell us a bit about yourself.
What would you recommend to people just starting out?
Thanks for the feedback Russell — much appreciated.
I did push the colour slightly to bring out the evening tones, but you’re right that darker scenes can sometimes appear a little heavier depending on screen brightness and device.
I’ll keep an eye on that in future edits.
Ok Paul but great information and topic.
Russ
Thanks Russell, I appreciate that. Glad the information was useful — that was the main aim of the video.
Love the simple explanation with super comparison videos - well done!
(Minor whinge…….
In the titles it’s stabilisation and transmission.)
Thanks for the positive comment Rod. Glad you enjoyed it.
Grrr I knew I should have paid more attention at school! I’ll proof read the bext one befire I publish.
Too late 
I know, I know! But it had to be done