Dealing with low light with 60D, need help!

[JoeThePro]

Ive heard that for the sake of sharpness, you dont want to go below F2.8 unless absolutely needed for the light capturing ability. But how, even in moderately low light, do you manage to get very clean footage with the ISO bumped up to get a decent exposure? Im talking about natural light shots here, no (or very little) external lighting.

Ive seen so many indie films and shorts that use APS-C cameras that get very crisp clean footage in natural indoor or low light scenarios. Is it all in the post production? I mean if Im at F2.8 for decent sharpness, but with ISO at 2500, how could I hope for clean footage? What are the tricks/tips Im missing? In these cases do you just go as wide open as you can and suffer the softness? HELP! :smile:

 

[AndrewGentle]

Ive seen so many indie films and shorts that use APS-C cameras that get very crisp clean footage in natural indoor or low light scenarios. Is it all in the post production? I mean if Im at F2.8 for decent sharpness, but with ISO at 2500, how could I hope for clean footage? What are the tricks/tips Im missing? In these cases do you just go as wide open as you can and suffer the softness? HELP! :smile:

Perhaps these low light scenes you're talking about are actually relatively bright scenes with a low ISO or smaller aperture, making them appear darker but keeping the noise down.

If you can't capture a low noise image in camera, there's a noise reduction plugin called NeatVideo which I think is amazing, it's $100 and I use it on noisy images from anything from my GoPro to my Scarlet.

 

[maranfilms]

F-2.8 is decent in terms of low light, but there's faster glass for this purpose. I would suggest using a super fast lens, like F1.4, There's huge difference between 1.4 and 2.8. thats 2 full stops, For every full stop, your gaining twice the light, in a low light scenario thats huge. Or if you use an f1.2, thats 21/2 stops of light compared to the f2.8. Get a fast lens and you will then begin to see how people are able to capture clean footage in low light. Another rule of thumb, is using native iso as opposed to the optical steps.

So to break it down
fast glass,
native iso, I wouldn't go above 800 unless denoising in post
if you can get away with dropping your shutter to 1/24

 

[JoeThePro]

F-2.8 is decent in terms of low light, but there's faster glass for this purpose. I would suggest using a super fast lens, like F1.4, There's huge difference between 1.4 and 2.8. thats 2 full stops, For every full stop, your gaining twice the light, in a low light scenario thats huge. Or if you use an f1.2, thats 21/2 stops of light compared to the f2.8. Get a fast lens and you will then begin to see how people are able to capture clean footage in low light. Another rule of thumb, is using native iso as opposed to the optical steps.

So to break it down
fast glass,
native iso, I wouldn't go above 800 unless denoising in post
if you can get away with dropping your shutter to 1/24

Thanks for the info, I do have the Sigma 30mm F1.4. It does quite well in low light, but its clarity @ 1.4 is poor. I wish I could find specific examples, but Im thinking of shots where it is obviously dark on the scene and the camera just performs great, or at least the PP is great. I guess alot of it just comes down to proper picture style, noise reduction in post, the lens quality.

 

[jbuckwitz]

I think the problem you are having with the crispness of your images is that the lenses you are using are relatively inexpensive. That isn't a bad thing for most apertures, but wide open they tend to get fairly soft. You can help that some by doing some sharpening in post, but most here your options are (combinations of all are best):
1) Using picture profiles to maximize the dynamic range for color correction
2) Shooting wide open and sharpening OR getting lenses that remain sharp wide open
3) Using noise reducing plugins (+1 for Neat Video)
4) Lighting your scene and stopping down, with color correction to sell the nighttime look.