24fps vs 25fps (EU)... Why are there different standards for such minute differences?

[Skybuyer]

The title asks it all. Why would Europe adopt a different standard than the US on frames per second. What's the point of having different but similar standards? Anyone have the history of it? Just wondering.

 

[dthreee]

To be specific, film (movie) cameras standardized on 24 frames per second globally many decades ago. Its television where the difference lies.
AC power in Europe is 50hz compared to 60hz in North America. The NTSC TV standard was built with 60 interlaced frames per second to match up with the AC frequency. In Europe, the PAL standard was built with the 50hz AC frequency in mind, using 50 interlaced frames per second. In order to show 24fps content in NTSC, they need to show multiples of each frame, but since it's not evenly divisible, it essentially has to show some frames more than others. (This is called 2:3 pulldown if you want more info on that.) To show 24fps content in PAL, they use a shortcut: change the framerate to 25 (speeding up the film by 4%) and show each frame twice. This is why cameras are usually 25 fps in Europe, this way they don't have to speed it up 4% to show it on TV.

This is a somewhat simplified answer, but I or someone else can go into more detail if you have any questions about it.

 

[Skybuyer]

To be specific, film (movie) cameras standardized on 24 frames per second globally many decades ago. Its television where the difference lies.
AC power in Europe is 50hz compared to 60hz in North America. The NTSC TV standard was built with 60 interlaced frames per second to match up with the AC frequency. In Europe, the PAL standard was built with the 50hz AC frequency in mind, using 50 interlaced frames per second. In order to show 24fps content in NTSC, they need to show multiples of each frame, but since it's not evenly divisible, it essentially has to show some frames more than others. (This is called 2:3 pulldown if you want more info on that.) To show 24fps content in PAL, they use a shortcut: change the framerate to 25 (speeding up the film by 4%) and show each frame twice. This is why cameras are usually 25 fps in Europe, this way they don't have to speed it up 4% to show it on TV.

This is a somewhat simplified answer, but I or someone else can go into more detail if you have any questions about it.

Ok... This makes sense. Thanks for the explanation. I knew there was a reason but couldn't figure out why there was a different setting. Then one would have to wonder why DJI hasn't included a 1/48 second shutter speed ? It's strange how connected we are in the world, and yet some areas continue operate on different standards with so many things.