Exposure problems with DVX100b

M

mike bloebaum

New member
Just got back from Antarctica on trial run with new DVX100b - I'm somewhat of a techno-boob and thought the instructions re: gain referred only to the Display, not the actually recording. So when it was difficult to see bright images on the LCD screen I dutifully jacked up the gain - now, the edited DVD has noticeable "snow" in the darker scenes. From that experience I assume one should only go beyond 0 gain in extreme circumstances, if ever?

Problem two: I found that the prompt to use neutral density filters was extremely sensitive to anything remotely bright. But I dutifully did what the prompt told me to do - and, now, in the finished DVD, had to jack up the brightness level in FCP. Question: if it looks good in the viewfinder, should I just use my judgement when prompted to use 1/8 or 1/64 neutral density?

Thanks.

Mike
 
You need to turn the zebras on and make sure you are not blowing things out and then shoot what you think looks good. The camera can not read your mind and discover how you want a scene to look, nor is it sentient and able to tell what is perfect for each situation. You, as the operator, need to make your image, based on your studied knowledge of how the camera works. Buy Barry's DVX book and just go out and shoot a TON of footage and before you know it...you will be a camera Guru! Sorry about what happened with the footage, but I bet you leanred a ton! I once did the same thing with the gain by accident and had to do a lot of noise removal in Post Production.
 
The DVX's are somewhat noisy anyway, so any gain is going to make it much worse. You can combat the noise by controlling the Detail and Coring scene file settings, to some extent. I have used gain in the past for scenes I intentionally wanted to be noisier.

I had issues with exposure my first time out with the DVX100B as well. I massively underexposed a couple shots. It's very tough to judge exposure from the LCD, especially under extreme conditions. It's best to have a couple zebras set up, and cycle through them. If you had one at 80% and one at 100%, and you set your exposure so you have some 80% zebras, but no 100% zebras, you'll probably be pretty safe.
 
Good advice - I ordered Barry's book yesterday. And, yes, I learned a ton. Actually, I'm used to telling camera folks what I want and bitching about it later - so, it's good experience for an ex-producer. But I would be curious to know under what conditions anything other that 0 gain is appropriate?

MB
 
if you are shooting the blair witch project. Or, if you are shooting a home made porno.

[edit] oh ya and as mentioned if you want to add gain to your image.

but my point was.. it shouldnt be used unless you dont care about image quality. adding more light is the better option. There are obviously other exceptions but generally for professional-esque stuff its not a very good idea to use gain.
 
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