First 24f wedding - What do I need to know?
 

Ok, so I have a wedding on Saterday and they are doing a candlelight ceremony. I am going to use my 2 XH-A1's. I normally use the 60i setting but I always wanted to try a weding in 24f, so I thought this would be a great opportunity since 24f is better in low light.

So what do I need to know going from 60i to 24f. What do I need to get the best low light with the A1? Can I realistically use a shutter of 24 or 12 with a 24f frame rate.

Thanks for all your help!

I always tend to avoid using 24F. You have to be really careful for panning. Also, changing 24F to slow motion is also very challenging too. I shoot all weddings in 30F.

There isn't much good way to work in low light other than adding video lights.

My mama used to say "Never try out a new recipe when company's coming to dinner." Why not experiment with it on your own before you commit to a paying job that might get ****ed up? You may find some problems editing, depending on your NLE....have run into this before....just my dos centavos..../Battle Vaughan

Hi Jeffrey,

Bottom line - shoot some tests and look at them on a monitor that will approximate what your clients might have. The motion properties are different - some find them appealing and others don't - its a personal decision. You'll also be able to quantify how the light sensitivity is affected. FWIW I shoot low-light situations at 24F and 1/24. Adjusting the contrast and gamma in post along with conservative use of a noise reduction filter like Neat Video's can also help.

Great advice. I have done some test shots and general videotaping in most conditions in 24f and will edit it before the big day. Maybe even later today. I will go all the way to the DVD so I will see the end results and if it is acceptable or not.

I was just wondering if there was advice from other who have gone from 60i to 24f, or if there is any hard rules when shooting 24f.

I am not worried about the bad slow-mo with 24f because I plan not to use any slow-mo in this production.

I shoot all my weddings 24f. A candlelight ceremony can be tricky. My advice would be to be as close as possible to the bride and groom on tripods so your aperature can be as far open as possible. I would be shooting in manual with your shutter set to 24. 48 would be ideal but you probably wont get a properly exposed image at 48. Avoid fast movements because of your slow shutter speed. I never use presets in low light situations, they steal some of your light too.

I am in pal country and have done frame to frame comparisons in photoshop between 25f and 50i recordings in low light and 25F was not better then 50I. Actually it perfomed exactly the same in low light and there was no visual difference at all. I did however notice more noise in the 25F image, it was hardly visible but I was there.
If you plan on filming in 24F then 1/48th shutter would be best for "normal" situations and 1/24 shutter for low light. Never go to 1/12 shutter because you will get spooky images :)
Also watch out with the gain, I have the older xh-a1 model and it handles gain quite poorly, 6db gain is about the max I ever go. Especially when watched in HD on a lcd HD screen the gain can look awfull.
Also allways use additional on camera light with a dimmer.
Another note and it has been mentioned here, be very carefull when panning, progressive modes require a totally different approach when filming. And finally don't use any presets that you have not tested before, there are plenty out there claming they can do small wonders in low light but they often bring other disadvantages with them like ghosting or strange colors. Only use a preset if you exactly know what it does and if you are happy with that then it's ok.

Yeah XH-A1 isn't the best camera in low light. Turning off AGC is a must. I used to have it goes between 3db to 6db before. But 6db is just unwatchable to me =)