Semi-Low Light Clip
 

Here is a quick clip I did (trying to figure out compression).

It was shot in a 3/4 dark room, in Portrait Mode and mounted on a tripod. I don't think this camera is very bad in low light. (No worse than most DV Cams). I think the big thing in low light (like most are saying around here) avoid Full-Auto and it makes a big difference.


http://www.flyupload.com/?fid=3367960

Nice looking shot, thanks for posting.

I'm trying to figure the best settings for low light, too.

Can I ask, why did you use portrait, and did you change shutter speed? Any suggestions for low light would be appreciated.

thanks again,
elmer

I think one of the problems is everyone has a different view on just what is low light. Your clip looks good, but to me that is not low light.

I also seem to have a low tolerance to noise. In another thread comparing the HV10 to the HC3, I thought the HC3 looked clearly better than the HV10 in low light because of the extra noise in the HV10. Other people felt differently.

Elmer-I just happened to have left it on Sports (not Portrait as I said in the other post), no thought put into it.

Ron-I agree it's not what most would consider "low light", but I think that's about the darkest I would ever shoot something without lighting it more. I look at the blacks mainly, I thought they were pretty good. This was a spur of the moment clip I capture, while trying to figure out some capture settings.

If someone could describe me an example of "Low Light", I will try to recreate it at different settings. I guess I have always thought if it's dark, light it.

Here is one a little darker.

http://www.flyupload.com/?fid=5508975

I used the Spotlight Mode for this clip.

I think for me it's an issue of not liking auto mode and noise/grain associated with the gain boost.

Having owned several SD camcorders, as others have stated, HD doesn't perform as well in low light.

Here is a link to the HC3-HV10 comparison I was talking about. It's in German, but you can still download the clips. The 1st set of clips is a good example of how the HV10 is noiser than the HC3. It's an outdoor night shot.

http://www.fxsupport.de/16.html

Don't get me wrong, I like my HV10. It's just a little noisey for me in what I consider low light.

Ron, it's very tough to tell how much light there was when someone took a clip in a room we weren't in. If I showed some clips I took with my VX2000, you'd swear I had bright lights on when in fact there was very little light. Kind of like 'you had to be there'. ;)

Ron, the problem I have with the Sony cams in low light, regardless of noise, is the fact that they become sooo soft, they no longer look like HD. If I buy an HD cam, I want that HD sharpness retained in less than ideal lighting. The small Sonys don't seem capable of that. In fact I found the HC1 to be sharper in low light than the HC3. The HC3 was just miserably soft in poor light. I guess you pick your poison, but since I'm in HD, I want HD! :)

this flyupload.com has an annoying popup that is right on top of the info for the file that I can't get rid of. How are any of you downloading anything here?

Click the "x" in the top right of that annoying pop up. It's hard to see, but it's there.

You can then d/load the file.

Very very annoying indeed!

I did that twice & seems... at least using Firefox anyway... it's not a "close". It acts as if a bogus X & when clicked, it takes me to the annoying site it corresponds to.

I'll try IE & see if it makes a difference.

Thanks

Ron -

The german clips are by far the best low light comparisons between the two that I've seen... they went to quite some effort but, as you say, they are run at different levels of gain, with all else equal.

The HV-10 clip is brighter, there is more color information and *way* more detail, but with that higher level of gain and therefore noise (though, frankly, not as much as I was expecting).

I wonder how they would compare with *everything* equal. Gain without post processing has to introduce noise at such low signal levels and there is nothing to say that the Sony wouldn't be as noisy at the same gain level.

Jason

Even at 18db the hc1 isn't as noisy. But it has lost a lot of resolution (more like vhs) and colors.

The difference to well lit material is hugemongous.

What are the best manual settings for low light situations?

Also, what type of tripod did you use? Any recommendations?

Thanks!

I guess everyone can chime in with their styles. But if it's dark, I usually use Shutter Priority starting around 50 and move up or down based on how it looks.


Tripod used: Just a lightweight Slik 504QF, nothing fancy or heavyweight.