Apple Final Cut Pro 5 - Manual (Page 1728)

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pendix
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Frame Rate and Timecode
This appendix covers the following:
 What Is Frame Rate? (p. 377)
 Understanding Flicker and Perceived Frame Rate (p. 379)
 Frame Rate Limits: How Many Frames per Second Is Best? (p. 380)
 Choosing a Frame Rate (p. 381)
 What Is Timecode? (p. 383)
 About Drop Frame and Non-Drop Frame Timecode (p. 383)
 The Difference Between Frame Rate and Timecode (p. 385)
 Timecode on Tape (p. 386)
 Comparison of Various Timecode Formats (p. 387)
What Is Frame Rate?
Think of a motion picture camera as a relentless still camera, taking many still
photographs every second. Movies create the illusion of motion by showing still
images in rapid succession. The number of images photographed per second is
referred to as the frame rate of the movie, and is measured in frames per second (fps).
Frame rate describes both the speed of recording and the speed of playback. The more
frames recorded per second, the more accurately motion is documented onto the
recording medium.