Technical questions on video taping your swing….

My camcorder records digitally in mpeg format. Are there any golf swing programs which will accept this format, or programs that will allow you to put your video in slow motion? So many program like, Leadbetter Interactive, won’t read video in mpeg format. When you use a video converter, say to convert video from mpeg1 to avi, in the process of conversion do you lose your settings, like shutter speed, etc. I was experimenting with my shutter speed in sports mode, at 1/2000, 1/4000, 1/8000, and all the videos look pretty much the same. At what point would I be able to discern a difference in video quality….


Many thanks in advance!


Jamesh

P.S. If you haven’t video taped your swing – give it a shot – you don’t even need the analysis software – seeing is believing and it is a strong motivator for you to change!

You can use a free software like "Super" http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

Shutter speed is recorder and it affects the image - you do not loose it, when converting to different formats. (You will loose image quality, but in many cases you cannot see it just by watching the footage.)

Shutter speeds 1/2000 of second, 1/8000 of second are relatively similar -> very fast - so seeing difference in image, you need to know where to look. Look at fastest moving parts - like clubface. Faster timing (1/8000) makes a more clear picture, but it might be darker. (1/8000 second shutter need good lights.) Video takes always a similar amount of pictures per second. (PAL 25 and NTSC 30) - unless it has a slow motion option. BUT Shutter is not slow motion - it's the time, that shutter is open for lighting the image. Faster time stops to motion - thus making a sharper image.

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