AC130: Pumping gain in camera vs. post production software (FCP)

T

treehorn

Member
I'm loving my Ac130 and have come across very few events that are on the dark side for its capture abilities. But when those dimly lit events occur, I'm wondering what is the best course of action: increase the gain on the camera or play with filters in Final Cut Pro to adjust levels, contrast, etc. Is one a better option, especially in regards to noise, detail, color...

Thanks!
 
treehorn said:
I'm loving my Ac130 and have come across very few events that are on the dark side for its capture abilities. But when those dimly lit events occur, I'm wondering what is the best course of action: increase the gain on the camera or play with filters in Final Cut Pro to adjust levels, contrast, etc. Is one a better option, especially in regards to noise, detail, color...

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Boosting the gain in post will increase the risk of posterisation and compression blocks becoming more prominent. It's always best to get the gain as close to correct as possible in the camera.
 
Thanks. Wasn't sure the increase of noise by doing it in the camera would be better or worse than any thing that would pop up working in Post (and as one doesn't really want to do a comparison during a shoot...)
 
digitalgecko said:
On my 250, on dark event I increase gain by +6db and never see any artifacts.
Click to expand...

That's why I said "increase the risk of..."

The HPX250 has a bit depth of 10 bits and a less compressed (and therefore less blocky) file format. This means you can push the signal much more before the degradation becomes noticeable, but it's happening all the same. At 6db you are losing 1 bit of dynamic range, so a you will only have 9 bits to work with from that point. Since the final output will almost always be 8 bits, you wont have any problems. With the AVCHD format of the 160/130, a 6db boost will make the available range only 7 bits.
 
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