The Digital Video Information Network - View Single Post - Shooting With An On-Camera Light...Noise Problems

William Holland · December 1st, 2008, 11:44 AM

I am sure there may already be threads on this, but I was having trouble finding them.

I am currently doing a lot of work in night clubs, where the lighting is pretty much non-existent except for dim lights above a few tables and the dj booth.

I was shooting last week, and I had my Canon VL-10 on, which is blindingly bright in a space like that. Using a DVX and HVR-A1U, I had been fine. Now, with the Canon XH A1, I am exposed for skintone, but getting a ton of grain. My gain is at -3 and my shutter was between 1/60 and 1/90.

I tried increasing the shutter speed, but it only dimmed the image while the noise seemed to stay in the image even when I blacked it out. The only way I could find to get rid of it was to crank open the f-stop to 2.8 and raise my shutter speed. This stunk, though, because I lost a lot of depth and there was still noise.

I know the XH A1 is not as good as the Sony cameras for low-light, but is there a fix for this? If there is already a decent thread for this similar problem, a link to that would help as well.

December 1st, 2008, 11:44 AM	#1
William Holland Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 28	Shooting With An On-Camera Light...Noise Problems I am sure there may already be threads on this, but I was having trouble finding them. I am currently doing a lot of work in night clubs, where the lighting is pretty much non-existent except for dim lights above a few tables and the dj booth. I was shooting last week, and I had my Canon VL-10 on, which is blindingly bright in a space like that. Using a DVX and HVR-A1U, I had been fine. Now, with the Canon XH A1, I am exposed for skintone, but getting a ton of grain. My gain is at -3 and my shutter was between 1/60 and 1/90. I tried increasing the shutter speed, but it only dimmed the image while the noise seemed to stay in the image even when I blacked it out. The only way I could find to get rid of it was to crank open the f-stop to 2.8 and raise my shutter speed. This stunk, though, because I lost a lot of depth and there was still noise. I know the XH A1 is not as good as the Sony cameras for low-light, but is there a fix for this? If there is already a decent thread for this similar problem, a link to that would help as well.