What is a good setting for lowlight?

[fadedjosh]

I searched around and couldnt find any answers really so here is my question.

I film nightclubs/concert events and am wondering what the best settings for lowlight would be. I want to stay 24p, I messed around with 60i and it was amazing in lowlight however I dont like the style of the home-videoish look.


My settings right now are

Scene B-str
1080/24p
Detail 0
V detail 0
Detail coloring 0
Chroma Phase+3
Master Ped -5
A iris Level +4
Gamma High
Matix Norm

Thanks in advance.

[mcsmooth]

No scene setting will be perfect for every situation, but you should be able to get a good base one down after trying things out. I would set gamma and master ped after you know about what kind of exposure you will be getting. Not sure if you want to be using auto iris or your exposure might keep dipping anytime a light hits the cam. AWB is no good if there are any colored lights. Auto focus will work like ass in the dark at 24p... so be cautious of auto anything in a nightclub like environment.

Are shooting continuous or just grabbing clips here and there? If you are shooting continuous, you probably will like sticking with 24p. If you are shooting clips, don't be afraid to shoot in different rates to get some cool effects in post. At 30/60fps you can set a 1/15 shutter that gets you the most light without gain. You can't use gain with 1/15, and considering how clean the gain is at 12db, going with gain is usually the better option unless you want the stutter effect (personally I really miss 1/6 from the DVX, awesome effect at dark shows with lighting).

Another thing to consider is if your shots are going to be bombarded with strobes and flashing lights, is 720p. AVCHD is a great codec, but in those harsh conditions, the extra bandwidth might help out.