NightVision - Reception Highlight
 

Last year we shot a wedding, and the reception was an awesome venue but the lighting was so dark (almost candle light). The Bride didn't want any additional lights being used so we tried what we could and ended up using a Sony TRV22 handycam (SD video) with NightShot along with our other cameras gain'd all the way up. When we went to edit and review the footage I was so glad we used that little Sony cam with NightShot because it saved our butt, and even though the footage doesn't look great by any means the client was still thrilled with the result.

It was one of our first weddings and the cam op was shacky at times with that small camera, but if i had to shoot NightShot again with my Sony HC1 (HD video) i would. gives off some "racoon eyes" at time but all in all its better than nothing. I uploaded the video so you can see first hand "how bad" or "how decent" it actually turned out....your call

www.zandlproductions.com/reception.html

We now shoot with a LitePanel Mini Plus, which is dimmable and so the Brides usually don't fuss too much.

Let me know if you think this is a realistic option when in a jam.

Zach,

i've used this a few times myself & I think it works absolutely fantastic. Obviously the goal is not to cover hour long speeches using this mode but shots sprinkled here and there artistically/creatively will surely benefit from this mode. Sometimes I use the nitemode as a wide angle b/c cam during the first dances.

From a low/no light perspective your footage looks fantastic. I find that Magic Bullet's Sepia Red/Sepia is a one stop wonder when mated to the Sony nightshot; I can tell that this footage is already eons better then having using a 3 chip camera @ these light levels.

i purchased from ebay for about 10$ each some Infrared illuminator.
the great thing is they switch on only when it is dark.
if you take care to set them before everybody is on location you can get the room looking like full day while nobody will notice.
look for "IR illuminator" on ebay.

Last night during the openingsdance they gave all the guests these small fluo sticks which iluminate when you bend them or hit them on a table and then they turned of the lights complety. Now the sticks just gave a nice look but it didn't give any additional lighting. I use a 3 watt light on my Sony vx2100 and with situations described as above you have noise in your picture but I manage to keep the colour and a "sharp" image.
If the bride would ask me not to use a light in such a allmost dark situation I just wouldn't film it.

I must say that your nightshot footage looks surprisingly good, though I never would use it, especially because they make the eyes lit up as well which looks creepy.

Giroud - The 'IR Illuminator" is this light visible to your eye and/or does it allow the camera to record in IR Night Vision but with color?

No , infrared are hardly visible to human eye (probably you can see the illuminator sligthly reddish while looking directly at the led , NOT RECOMMENDED !) but the room will stay as it is.
the color will not be restored. Basically it is the same as nighshot mode, but with a lot more illumination. On your shots, we can see the led making a bright spot.

Yes, I agree. I'll have to look into the IR Illuminators. Thanks for the tip.

Saves the shot
 

I used a Sony with night shot once as well. Same situation, the reception was pitch black, I told the bride and she was fine with it. I decided to tr and get some shots any way. In post I REALLY played with it. First I turned everything into B&W and then I colorized the heck out of it and timed the color jumps to the music.

Then I threw in a repeating squares pattern negative overlay where each square slowly grew in size to eventually take over the whole screen till everything was in negative for just a sec, then I flashed out (on cue to the music) and back to B&W.

The couple loved it but man did that shot take HOURS of tinkering and playing until I got something that looked Disco-ish but not campy (even though it sounds horrible I admit).