Concert at night. (low light test) What do you think?

Jai Gabbard · July 29th, 2008, 02:24 AM

this was my first evening shooting with XHA1. Quite low light. It affected the auto focus a little bit in that it was searching for light to get proper focus.

shot at 25fps, between 2.8 and 4.7, no gain, in manual.

http://www.vimeo.com/1363128
as well as
http://www.vimeo.com/1361972

over all i was quite happy with the outcome, considering that the show was not actually lit for production. i just turned up with my camera.

please let me what you think.

how can i do it better next time? be brutal.

aloha

jai

Paul R Johnson · July 29th, 2008, 04:38 AM

The vimeo images are quite clean - comments? Well forget autofocus - causes more problems than it solves. In dim light it's just too risk. The lighting goes red and it suddenly hunts away. Focus practice is important, look for clues in the picture, you notice it's a little soft, but which way to go? Look at the background for clues, if that is sharper than the subject, then you need to focus forward, if the back is worse than the subject, then focus back. All this said - yours was quite good.

The biggest issue for me was sound. The guitar in the second clip was good, but the vocal, via the PA spoilt it. Also - was the chair creaking? With planning (which wasn't possible here, I guess) then a direct feed from the vocal mic would have helped. In the Jazz clip, even the bass was clean, which I was surprised by.

Never heard a vocal trumpet before!

Jai Gabbard · July 29th, 2008, 04:19 PM

cheers paul,

bloody chair! we also had issues with the muso banging the floor with his foot. i was on the same wooden surface so felt every little tremor. note to self.

ok, no autofocus? i think i would like to have a slightly larger....... LCD screen.
i got annoyed with the autofocus when i would try and pull a very slow focus it would kick in and ruin it.

i was just worried that since i was shooting with such a shallow depth of field in very low light that my focus would be all over the shop.

they want me to shoot their next home concert so i will be addressing all the sound issues.

would it be more of a pain in the ass to have them record a master tape with all their equipment and then sync it in post?

or have a couple line ins to the xha1 and save time in post. i have never tried the former.

cheers again, can't wait to shoot the next one in a couple weeks.

aloha

jai

July 29th, 2008, 02:24 AM	#1
Jai Gabbard New Boot Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sunshine Coast Australia Posts: 16	Concert at night. (low light test) What do you think? this was my first evening shooting with XHA1. Quite low light. It affected the auto focus a little bit in that it was searching for light to get proper focus. shot at 25fps, between 2.8 and 4.7, no gain, in manual. http://www.vimeo.com/1363128 as well as http://www.vimeo.com/1361972 over all i was quite happy with the outcome, considering that the show was not actually lit for production. i just turned up with my camera. please let me what you think. how can i do it better next time? be brutal. aloha jai

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July 29th, 2008, 04:38 AM	#2
Paul R Johnson Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: LOWESTOFT - UK Posts: 222	The vimeo images are quite clean - comments? Well forget autofocus - causes more problems than it solves. In dim light it's just too risk. The lighting goes red and it suddenly hunts away. Focus practice is important, look for clues in the picture, you notice it's a little soft, but which way to go? Look at the background for clues, if that is sharper than the subject, then you need to focus forward, if the back is worse than the subject, then focus back. All this said - yours was quite good. The biggest issue for me was sound. The guitar in the second clip was good, but the vocal, via the PA spoilt it. Also - was the chair creaking? With planning (which wasn't possible here, I guess) then a direct feed from the vocal mic would have helped. In the Jazz clip, even the bass was clean, which I was surprised by. Never heard a vocal trumpet before!

July 29th, 2008, 04:19 PM	#3
Jai Gabbard New Boot Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sunshine Coast Australia Posts: 16	cheers paul, bloody chair! we also had issues with the muso banging the floor with his foot. i was on the same wooden surface so felt every little tremor. note to self. ok, no autofocus? i think i would like to have a slightly larger....... LCD screen. i got annoyed with the autofocus when i would try and pull a very slow focus it would kick in and ruin it. i was just worried that since i was shooting with such a shallow depth of field in very low light that my focus would be all over the shop. they want me to shoot their next home concert so i will be addressing all the sound issues. would it be more of a pain in the ass to have them record a master tape with all their equipment and then sync it in post? or have a couple line ins to the xha1 and save time in post. i have never tried the former. cheers again, can't wait to shoot the next one in a couple weeks. aloha jai