How good is the DVX100A in low light?

M

midknight

Member
I have a Sony Digital 8 camcorder. It shoots nice out in broad daylight, but if it is shot indoors with just the slightest amount of dimness, the picture comes out all grainy and has very little detail. Is the DVX100A good in low light? Will it look grainy if I shoot in a bedroom at dark with some moonlight coming through? My feature is a horror film and will be shot primarily at night.
 
As far as a camcorder goes, the DVX is very good in low light, however, if you are using moonlight to light your scene, you will be in trouble. Not even the most sensitive camera in the world will give you a good looking picture using available moonlight. I suggest looking at the lighting section of this forum, you might be able to pick up a few good tips.
 
just last night i tested my dvx against a pd170 for low-light capabilities. the pd170 blew the dvx out of the water. it could actually see better in the dark than my own eyes could. of course it can't rock the 24p like my baby can.
 
yes, pd170 is very good at low light (what more ?), but I got nice results with the dvx, the difference isn't so much at 60i.

Ulisses
 
That's true, the pd170 is much better for low light, but the difference is not nearly as major if you shoot at 60i...something dvx owners rarely do.

As for shooting in a room with only moon light: no camera is going to do that. Get a couple HMIs or even tungsten lights covered in CTB gel or something then diffuse them and put a pattern over it to look like window panes and use a weak fill light for the rest of the room and stop down until everything looks acceptable. You're NOT going to get an acceptable image in moon light no matter what and no matter what camera you use.
 
Yes lighting your scene is very important, but really, the DVX is excellent in low light. Compare it to an XL1, or a GL2, ANY of the HDV cameras, or any consumer camera, and you will see that the DVX sees quite a bit more than any of those. Is it the best, no, but it is very good. But yes, the most important thing is lighting.
 
the dvx absolutely CAN NOT COMPARE to my dvc200 when it comes to lighting... i have 2 dvx100a's and refuse to use them (i am a professional wedding videographer) because they are absolutely horrible in comparison to lighting needs... with my dvc200 i almost NEVER use any light whatsoever... with the dvx, in a dim room, i have to be less than 2 feet away from my subject to obtain usable footage...
 
A few things....

On Progressive mode, DVX pic is Dimmer....much lightier in the interlaced mode.

I spent reserching this issue for whole two months immediately after buying the camera. In my view, the KEY for a grainless DVX image lies in 'absolutely appropriate' white balancing. I have done several hours of experimentation to reach that conclusion.

Low light capturing, is like a much ado about nothing...to my mind. On how many occaisons one shoots in mere moonlights....if one is upto making a preofessional looking video? I think hardly ever.

For marriage videos, I agree PD170 has an edge....but then you have to compare it with the interlaced mode of the DVX...as I already said.

All this becomes quite understandable once you have the comparative footage.
 
Well, the dvc200 has 1/2'' chips and the thread starter is talking about a comparison against a consumer camera--a digital 8, not a true professional one. The answer here is simple, though: light the scene.
 
Yes. light the scene...if the subjects are not to far away and if extra lighting is allowed/possible. Otherwise engage gain and accept the noise.
 
Can someone explain to me why it does look grainy (noise) when the gain is set to zero? I thought that noise was the gain. What's doing that?
 
nightshot.jpg


I did this w/out any gain on in 60i mode on my DVX100. There was a restaraunt with lights behind me which helped a lot but as you can see it still looks like night. Well it was night. Might want to do something like this for your film.
 
Joe, your gamma is boosted too high on your monitor. On a properly calibrated NTSC monitor, the grain will be a lot less noticeable but it will be there. On my PC I can't see any since the blacks are deep. On a mac, I bet I'd notice a ton. Macs have much brighter gamma.

Also, ALL sensors inherently see grain due to the random nature of photos and light and subatomic particles and junk. No, I don't understand it, either. But even ISO 100 film and the human eye will see plenty of grain. When you boost the gain, you boost the signal, and--in accordance with the signal/noise ratio--raise the graininess as well. Now, some sensors are grainier than others. To achieve its high sensetivity, the dvx is pretty grainy even without gain. Even the pd170 has some grain at 0db, it's just a lot less noticeable, since the CCDs are much better with low light. If you want less grain, get a pd170. Simple as that.
 
The DVX sensitivity specs are "impressive": 2000lux at F8...but "misleading": they don't tell you at what S/N this figure is being reached. This is the way all consumer cams are specified by smart marketing people. So, never trust sensitivy and low light specs for consumer cams...just compare them. The existing EIA specs for consumer camcorders did not become popular...people would be able to make their choices based on real data, and that would block marketing people's fairy tales..
 
Andre, well put. I've always said that s/n ratio should be listed alongside sensetivity. And the dvx is indeed a very noisy camera at 0db of gain.
 
JoeFowler said:
Can someone explain to me why it does look grainy (noise) when the gain is set to zero? I thought that noise was the gain. What's doing that?
Click to expand...

Some noise is present in all video, but if you have a good signal to noise ratio (SNR), then your video will appear less noisy. As the light level goes down, so does your SNR, so then the noise will be more apparent.

Let me give you an example. As you may know, the CCD converts light energy to electrical energy. So let's say that on a bright day, the CCD generates a signal of 10 Volts, but at night, it only generates 1V. And lets say that the inherent noise in the CCD is 0.5V. These numbers are used for illustration purpose only. So on a sunny day, your signal is 10V, and your noise is 0.5V, so you have a SNR of 20. Here, the noise is only 5% of the signal, so it's not very noticeable. But at night, your signal is 1V and your noise is 0.5V, so you have a SNR of 2. Here, your noise is 50% of your signal, so it's more apparent.

And that's why your video is noisy even when the gain is set to 0.
 
even with poor lighting try to white balance you'll get a nice tone
and try not to max the gain for it just adds noise.
cranck up the ND
 
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