V1 in low light: first true event impressions at DVinfo.net
DV Info Net

Go Back   DV Info Net > Sony XAVC / XDCAM / NXCAM / AVCHD / HDV / DV Camera Systems > Sony HDV and DV Camera Systems > Sony HVR-V1 / HDR-FX7

Sony HVR-V1 / HDR-FX7
Pro and consumer versions of this Sony 3-CMOS HDV camcorder.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old March 25th, 2007, 07:46 AM   #1
Inner Circle
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Poland
Posts: 4,086
V1 in low light: first true event impressions

Last night I was shooting an important event in a candle-lit surroundings; it was really my first test of the V1 other than the 25p mode trials. The circumstancies forced me to go with gain as high as 18 dB sometimes, and I must say the output is a very nice surprise! With gain up to 12, the video is dark just as the scenery was; at 18dB it is actually brighter than the reality, and only then the noise is noticeable.

Even though the shooting was critical (I have people counting on a DVD from the event), I experimented a little and - since it was mostly static (authors reading their poetry in the candle light), I tried the shutter speed at 1/12th which allowed for just 6dB gain, an yielded very clean picture indeed.

Most of it I did with 1/25th and 9-12dB of gain, in progressive. Quite satisfactory!

PS. not even trace of oil paint or blockyness under these difficult circumstancies.
__________________
Sony PXW-FS7 | DaVinci Resolve Studio; Magix Vegas Pro; i7-5960X CPU; 64 GB RAM; 2x GTX 1080 8GB GPU; Decklink 4K Extreme 12G; 4x 3TB WD Black in RAID 0; 1TB M.2 NVMe cache drive

Last edited by Piotr Wozniacki; March 25th, 2007 at 12:22 PM.
Piotr Wozniacki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 25th, 2007, 03:56 PM   #2
Trustee
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Honolulu, HI
Posts: 1,961
Post images! I know everyone is dying to see real-world results. Thanks for the report. What other settings did you use? Specifically, did you do something with black compensation?
Marcus Marchesseault is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 25th, 2007, 04:06 PM   #3
Inner Circle
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Poland
Posts: 4,086
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcus Marchesseault View Post
Post images! I know everyone is dying to see real-world results. Thanks for the report. What other settings did you use? Specifically, did you do something with black compensation?
I had blacks stretched to get most of the dim surroundings. In spite of this, the dark areas simply remained dark, but noice is almost unnoticeable - like in this snapshot:
Attached Thumbnails
V1 in low light: first true event impressions-eyp-evening1.jpg   V1 in low light: first true event impressions-eyp-evening5.jpg  

__________________
Sony PXW-FS7 | DaVinci Resolve Studio; Magix Vegas Pro; i7-5960X CPU; 64 GB RAM; 2x GTX 1080 8GB GPU; Decklink 4K Extreme 12G; 4x 3TB WD Black in RAID 0; 1TB M.2 NVMe cache drive

Last edited by Piotr Wozniacki; March 26th, 2007 at 03:19 AM.
Piotr Wozniacki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 26th, 2007, 02:06 AM   #4
Major Player
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Pinellas Park
Posts: 232
Quote:
Originally Posted by Piotr Wozniacki View Post
I had blacks stretched to get most of the dim surroundings. In spite of this, the dark areas simply remained dark, but noice is almost unnoticeable - like in this snapshot:
Was the only lighting source those candles? If so, the image is truly amazing. You have to love the way the V1 handles bright lights; the flames have a nice rounded soft look rather than the harsh star-like verticle smear of CCD type camcorders. Very nice... Thanks for the pic.
John Bosco Jr. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 26th, 2007, 03:18 AM   #5
Regular Crew
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 64
Quote:
Originally Posted by John Bosco Jr. View Post
Was the only lighting source those candles? If so, the image is truly amazing. You have to love the way the V1 handles bright lights; the flames have a nice rounded soft look rather than the harsh star-like verticle smear of CCD type camcorders. Very nice... Thanks for the pic.
There's no way the candles are the only light source. Look at the shadows (or lack of).
Drew Long is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 26th, 2007, 03:23 AM   #6
Inner Circle
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Poland
Posts: 4,086
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drew Long View Post
There's no way the candles are the only light source. Look at the shadows (or lack of).
You're right Drew; I have uploaded another snapshot into my previous post above where you can see a lamp at the ceiling. There were a couple of lamps like this scattered around the room, but all very dim indeed.
__________________
Sony PXW-FS7 | DaVinci Resolve Studio; Magix Vegas Pro; i7-5960X CPU; 64 GB RAM; 2x GTX 1080 8GB GPU; Decklink 4K Extreme 12G; 4x 3TB WD Black in RAID 0; 1TB M.2 NVMe cache drive
Piotr Wozniacki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 26th, 2007, 04:41 AM   #7
Trustee
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Honolulu, HI
Posts: 1,961
It really looks like you have some on-camera light. There are shadows cast from the candelabra straight behind them and a few inches low. There is a similar shadow cast from the face of the man in the denim jacket. This means there must be a light in line with and above the camera pointing at the scene. Also, the shadows moved from the first shot to the second meaning that the light must have moved. The fact that the background isn't underlit usually means that the light near the camera isn't very strong, but it really looks like you have an on-camera light. Perhaps the overhead light just happened to line up with your camera?
Marcus Marchesseault is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 26th, 2007, 05:05 AM   #8
Inner Circle
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Poland
Posts: 4,086
Markus, this is funny:) Yes I can see the shadows you're talking about, but you're investigating as if I said there were just 10 candles there and nothing else. Of course there were lamps like the one on the second snapshot I added (not much brighter than the candles), and yes - there was a bar some distance behind me, where people were having drinks and listening.

But it is obvious that the place was generally dark, and when I was entering, my first thought was I couldn't probably make a watcheable video there. And yet, it's a nice surprise!
__________________
Sony PXW-FS7 | DaVinci Resolve Studio; Magix Vegas Pro; i7-5960X CPU; 64 GB RAM; 2x GTX 1080 8GB GPU; Decklink 4K Extreme 12G; 4x 3TB WD Black in RAID 0; 1TB M.2 NVMe cache drive

Last edited by Piotr Wozniacki; March 26th, 2007 at 05:45 AM.
Piotr Wozniacki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 26th, 2007, 05:20 AM   #9
Trustee
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Honolulu, HI
Posts: 1,961
Yes, I can tell that it's dark as the candles look so bright. Candles don't seem so bright in a well-lit room and are barely visible in the sun. Regardless, I can't shake the feeling that it seems like there is an on-camera light. It's not the overall brightness, but the pattern of the light. Maybe one of the room lights just happened to line up to look like an on-camera light.

Maybe you brightened the image too much. That's hard to believe, but maybe the overall even lighting dampens the feel that it's in a dim room? I know the V1 isn't bad in low-light once it is tweaked properly, so I don't doubt this kind of shot is possible in the right person's hands.
Marcus Marchesseault is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 26th, 2007, 05:35 AM   #10
Major Player
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Northampton, England
Posts: 500
I think we're so used to the "cinema" version of low-light (which uses well constrained strong light and strong shadows to create contrast), that "real" low-light can look a little washed-out. However, the V1 has created some impressive looking images here considering the lack of light.

Personally I'm not overly fond of the way it has rendered the candles - a little too "electronic" looking for my taste. For some reason they don't look very organic. But I'm very impressed with the lack of overall noise in the image.
__________________
Alex
Alex Leith is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 26th, 2007, 05:40 AM   #11
Inner Circle
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Poland
Posts: 4,086
Markus, I just scrolled through the timeline and found the moment when somebody was taking a still with a mobile phone from behind me; you can see the same scene with his flash (of course neither me nor the camera was fast enough to compensate for this additional light). But, it is not that much brighter at all, which means you're right saying I managed to lighten the scene as much as possible, using pretty low shutter speed and stretching blacks.
Attached Thumbnails
V1 in low light: first true event impressions-eyp-evening6.jpg  
__________________
Sony PXW-FS7 | DaVinci Resolve Studio; Magix Vegas Pro; i7-5960X CPU; 64 GB RAM; 2x GTX 1080 8GB GPU; Decklink 4K Extreme 12G; 4x 3TB WD Black in RAID 0; 1TB M.2 NVMe cache drive
Piotr Wozniacki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 26th, 2007, 05:54 AM   #12
Regular Crew
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 451
I think you can even do better in low light by turning down the saturation which suppresses the colour flecks of noise. Personally I'd have either pressed the blacks or left them untouched rather than stretched them.

I didn't find the V1 too bad in low light. If it was setup well.

I agree with Alex the candles might be rendered without smear but the sharpening halo round them shouts "electronic" unfortunately.

TT
Tony Tremble is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 26th, 2007, 05:54 AM   #13
Inner Circle
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Poland
Posts: 4,086
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Leith View Post
I think we're so used to the "cinema" version of low-light (which uses well constrained strong light and strong shadows to create contrast), that "real" low-light can look a little washed-out. However, the V1 has created some impressive looking images here considering the lack of light.

Personally I'm not overly fond of the way it has rendered the candles - a little too "electronic" looking for my taste. For some reason they don't look very organic. But I'm very impressed with the lack of overall noise in the image.
I think you've got the point here, Alex - the camera was not using any "cine" settings (gamma or colour), and the blacks were stretched (rather than compressed) on purpose. All this contributed to a more evenly lit atmosphere, which you may not like, but my point in posting those snapshots was just to show the level of noise.

Here is another lo-light snapshot, with quite the opposite settings: cinegamma, cinecolour and black compressed. The result is a contrasty video.
Attached Thumbnails
V1 in low light: first true event impressions-vlcsnap.jpg  
__________________
Sony PXW-FS7 | DaVinci Resolve Studio; Magix Vegas Pro; i7-5960X CPU; 64 GB RAM; 2x GTX 1080 8GB GPU; Decklink 4K Extreme 12G; 4x 3TB WD Black in RAID 0; 1TB M.2 NVMe cache drive
Piotr Wozniacki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 26th, 2007, 09:25 AM   #14
Trustee
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 1,570
In EYP Evening5.jpg there's something very odd happening with that double bass.
Bob Grant is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 26th, 2007, 09:29 AM   #15
Inner Circle
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Poland
Posts: 4,086
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Grant View Post
In EYP Evening5.jpg there's something very odd happening with that double bass.
Let me guess: the oil paint effect!
__________________
Sony PXW-FS7 | DaVinci Resolve Studio; Magix Vegas Pro; i7-5960X CPU; 64 GB RAM; 2x GTX 1080 8GB GPU; Decklink 4K Extreme 12G; 4x 3TB WD Black in RAID 0; 1TB M.2 NVMe cache drive
Piotr Wozniacki is offline   Reply
Reply

DV Info Net refers all where-to-buy and where-to-rent questions exclusively to these trusted full line dealers and rental houses...

B&H Photo Video
(866) 521-7381
New York, NY USA

Scan Computers Int. Ltd.
+44 0871-472-4747
Bolton, Lancashire UK


DV Info Net also encourages you to support local businesses and buy from an authorized dealer in your neighborhood.
  You are here: DV Info Net > Sony XAVC / XDCAM / NXCAM / AVCHD / HDV / DV Camera Systems > Sony HDV and DV Camera Systems > Sony HVR-V1 / HDR-FX7

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

 



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:18 PM.


DV Info Net -- Real Names, Real People, Real Info!
1998-2024 The Digital Video Information Network