60 fps
Also known as: 60p, sixty frames
Sixty frames a second, shot mainly so that the footage can be slowed down to half speed afterwards and still play smoothly.
Updated
What it means
Sixty frames buys options rather than quality. Played back at its own rate it looks slightly hyper-real and a little like television, and its real purpose is halving the speed afterwards without inventing any frames at all.
That is the whole argument for it in action footage. A landing, an impact or the apex of a trick all benefit from being held, and the frames to do that have to exist in the recording already.
It is one step on a ladder rather than a maximum. High frame rate (HFR) modes go considerably further, in exchange for resolution, light and card space.
How it works in practice
Shooting everything at sixty frames is a defensible default. The footage plays normally, slows cleanly, and the only real penalty is card space and a camera running noticeably warmer.
Shutter doubles with it. Holding the 180-degree shutter rule means shutter near a hundred and twentieth, which in daylight usually means an ND filter to lose the extra light.
Delivery is still thirty or twenty-four in most cases. A sequence finished at 30 fps can take sixty-frame clips either at normal speed or slowed down, and both of those are deliberate choices.
What to watch out for
It needs more light than thirty does. The faster shutter takes away a stop of light, which matters at dusk and in forest, and the usual response is raising sensitivity, which adds noise.
Heat and card space both suffer. Twice the frames is roughly twice the data, so overheating and a full card arrive sooner than anybody had planned for.
Slowing it is not free. Half speed doubles the screen time of a clip, so a sequence full of slow motion runs long and loses its Pacing without anybody noticing why.
How RawClip handles it
Clips at sixty frames are used at normal speed or slowed where a moment deserves it, which is decided from what is in the shot. Shooting at this rate is what makes that choice available afterwards rather than something that has to be simulated from fewer frames.