Grainy picture question

T

tajyes

New member
First, I want to start off by saying I'm a complete novice to professional cameras and filming. I bought the HPX500, but there wasn't any money left in my budget so I got a cheap fujinon A20x 8.6BRM SD lense for under $2000. I'm sure some people are cringing as they read this, but I'm not shooting in HD and I didn't have the money for a better lense. I output through sdi or component and I don't use or have P2 cards.

My problem is, when I film, the picture looks grainy. I'm not sure if grainy is the right word to use, but it looks like the pixels on the monitor are literally bouncing around on the screen. I've played with all the settings on the camera except "lens setup"(I don't understand what shading is). I've tried adding lots of light and opening the iris which helps a little but it's still grainy. The colors are great but the grainy picture is terrible

I would like to shoot in low light situations(ex. nightclub). Is there anything I can do to improve the picture quality(get rid of the grainy look) or is this due to my inexpensive fujinon lense.

All help and suggestions from dvxuser veterans will be greatly appreciated. Please keep in mind that I am a rookie.
 
Hello,

Yeah, I'm cringing because you're not even shooting in HD. The VX2100 is the best DV camera for low light conditions, by the way. You can't get rid of the grain without adding more light, but you can remove most of it by using the Neat Video program at www.neatvideo.com

Cheers!
PS: why did you buy the HPX500, by the way?
 
Seunosewa,

I bought the camera because I thought it would shoot good in low light being it was a 2/3" ccd and when I was ready, and had the money, I'd upgrade to HD without having to buy a new camera.
 
It's probably just the gain setting. Keep gain at +0 dB and the noise should go away. Of course, 6 db of noise is a complete F-stop, so you will probably need more light too.
 
Sorry to tell you, but I have the HPX and I've said it in previous posts, this camera is noisy!!! I shot in bright daylight last week and their was grains & gradients in most shadow areas. I'm very disappointed when it comes to noise with this camera....

BTW, I'm have the more expensive canon lens.
 
Do not use cinegamma D (scene file 6) for shooting in low light. For cinegamma, use cine v (scene file 5). Turn up detail coring (+2 should keep enough detail), and lower the master Ped to -1 or -2.

If you want no noise, go for Black Press gamma, detail coring +2, master ped -3.

See if this helps.
 
Thanks for all the responses.

Hey SPZ:
I tried your settings with scene file 5. It's a tiny bit better but not much of a difference.

Hey Caspian00:
I wish I had read your post before I bought this camera. I've also added lots of light and it's still grainy in certain areas.

Hey High8:
I shoot straight from the sdi out to the computer via digital rapids card or blackmagic decklink card and then into Premiere Pro. No P2 cards necessary. I'm not shooting out in the field or remote locations(strictly indoors).

I appreciate all the comments. I will test the camera in a different location with different lighting in about a week or two. If I'm not satisfied with the results, I'm going to have to sell it(I've only had it for two weeks).

Anybody know of a good 2/3" CCD camera that will shoot good in low light either the same price range as the HPX500 or cheaper?
 
Correction!!
Anybody know of a good 2/3" CCD camera that will shoot good in low light either the same price range as the HPX500 or cheaper with SDI out and/or Component out?
 
Noise

Noise

Try to restore the default settings of the camera. My 500 is great and I'm not seeing any of these noise problems. Maybe try to do a side by side comparison with another 500. I don't think the problems you're having are universal.
 
tajyes said:
Thanks for all the responses.

Hey SPZ:
I tried your settings with scene file 5. It's a tiny bit better but not much of a difference.

Hey Caspian00:
I wish I had read your post before I bought this camera. I've also added lots of light and it's still grainy in certain areas.

Hey High8:
I shoot straight from the sdi out to the computer via digital rapids card or blackmagic decklink card and then into Premiere Pro. No P2 cards necessary. I'm not shooting out in the field or remote locations(strictly indoors).

I appreciate all the comments. I will test the camera in a different location with different lighting in about a week or two. If I'm not satisfied with the results, I'm going to have to sell it(I've only had it for two weeks).

Anybody know of a good 2/3" CCD camera that will shoot good in low light either the same price range as the HPX500 or cheaper?
Click to expand...

Extreme measure:

Master Ped- 5

Detail coring + 3 (Don't add more coring or you lose too much detail)

This is the best I can suggest you- more coring and a lower MP will make you loose too much detail.

Do not use gain. Try to use a shutter speed of 24 or 25 (depending if you shoot either pal or ntsc). This shutter speed is enough to save you the use of gain.
 
Ursa said:
It's probably just the gain setting. Keep gain at +0 dB and the noise should go away. Of course, 6 db of noise is a complete F-stop, so you will probably need more light too.
Click to expand...
Thanks for all the input everyone. The grainy picture problem is fixed! The gain switch on the side of the camera was on "H" high. I had no idea. I guess thats considered a rookie mistake.

Hey SPZ:
I followed the settings you gave me, and I added the noise reduction(spatial & temporal) filter from my ingest card's hardware preprocessing and the picture is a hundred times better.
I will not say it's the greatest in low light(I can live with it), but it's pretty darn good with light.

Once again, thank you everyone for your input.
This is the greatest forum ever.
 
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