Why go to the Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat festival happens every year. Pretty much every year I go to see it and I am always asking others if they will go to see it. A lot of people tell me no. I think for them it becomes old hat. They probably seen it once or twice and they figure that’s enough. I love events like the Dragon boat festival for a lot of reasons. First of all, I think they promotes community. The Dragon boat festival is especially good for this if you are in one of the races. You have to train. You get to know your teammates and have a great time together. But even if you are not on a team. There are lots of families that come out to take part in the festive atmosphere. You can get to know others. Ask questions and support your favourite teams. It’s also a good opportunity for photographers to meet other photographers. I decided to shoot in 60P at the Dragon Boat Festival and below I will tell you why.
Where to go for the Dragon Boat Festival
Central might be the most popular due to it’s location and iconic skyline, but there is also Stanley, Aberdeen, Sha Tin and Sai Kung. I’d always watched it from Sai Kung. But this year, I decided to venture out to Sha Tin. The Shang Mun river seems like a perfect venue for the boat races. It’s wide and has walk ways on both sides, which proved to be very inviting. Lots of families were out and I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere. No matter where you go, you will see crowds of people. Personally, I think the crowds are more manageable from Sha Tin. Next year I will have to try a new location.
Camera Equipment
Lots of people come early to get a spot along the waterfront to set up their camera equipment. You will see lots expensive cameras and long lens. I think the other side of the river had more cameras. Lots of the people on this side were shooting with smartphones.
2 Lens and 1 Adapter
This year I shot everything with just two lenses. Both lenses were recent used purchases. One was the 35mm Sigma F1.2 (that’s a big lens) and the other was the Panasonic 70-200mm F4. A lot of photographers gravitate toward the 70-200 F2.8. I was tempted, but in the end I decided I would get more value from a fast prime than a zoom lens that was only 1 stop faster. Another factor was the fact that the f2.8 zoom lens is 60 percent heavier than the f4 lens. Still when it comes to a Dragon Boat race 200mm probably isn’t long enough. I am fortunate. I came across the 2x Panasonic tele-convertor used for less than half price of new and it came in really handy. The zoomed in boat shots were taken with it.
The Weather and Camera Settings
The weather forecast called for rain and I packed rain clothes and of course an umbrella. Thankfully it didn’t rain and the sun came out. It was perfect. The only problem was that I didn’t come with ND filters. I wasn’t expecting so much sunshine. The sunshine and the lack of ND filters inspired me to shoot the event at 60 fps. I would have had more washed out footage and larger depth of field if I had tried to shoot in 30P. Way back when the Panasonic GH5 came out shooting at 4K 60fps it was considered high end. At the time, there wasn’t a lot of competition for it. People thought they needed 4K at 60 fps. Now a lot of people on YouTube tell us to only use 60 fps if you plan on slowing your footage down in post. For sure 60 slowed down looks nice, but you will definitely want to mix it up with normal speed footage. So the best advice is to plan your shot out. Below I have included examples of 60P real time. 30P half time and 30P real time (every other frame is dropped)
60P Event Video
Questioning My Decision
That’s how it looks played back real time at 60p. For the most part we are used to viewing stuff at either 24P or 30P. After looking back at the footage in post, I thought that my computer might be lagging or dropping frames in the render. It looked like there were glitches, but now I have come to realize that while some of the footage needed to be stabilized. A lot of that punchy, staccato like feel is just inherent to 60fps. It’s not a mistake. It’s just the way that it is, and to prove it I took some of the same footage and rendered it on a 30fps timeline. Here it is played back at half speed and for the most part it looks smooth without adding any image stabilization, quite a difference.
60P Footage on a 30P Timeline Half Speed
60P Footage on 30P Timeline Real Time.
To get real time the computer ignores every other frame. It actually looks more natural than the 60P real time. Only problem is I would not be able to use the audio without rendering it separately but even then it would not sink up with the original video. Now a days, a lot of people are shooting with 24fps. Personally, I don’t think there is that much difference between 30 and 24fps. Back when I was shooting with the Panasonic gx85 in 8 bit 4K 100mbps, I didn’t feel like I had a lot of choice. The camera needed those extra 6 frames to hold the footage together. I used to pan and have things fall apart at 24p, but it could do a decent job with 30p. Now I am using the Panasonic S1. It’s a great camera and the auto focus is better than the gx85. Plus it has 10 bit video. Still as you look at the video you will notice that there is some occasional focus hunting. I think the focus hunting would be worse if it was shot in 24P. Panasonic now uses the newer phase detect auto focus from the S5m2 onward. Those cameras shouldn’t have this problem.
Don’t Worry and Do More
Yes at some point when you make a decision you get looked into a path that that decision provides for you. Yes, think it through but once you have made your decision make it work. For me there is nothing wrong with 60P, if you have a client and they say no you can’t use 60P than that would be another story. Do more and worry less. But this blog is supposed to be about the Dragon Boat Festival. I shot it to preserve and share a memory of happy moments in Hong Kong. I saw lots of smiling faces and I talked to a variety of people, some of them photographers, some of them fans and others just spectators. There were lots of kids came with their parents and it was fun watching the kids sit on their dads’ shoulders. Where ever you’re at in life, get out and do more. Don’t let the rain stop you and be apart of other people’s lives. We need more of these kinds of holidays that promote community in Hong Kong. If you found this interesting you might be interested in the pictures and and interview I did with Jeremie at the Sai Kung Dragon Boat festival 2 years ago Stepping out at the Dragon Boat Festival.