Test Footage Very Grainy

T

Tyler Thomas

Member
I took some test footage with my new AF100, and posted it on YouTube. See link below. I also burned the footage to blu ray. Although I intentionally tried to make the scene dark, it looks darker on YouTube than it does on Blu Ray on a big screen tv. In any case, if you view the footage on YouTube and expand the window to full screen, you will notice that the image is very grainy, particularly in the very dark sections of the screen. This is also true on blu ray. Can any one give me advice on how to reduce this grainy appearance. I am a beginner, so any other constructive feed back on this footage would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGbnEmOm5tg&feature=player_profilepage
 
Looks to me like it was a bit underexposed. Depending on the way you want the dark areas to appear, I recommend adjusting your master pedestal up if you want lower contrast, down if you want higher contrast.
 
some of the obvious questions:

what were your scene file settings?
what was your ISO set at?

nice camera movement btw...
 
TheReverend said:
Looks to me like it was a bit underexposed. Depending on the way you want the dark areas to appear, I recommend adjusting your master pedestal up if you want lower contrast, down if you want higher contrast.
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Sorry, I am truly a beginner, so I'm not sure what that means. I am going for a high contrast look. How do I adjust my "master pedestal down?". Thanks in advance!
 
Ed Kishel said:
some of the obvious questions:what were your scene file settings?what was your ISO set at?nice camera movement btw...
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I am out of town and I don't remember. I can look on Monday. I mostly used the default settings other than changing to 1080 24 P. Thank you.
 
I wouldn't say stay away from CineD, but definitely

1) black balance every time you turn the camera on or change gammas
2) keep your ISO under 800
3) don't use Cinelike Matrix
4) bring your blacks down a nudge

In general, your scene looks under exposed by a stop or so. The noisiness too could also be due to the level of light being just too low for the AF100 sensor. You can still make it look dark like that but you need more light and then lower the exposure in camera.
 
marlontorres said:
Don't use Cine-D.
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I looked on this site for posts on cine-d because I only have a vague idea of what it is. One of the posts recommended a book called "Shooting Digital" by Marcus Van Bavel on a site called "DVFilm.com." This post was in 2006 and was referring to the DVX100. Can anyone refer me to a good book to teach me the basics? Has the "Shooting Digital book been updated? Is this still a good source? Thanks for any help.
 
PaPa said:
I wouldn't say stay away from CineD, but definitely1) black balance every time you turn the camera on or change gammas2) keep your ISO under 8003) don't use Cinelike Matrix4) bring your blacks down a nudgeIn general, your scene looks under exposed by a stop or so. The noisiness too could also be due to the level of light being just too low for the AF100 sensor. You can still make it look dark like that but you need more light and then lower the exposure in camera.
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It seems like there are a lot of ways to lower the exposure. I could use gain, f-stop, filter, etc. Which one would you recommend playing with? Also, how do I bring down the blacks a nudge. Thank you for your help.
 
Tyler Thomas said:
I looked on this site for posts on cine-d because I only have a vague idea of what it is. One of the posts recommended a book called "Shooting Digital" by Marcus Van Bavel on a site called "DVFilm.com." This post was in 2006 and was referring to the DVX100. Can anyone refer me to a good book to teach me the basics? Has the "Shooting Digital book been updated? Is this still a good source? Thanks for any help.
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The AF100 Book by Barry Green is a great start. It came with my "bundle" when purchased in the US. I'm not sure where you can purchase one, but try if you can.
 
I would say to try your best to keep your ISO ( don't know about gain ) at 400. In your menu settings there is a way to choose either Film or Video. If you choose film you boost or decrease ISO versus Video which changes the Gain settings.

Once you are at your 400 ISO, go back into menu settings and look for Pedestal, this changes how dark or light your blacks are. I tend to shoot now with Pedestal at -1 or -2 so that there is less tweaking to be done in post. You will find 8 bit compression isn't your friend so getting as close a look as possible in camera is the best thing to do.
 
PaPa said:
I would say to try your best to keep your ISO ( don't know about gain ) at 400. In your menu settings there is a way to choose either Film or Video. If you choose film you boost or decrease ISO versus Video which changes the Gain settings.Once you are at your 400 ISO, go back into menu settings and look for Pedestal, this changes how dark or light your blacks are. I tend to shoot now with Pedestal at -1 or -2 so that there is less tweaking to be done in post. You will find 8 bit compression isn't your friend so getting as close a look as possible in camera is the best thing to do.
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Excellent. I'll play around with it next week and let you know how it goes. Thanks all once again for the help!
 
Tyler, if you want to play around with settings, I'll offer you what I'm shooting with now.

Detail and VDetail at -4
Coring at -1
Chroma at -4
Pedestal at -2
Gamma CineD
Matrix Norm1
 
next time light it more. Its better to light it more and bring it down in post/editing. you will get a cleaner image. Its all about lighting ratios. If you use say a 3:1 ratio (key 3 times brighter than the fill) and u bring down the levels in post and crush out some of those shadows you will find that the fill side will be nice and dark and CLEAN while leaving light on the face on the key side.
 
jambredz said:
next time light it more. Its better to light it more and bring it down in post/editing. you will get a cleaner image. Its all about lighting ratios. If you use say a 3:1 ratio (key 3 times brighter than the fill) and u bring down the levels in post and crush out some of those shadows you will find that the fill side will be nice and dark and CLEAN while leaving light on the face on the key side.
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Sorry Jambredz, but I'm going to have to interject and respectfully disagree. The problem with shooting 8 bit is that if you shoot an image brighter than you intend and have to bring it down in post later, that's when you'll start seeing the weaknesses of the 8 bit image. You can still go for a darker look in camera, but don't create it by either shooting without sufficient light or by shooting everything bright and bringing it down a couple of stops in post. Just make sure you have enough light going into the camera from the get go and then play with your ND and f stop to obtain the right exposure. Shooting really really low key lighting to the point where your footage is noisy is a lot different than creating a dark image by providing the sensor with plenty of light and then lowering exposure in camera.
 
no worries Papa...to each his own. thats how I like to shoot and it works for me. It also give me more grading flexibility. oh and i didnt necessarily mean over light either but I do like to have more flexibility in post so if it looks good dark on cam i light it a bit more. By the way...whats your vimeo again? I remember this test or film you did with a police character coming out of a bedroom and walking down a hallway. I loved that piece...how do i find it?
 
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