I'm a former owner and still a frequent user of the XHA1. I really enjoy it, but the noise at low levels is bothersome. From what I can see, these smaller cameras produce a better overall image at low light than the A1 and if you aren't using the manual controls to full advantage, the new smaller cams may be an advantage. Audio without controls is still a problem, but then again I seldom use the live audio anyway for anything serious.

I find myself wanting to enjoy the experience while producing great images and trying to get away from all the equipment lugging...

How do you enjoy the experience when you have to watch an entire performance on a 3" LCD? ;-)

I basically gave up doing documentations because of the schlepp factor - did not want to carry heavy gear. I used to have an assistant during the last few years of it. Taking the T2i and a light tripod is a blessing - otherwise I wouldn't do it at all.

If I decide to make $$$ at this again, I'll have to reconsider my options...

I shot a video for a band with 2 Canon DSLR and 2 video camera and what you need to do is full manual and adjust exposure for somewhere in a middle and leave it there, as lightning change so fast for this type of work there is no way anybody can change it on the fly, or if you want a lot of post and better then adjust for highlights and bring out the shadows in post.

Lights were very low and atmospheric at concert, manual exposure with auto ISO chose 3200 most of the time.

Video was dark and noisy, but PP with noise reduction got it looking pretty good.

Sam,

Sorry it wasn't all you'd hoped for. 3200 is pretty high and grainy, but NS should have helped quite a bit - hoping you didn't get the "plastic skin" look.

Nope - video ended up looking OK. I might have been better off setting at 1600 ISO and raising brightness in post - maybe no difference. Not sure about auto where there is no control...

Well let's see some footage! :)

Video not for public (yet) until participants OK it's release.

Here's a still, however, from same evening:

http://skanter.smugmug.com/People/Pe...57_fH8z7-L.jpg

Sam,

I love the shadow on the back wall. Can you get any more of the noise out of the picture with Noise suppression?

Hard to tell how much noise from a still, but that seems to look pretty good for 3200 ISO! Did you do any noise cleanup on that image?

I used a lot of noise filtering already - I could probably tweak it some more.

Quite a bit. I use Noisware - I heard the noise filtering on CS5 is excellent - I don't have it yet.

Still shooting low-light dance/music event concerts
 

I've upgraded to 60D, but same issues persist with shooting low-light dance/music concerts with no idea of lighting in advance (except that it will be low). Again, this is all au gratis as a favor to artists, so I cannot justify expensive purchases.

I usually go very close (front row) and use my Canon 10-22 - less focus and zoom issues with large DOF and limited zoom. The look is unique, as dancers are often a foot from my camera and I always can get wide enough, albeit sometimes with distortion. Using Hoodman loupe with Hoodcrane although i wish i had a good monitor.

Any ideas about using auto ISO vs not, manual vs auto anything? I still do not have a good strategy (except to buy a prosumer HD camcorder)!

Here's an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykrYPlevu2E

Anyone have any ideas about this?

Hi Sam,

I was about to post what you were asking as well! Glad I found this post.

I did some test shots with AUTO exposure; some came out ok but some came out with flickering (I think it is due to the shutter speed and fps not matching up due to the change of Shutter). From reading this post, I will try the Auto ISO/Manual Exposure combo on my 60D.

If anyone else have any good advice for us, would really appreciate it.