Low light footage Request

B

Bishaway

Member
Hi A1 users

I was wondering if any A1 owners could provide some footage of low light conditions as I am looking to buy one but I am still not decided between the A1 and DVX.

I have borrowed a DVX a few times and found great for low light but I am much keener on the idea of getting a HD cam for future proofing and post production purposes.

Reason I need a camera for low light conditions is I shoot weddings here and there, so I do need something that can handle low light conditions, I do use a camera light but still I wana be sure I am making the right investment if I buy the A1 for those purposes.

Cheers,
 
This is a trailer of a live show I shot. They had the light quite low in a few scenes and I was at 3db most of the time, occasionally bumping up to 6db. I was surprised to see that the noise pattern was very fine and almost unnoticeable (in SD mode).

http://www.youngsterproduction.com/videos/The%20Veiled%20Moon%20Trailer%202.mov

To be honest, if you're looking for a camera that can "handle" lowlight, the A1 isn't it, and that's to be expected because it's a HD camera. I had a DV500 1/2'' 3 chipper covering the same event, and when you compare footage from both, it's a night and day difference in how both cameras perform. Despite having 4x as many pixels and being 10 years newer, the A1 color reproduction only equal the much older DV500. The A1 at fullwide at f1.6 at 6db didn't even come close to being as bright as the DV500 at f4 at 0db!

You say that you only need the low light capability part time, so this might not be a problem for you. But if good low light is a must have, the DVX beats the A1 hands down.
 
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ill get right back at you later today, i have some SUPER low light footage that i shot last night. :) Doing some color correction on it as we speak. (rendering)
 
cheers, keep em coming. I guess I just want to know the grain is not too nasty and I did see there are some settings to help reduce the amount of grain.

t-h-e-w-h-o said:
i have some SUPER low light footage that i shot last night.
Click to expand...

did you use those settings that suggested in the sticky on top of the forum?
 
I am very thankful that people are willing to share their footage because it makes it so hard to decide what camera to buy when I don't have any access to play with one. :)
 
jade8472 said:
TRL]

To be honest, if you're looking for a camera that can "handle" lowlight, the A1 isn't it, and that's to be expected because it's a HD camera. I had a DV500 1/2'' 3 chipper covering the same event, and when you compare footage from both, it's a night and day difference in how both cameras perform. Despite having 4x as many pixels and being 10 years newer, the A1 color reproduction only equal the much older DV500. The A1 at fullwide at f1.6 at 6db didn't even come close to being as bright as the DV500 at f4 at 0db!

You say that you only need the low light capability part time, so this might not be a problem for you. But if good low light is a must have, the DVX beats the A1 hands down.
Click to expand...

Gee... I guess that seals the case for me. I was thinking about getting the A1 and converted it to pal. and use it,Becase I travel alot to NTSC & PAL lands. But Seems like i'll have to go for the Z1U.I do alot a concert & theater shows. I was shock to see the spec for the A1. At 6-7 lux... wow. just like what my old pdx10 use to give me .:(
 
DavidChia said:
Gee... I guess that seals the case for me. I was thinking about getting the A1 and converted it to pal. and use it,Becase I travel alot to NTSC & PAL lands. But Seems like i'll have to go for the Z1U.I do alot a concert & theater shows. I was shock to see the spec for the A1. At 6-7 lux... wow. just like what my old pdx10 use to give me .:(
Click to expand...
I had an FX1 before the A1 and I can tell you that its low light performance was only on par with the A1, no better and no worse. I was comparing an HD cam with an SD cam with larger chip size, which was unfair to begin with. Poor low light performance is only expected across the board for these 1/3'' HD cam because you're craming more pixels into a smaller chip. With that said, I have also film shows where the stage was very well lit, and the footage came out excellent.
 
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