Tips for shooting video in low light?

I know video and low light do not go together at all, but does anyone have any good tips?


I am potentially shooting a show at the Fox in boulder this week, and want to get the best quality I can.


I shot a show at Trilogy last week, and it came out pretty decent, but there was still some "noise" in the dark/shadow fringes...


I shot at F/1.6 18db of gain at 30fps. Im assuming there will be more light at the fox, so hopefully I can shoot with zero video gain. This should give me a better picture right?


lo-def sample of what I shot the other night, sorry the audio is shit until I sync up with the SBD audio

I don't know much about the FX7 (i think you have that camera) but your best bet is to create 2 or 3 presets that you can test out ahead of time. Definitely avoid maxing out video gain if it's possible, try turning off the skin dtl setting and be sure your white balance is spot on. If you have a master ped adjustment bump it up a little so your blacks blend better and don't bump up the color or you'll probably get more color noise. It's just more important to test everything out ahead of time and get a little notebook, write down what settings work in what situations for future reference.

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Originally Posted by 7cs

I don't know much about the FX7 (i think you have that camera) but your best bet is to create 2 or 3 presets that you can test out ahead of time. Definitely avoid maxing out video gain if it's possible, try turning off the skin dtl setting and be sure your white balance is spot on. If you have a master ped adjustment bump it up a little so your blacks blend better and don't bump up the color or you'll probably get more color noise. It's just more important to test everything out ahead of time and get a little notebook, write down what settings work in what situations for future reference.

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Skin dtl setting?


Master ped adj?


thanks

Definetly agree that testing your camera works best.

Personally I've found 99% of the time that gain in camera is a piece of shit on all video. I think it looks better with gain at zero and just keep the iris open.
If absolutely necessary bump it up a bit in post, but all this varies from camera to camera. Test and test again.

Shoot at +9dB max. Every time you change your gain be sure to BLACK BALANCE, as it will help with video noise by lowering your pedestal (often called "setup" on TBCs) back to around 7.5 IRE. I shoot all inside or night time concerts at 3.2k preset. All the colored gels on a stage prevent you from getting a true white balance, and this way if you have to turn away and use an on-camera light it will match everything else. The lights they use for spots, pars, gobos, etc. are all tungsten based anyway, so by shooting on a hard Tungsten preset you get the best reproduction of what the lighting director was shooting for.

Don't mess with Skin detail, you'll likely be too far away from the subjects for it to really matter, the light show will mess with you settings anyway, and there's no chance of forgetting to "normal" your settings before the next shoot.

Keep it simple. Unless you've got a camera tech riding levels don't fuck with the settings.

Oh, and turn the damn auto-iris off (it'll "pump" when the lighting levels change) and don't use the color monitor - use your B&W viewfinder Zebras for exposure, also have the peaking set to low and the contrast set to maximum. It'll be much easier to focus that way. Focus on the hard edge between light & dark and you'll be golden.

Whoa...

thanks.


Hopefully I can figure all this stuff out....total digital jong here....film is alot more straight forward.

Very good call on the 3.2K preset, forgot to say that.

You've recently grown a large moustache and now you are asking for tips on shooting video in low light.


That can only mean porn.