5d mkII shooting at night

[misha]

I'm trying to figure out how to get crisp/clear night shots with the 5d. but all the tests i've done have been pretty noisy. first test i ran i had the iso @ 400 (white balance was way off) http://petmyllama.com/vids/nite_test1.mov That was shot with a Canon EF 85mm @ f/1.8 iso 400.

Ran some more tests tonite using a Canon EF 24-70mm @ f/2.8 iso 100

http://petmyllama.com/vids/nt1.mov

http://petmyllama.com/vids/nt2.mov The 2nd file, i tried noise reduction in final cut but its only on the first half of the clip. Which from what i can see, did nothing.

Everything was shot in manual, is the noise caused by me shooting so shallow? Do I have the settings wrong? I've been rattling my brain with this for 2 days and its driving me nuts.

On another note, can i setup destributed-rendering between a power mac, g5, and mac mini? all of the editing is done on a mac book pro. Would i need to copy the content to each of those machines or can 1 of them be set as a storage device?

Thanks in advance.

[Lee Wilson]

misha - you might get your question answered quicker over at www.cinema5d.com

[morgan_moore]

I dont think the ASA settings etc have anything to do with what the camera does

you need to disconnect the aperture and force it to be 1.8

(various trick on the net - non nice for canon lenses)

Then trick the camera into shooting at low ASA

ie stop down the aperture and point the camera at something bright, lock the exposure, then open the aperture and do your filming

S

[misha]

I dont think the ASA settings etc have anything to do with what the camera does

you need to disconnect the aperture and force it to be 1.8

(various trick on the net - non nice for canon lenses)

Then trick the camera into shooting at low ASA

ie stop down the aperture and point the camera at something bright, lock the exposure, then open the aperture and do your filming

S

Thats what i meant by everything being Manual. The aperture is locked in by twisting the lense loose a bit, i've locked in the exposure with *. But my concern is the noise in the clip.

[morgan_moore]

I dont have canon lenses

suggest that it is picking a high ISO

With nikon lenses you can meter off something bright, (forcing it to choos a low ISO) and then open the aperture up after * is pressed to let enough light in

S

[Emanuel]

Try a high contrast setup. This camera loves it.