Making adjustments as it gets darker

[Merlin90]

I shot a football game today and of course with some pre-game, the game, and post game I shot 60 minutes worth of video in 4-hours. I shot at 24p (advance) and didn't have an ND filters on. As the game went on it got darker and I found myself adjusting the iris manually to increase the light as it was looking darker in the viewfinder.

By the end of the game I had the Gain on high "H". What I was thinking is that in post-production I will have some problems, but then this probably happens a lot and I just have to balance it to a certain level I'm thinking (or maybe I'm way off).

I also had a problem trying to get a custom WB. It would only confirm a good "AWB Bch Ok" when it looked really dark in the viewfinder. I kept brighting it up a bit, then it wouldn't do it.

Any process flow suggestions when the sun is going down and someone is trying to hold it all together?

Thanks in advance.

 

[pronghornproductions]

I shoot alot of outdoor hunting video and lighting is one of the reasons I quit trying to shoot in 24p. 24p does not get as much light into the camera as 60i does. As you find it getting darker you must constantly be one the white balance adjustment or your footage will start to lose color quality. Also use the iris as much as possible when the lighting gets dark gradually open the iris, shutter speed is also a way to get more light, i might start out the afternoon in 120 but by the time it's almost dark i will have it down to 60 (shooting 60i). The gain is my last ditch resort to bumping up the lighting because it degrades the footage once you get past 6db or so. I have actually passed shot opportunities at big deer because I had to gain up to 12db and the footage was too grainy to use for my show. I just shot a bowfishing tourny last night in total darkness, but the boat had plenty of lights and the footage looked really good, I just used the preset 5.6 white balance because there was no way to properly manually adjust it because of the lighting. i also selected a scene file that fit the best with the color look I was going for.

I would suggest you play around with all your camera setting at home in the twilight and practice trying to get the best look that way, then when you have another football game or other evening event you will have a better grasp on the settings you should try first to obtain the best footage.