Hello everyone,

I am new to this list and new to film making. I have been keen photographer for years and started to be interested in video making. I belive most rules of still photography apply to video, but have one specific question. With my still camera, I used to set expousre manually - I am taking the ambient light measurement with a hand-held light meter. With this meter you first set an ISO film speed you use, in order to take readouts. How is it with digital video tape? How do you take measurements of ambient light to set the aperture and shutter speed manually on your camcorder? Is there some equivalent to ISO film speed in relation to DV?

Best regards,
Maciej

Many videographers like to know the ISO rating of their camcorder. I think generally accepted figure for the XL-1 (not the S) is about 160.

You should remember though, that camcorders ahve a gain setting. This can increase sensitivity, but also increases noise.

Read some of the articles here on the DVInfo.net's Watchdog site where this is discussed in greater detail. Also check the thread http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2182

I've tested out an ASA of 160 for my XL1s. It's important to remember, however, that a video CCD has a different sensitivity(re:response) to light than film. So, while your hand held light meter is calibrated for a proper exposure off an 18% gray card, the CCD response curve will be different for other than ideal exposures. If you routinely over or under-expose shots with your vidcam, don't rely on that hand held meter.