24f, low light, and other random questions

davidlh

davidlh

Active member
So, I hear everyone around here talking about how they use 24p or 24f for the "film look" but I rarely ever find myself using it. I seems VERY choppy to me. Do I not have a correct shutter speed set, or is it just always choppy?

Also, I've heard that this camera is good for low light situations, but every time I have low light, I have to turn the Gain on high and I get REALLY grainy footage! Is there a way to avoid this but still get decent low light?

Ok, last question: How many people actually use this camera to film features? Are there any specific examples of movies that were filmed with the XH A1 that got picked up? I'm just wondering, because it seems capable, but more people tend to go for the HVX200.

Anyway, thanks to anyone that answers! It's greatly appreciated!

-David
 
For the judder that you're seeing, as explained in the article posted above, with a deeper depth of field that the 1/3" CCD's will generate, it will naturally be more noticeable in the background. Really try to track the subject smoothly and it will only appear in the background, which is pretty normal.
The A1 definitely does have good low light compared to other HDV cameras in a similar price range. If it had native SD sensors, the performance would obviously be better, but in HD, the low light can be compromised by the fact that a whole lot more pixels need to be crammed into the sensors. This might make you feel better - http://www.tampahighdef.com/Low_light_sm.mov
Crank II was shot on an A1.
 
I should say I didn't actually make that video. I found it on DVinfo after searching google for "XH-A1 low light comparison."
My guess would be that the A1 is better at low light than the HMC40. The HMC40 has 1/4" CMOS sensors while the A1 has 1/3" CCD's. Im not sure about CMOS's vs CCD's in terms of low light, but with the A1, the total area of the sensors is around a 50 percent greater. The size of the pixels is really what's important, and I'm not sure what it is on the HMC40, but the A1 has native 1440 by 1080 CCD's with a pixel aspect ratio of 1.33. Anything higher than that on the HMC40 (like 1920 by 1080) will definitely be worse. My guess is that its something lower than 1080 and that it uses a spatial offset to achieve higher resolution, but I could be wrong.
 
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