Best Low Light Preset
 

I have been asked to videotape a Church service that start sat 11:30 Pm and ends around 2:30 AM. This wil be mainly in low light with my XH-A1S. There is a large chandilier in the front third of the Church and the altar is is fairly well lite. Have read these posts for hours. I have the PFVision (PanaFilm Vision) preset. Are there any other good low light presets that don't look grainy/noisey that you can recomment?

Will tape in HDV, down convert to SD and output to standard DVD. Edit software = Adobe Premier Elements version 3.0 - Need to film next weekend.
Thanks in advance!
- Don

Don,
I have found that PFVision is THE BEST low light preset with the proper custom white balance it gives a comperable image in low light to the VX2100... I highly recommend it.
Bill

Orthodox Easter service?

Yes - tough to set proper white balance when you arrive at 11:30 PM and not allowed to use even a flashlight in a totally dark Church. There will probably be one or two candles next to te grave and tha's it. After the first half hour or so, they process around the outside of the Church three times. the priest then knocks on the door of the Church and when it opens the grave is gone and the entire Church is lighted representing the Resurrection.

If I went during the week and set the white balance to "A", would it reatin it so when I turn the camera on during the weekend, it would still be set??

You can preset it but in a situation like that IMO you have to set the WB just before you shoot. You could try using an Expodisc to WB both cameras.

ExpoImaging - ExpoDisc Neutral

I'd go to the church during the late afternoon anyway, shoot as much stock stuff as possible.
Use the available light, slowly zoom thru to the stained windows, icons etc. Then you can dial them down to match your service footage. Find out what the exact theme of the service is and shoot some appropriate footage .. out of books if necessary.

If you shoot for 2+hrs you're going to have a tape change and I'd make sure the audio is first class, sound is 70% of what you see. Put an audio recorder on the priest delivering the service.

Cheers.

Thanks for the help!

- Don

I would guess that using the tungsten preset would give you the best results.

Aren't most all the lights that will be turned on be tungsten?

The candles are supposed to look yellow. If you white balance to candle light, the candles will look light alien energy points.

Tungsten white balance will give lights the feeling they have in person.

This is what I would do.

Hi Don.
Try these. Without a doubt, the best lo light presets I have used. Wolfgang's HD Blog - Presets für die Canon XH A1

As Bill said, PFVision is the best for low light. It's better than Wolfgang's +6/+12db presets.

Shooting without presets is also not a bad idea for low light, most presets darken the image a little.

I find that suprising. I have tried both presets and found the LoLights filtered out far more noise than any other, when viewed back via HDMI using an HV30 as feed to a 42" HD plasma. (but hey its all subjective) Whatever the noise level, it will mostly dissapear once encoded to Mpeg2 and burnt to DVD. Out of interest I took side by side shots inside our local church with my XH-A1 and HV30 (this church is very dark), and to my suprise the HV 30 was virtually noise free, compared to the XH-A1 at + 6 and 12. Amazing the way technology marches on.

I just returned from a test shoot at the Church with my XH-A1 and see several problems now that I am watching the video. I used the PFVision low light custom preset and the camera was on Tv 30 with no db.

1.) When holding the camera still, looks pretty good but if you move at all in any direction, the candle stands vibrate (noticable move), the windows vibrate - looks bad. Is Tv 30 the cause? What should I use? Am I better off using Auto with 3db in this low light situation?

2.) I see green "Lights" or green dots at times. Appear to be a reflection of the candles or other bright lights. Is the UV filter on the lens causing these green lights? If yes, should I get a clear filter?

Stupid question, but did you have autofocus on??
Flickering candles could cause havoc to this....

Yes - AF was on

with the Xh-A1, I'd rather gain up to +6db than go down to 1/30 shutter (if I'm shooting in 60i). My personal preference.

Hi Hubert,

I found that PFVision doesn't really differ much from the brightness of the stock A1 image yet retains the color when in low light, which is what I struggled with most before in post...trying to push colors out of a very low light image.

I also tried wolfgangs stuff before developing Pfvision and it caused too much ghosting and the image looked a bit "hazy".

Hi Randy,

That's exact my experience. With "most presets darken the image a little." i didn't mean the PFVision preset, but most of the others. I've used wolfgang's presets quite a bit and the ghosting is really nasty. It must be the noise reduction. Your preset is quite a lot brighter, i think it is comparable on +6db with wolfgang's on +12db.
Another thing, PFVision in daylight is good for some nice saturated colors, didn't look bad too my eyes.

Thanks for the replies.

Randy (and others)- what do you suggest i have the camera on? Auto with 3-6 db or Manual? If manual, what settings for the shutter and iris?

Thanks for your help.
- Don

Cheers Hubert. I shot a wedding with PFvision and it had some great colors, REALLY popped. Must be careful not to overexpose though as it looks bad when you do and its hard to salvage in post. Most would prefer to dial down the colors for a bit more room for mistake on exposure.

Don - I always shoot in M with my A1 (when I had it). If you're shooting in 60i in lowlight, I'd throw it in Manual, turn OFF AGC, keep the shutter at 1/60 and first try seeing if you have enough light without gaining up. If not, gain up to +3 then to +6. I would try to not go above that. At that point, I'd brighten it up in post. +12db is highly unusable for my personal taste.

You would keep the shutter constant at 1/60 and use the Iris to adjust exposure in most cases. Spend some time getting familiar with manual mode, as you play with the settings and watch your exposure, you'll never go back to auto again (unless of course it's an emergency).

I would also like to add that I use 1/30 shutter in almost every reception and some dimly lit ceremonies. But, I'm no "expert" or whatever, so I value content over anything else. I try to maintain the perspective of the client, and to my eyes 1/30 shutter on 60i footage looks fine. There is a slight stutter on the LCD but not in the finished footage. It makes a huge difference in the long run...
Bill