Is +6dB gain too much?

K

kees.duif

Member
Hi all. last saturday night I shoot a party with my new A1 and as with all parties the light conditions were very bad. Using a lamp was not much appreciated so I shot most footage using the [A] recording program and the panalook preset with +3dB gain en some even with +6dB gain. Is it possible that because of that my video shows ... eeehhh how do you say that in English ... ghosting I think. I see moving persons kind of fading through the footage in stead of plain walking. Should I have used no gain and another shutterspeed or aperture maybe? Or is the only solutions for this conditions using some kind of videolight?
And is shooting in SD less critical then shooting in HD concerning these issues?
 
Well, what shutter and aperture settings were you using? From the ghosting, it sounds like it was shooting at a shutter speed way too slow.
 
There you go. Recording in anything but manual mode will get you undesired results. I'm assuming you mean A as in Aperture Priority mode and not Automatic mode (which is way worse). In Aperture Priority mode, the camera varies shutterspeed, so most likely there wasn't enough light and the camera automatically lower shutterspeed to compensate, hence the ghosting. All things consider, the A1 has a fairly fine noise pattern so 6db isn't too noticeable, but its low light performance is poor compare to the crop of SD cameras, so it's not going to work well for what you're using it for.
 
... but its low light performance is poor compare to the crop of SD cameras
Click to expand...

That's very bad to hear. As a wedding shooter I mainly bought the A1 because of its low light performance. But so far I'm not very impressed by that performance ... :embarasse
 
I mainly bought the A1 because of its low light performance. But so far I'm not very impressed by that performance
Click to expand...
I am.
Have you used any of the other HD camcorders? The A1 is much better with a finer grain/noise pattern, with the exception of the new Sony EX of course. I shoot my weddings 24P. At the dimly lit receptions I utilize the gain switch often, +6 and even +12 are quite usable. Or dip your shutter down to 1/24, I prefer using gain. The noise reduction feature is also very good. I have a preset specifically for using +12 gain, but sometimes I just shoot normal because the noise isn't too distracting. I use my own custom preset which is pretty flat, and preserves alot of shadow detail and boosts color a bit. Then in post I can add contrast as needed. I try to stay on the wide end of the lens as much as possible.

And of course I use a plethora of different on camera lights. I am consistently blown away with the footage I am getting out of this camera. As Huy said, it's not going to compare with an SD camera for low light performance, but once you learn it's limitations and how to work around them you'll be golden.
-Kevin
 
If you are going to shoot anything but manual, I would use shutter priority (Tv). People are less likely to notice difference in DOF than the "ghosting" you're experiencing with slow shutter speeds.

When I first started shooting seriously, I had a Canon GL2 and would often go to +12dB (+18dB if I absolutely had to) and it never bothered me after I crushed the blacks. With HDV though, I would never go above +6. This is a mixture of answering to a higher protocol of production and, mainly, I'm more aware of grain on my HD footage.
 
I have a preset specifically for using +12 gain, but sometimes I just shoot normal because the noise isn't too distracting. I use my own custom preset which is pretty flat, and preserves alot of shadow detail and boosts color a bit
Click to expand...
Are you willing to share that preset(s)? I agree that I have to learn a lot about the A1 and besides reading a lot, I noticed that investigating the presets of others also help a lot in understandign all the possible settings.

Thanks in advance.
Kees
 
Are you willing to share that preset(s)?
Click to expand...
Sure, but I don't have my camera in front of me rght now. If you want to to experiment, try using NR1 on low, you'll see how it immediately smooths out a lot of the noise, but can add a bit of ghosting to the image, not as much as a low shutter speed. Then try NR2 on low or med, this doesn't remove quite as much noise, but doesn't have the ghosting. There's a preset available over at DVInfo.net for lowlight +12 gain, but I've never used it. I only use this preset in a pinch when I have to get something on camera, and my light won't reach, and I need +12 gain. I usually find +6 is all I need.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top