Thinking of getting a HVX. How much light am I really gonna need?

S

shabit87

Active member
I hear that with HD camcorders the light requirement is increased. Now really, how much of a difference is the light requirements from lets say the good ole dvx100??

(I had a dvx100, so if you could compare the two, I could get a great idea of what I'm looking at)

Thanks in advance!!
 
The 200 is about a stop slower then the DVX in 24p mode. When the DVX is in 60i, the 200 is two stops slower (IIRC).

The 200a closes that gap significantly.
 
Light HVX

Light HVX

Yeah 2 stops is a good general with HD. I haven't tried the DVX and HVX in the same room before though. I also love the way an outdoor shoot with just a reflector disk can make the sky look amazing while keeping the subject properly lit. Get the HVX, whether you got a standard light kit or a grip truck, you will be fine!
 
I found to match shots of a dance performance with the HVX200a and the DVX100a, we had to put the HVX at f3.4 and the DVX at 5.6. Both were shooting 480 60i. Mind you the HVX was getting a wide shot, the DVX a close.
 
The HVX200A is about 1/2 stop slower than the DVX (when shooting in progressive). And you can use a little gain (3dB to 6dB) to make it as sensitive as the DVX, and you'll have about the same noise performance.
 
It really depends the type of subject matter you will be shooting, narrative or documentary. Some type of supplemental lighting is required in almost all circumstances indoors. While people may have been accustomed to grabbing the quick 'acceptable' wide open shot with the dvx100, when you lose at least 25% of your exposure, suddenly the acceptable becomes unacceptable, especially in HD.

For narrative filmmaking, you will find yourself needing a pretty decent sized lighting kit, at least what you would need if you were shooting on film. While you can shoot Vision 500T and push a stop to 1000 in the film world, you are pretty much tapped out to around 300-350 ASA with the HVX200.
 
Well, when I first tried the HVX200 (original) I had used the DVX100a before. I compared them in 50i PAL SD, and my impression was that you need between 6db and 9dB gain for the HVX to perform like the DVX, but 6dB gain on the HVX200 looked better than 0dB on the DVX100 (less grainy).

When shooting a short in 720/25P recently, I found that 100W Dedo lights were the very least I could use in terms of lighting power. I had to gel them with 1/2CTO sometimes and then I was getting into real problems with the light levels (I had other lights to boost the levels, but I was surprised the 100W Dedos were hardly bright enough for the HVX)
 
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