Grainy & Pixelated in the Dark

Grainy & Pixelated in the Dark

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    Votes: 0 0.0%

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    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 3

    Votes: 2 66.7%

  • 4

    Votes: 1 33.3%
  • Total voters
    3
  • Poll closed .
S

SarahTaylor

New member
I'm new here and new to using the Pana DVX 100b so pardon my ignorance.

I shot this event: http://localexposure.com/?page_id=42
With the following settings:
- 30 P
- 29.97 FPS (is that the same as 30p?)
- Iris (gain?) all the way open because it was so dark
(side note - what's the difference between saying "iris" and "gain"?)

The video looks a bit grainy on my site for the simple fact that I need to figure out how to upload/compress and make it look the same as it does in FCP.

But the raw footage was grainy/pixelated when I captured it into FCP. I could potentially have my settings incorrect in FCP and that may be the answer...

I'm just baffled as to why it would be pixelated - could it be due to low light or having the iris wide open?
 
1. 29.97 is 30P, yes.
2. Iris and gain are two totally separate things. Gain electronically boosts everything, is on the side of the camera, will always add unwanted grain, and should only be used when it's absolutely necessary. The iris wide open is just fine. Do some research on the iris...
3. The lack of decent light, and the colors of the available light are the culprit in your video. Colored lights don't work well with digital camcorders. To break it down quickly: Your camcorder has 3CCD's. Basically 3 separate "chips" that collect all the color. One is for reds, one for green's, and one for blue's. Just like a printer, it makes other colors out of these basic colors. When you have a bright RED light, only the red sensor is picking it up, essentially giving you 1/3rd of the power of the camera.

Get it?

All that being said, I don't think it looks that bad at all. I can definitely see the bad compression, but the video itself doesn't "suck" by any means. That's just the results your going to get without proper light.
 
Hooray - your answer really helps and I'll make sure to stay away from the gain. Just cracked open the manual and made sure I had it set correctly.
Now what's the difference between ND Filter and Gain? Changing the ND Filter makes MAJOR adjustments - is that going to have the same effect as changing the gain?

About the compression - I spent all of today reading up to understand it and feel I have a better handle on things...

Thanks again.
 
The ND filter makes the video darker. You do this when you have too MUCH light and it's overpowering the camera.

You use the gain to make things brighter, but you do so knowing that it's going to make your picture grainy and in most cases ugly.

The answer to getting good video is to open the iris as much as possible (smaller numbers on the display) and to use no gain at all. If it's still to dark, you need more light. Believe me, between being able to close the iris down, and add ND filtering, you can make the summer sun look like a dim moon. It's only when you don't have enough light that things get ugly.

Good luck with your new camera. It's a great one!
 
Thanks, Perrone, I know that the gain has been my issue; I'm 100% sure now. That will be the first thing I check before I shoot video. Thanks for all your help!
 
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