Noise at 0db gain

[Alvin Witcher]

I have own canon xh a1 since 3 weeks.

I notice canon xh a1 have noise or not quality picture with low light and gain at 0 db.

Does anyone same? Or how I can solve it?

[Joel Peregrine]

Hi Alvin,

It could be a lot of factors but most noise problems are caused by settings not being optimized. It usually involves thinking you're at 0db when actually the camera is governing the gain through either the automatic setting or the agc. Good reading here if neither of those are correct:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/search.php?searchid=4127045

[Alvin Witcher]

Originally Posted by Joel Peregrine

Hi Alvin,

It could be a lot of factors but most noise problems are caused by settings not being optimized. It usually involves thinking you're at 0db when actually the camera is governing the gain through either the automatic setting or the agc. Good reading here if neither of those are correct:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/search.php?searchid=4127045

Thanks but this link not work.

[Matthew Amirkhani]

Hi Alvin,

First of all set the Gain Switch to OFF. Make sure to adjust the brightness of the camera's LCD what I found out with mine was that the LCD brightness was way off so I had to bring down the brighntness.
Play around with the IRIS and the Shutter Speed as well.

Play around with your camera and have fun with it. Also play around with the gain control.

Matthew

[Sylus Harrington]

Search these boards for XHA1 low light/grain and you will get lots of discussion on this exact topic.

Some tips:
- Shoot in M mode
- Set gain to -3db (in menus)
- Set AutoGain to OFF
- Open the iris all the way when possible - f1.6 - and avoid zoom. Zooming in closes the lens thus letting in less light.
- Try lower shutter speeds but beware of motion blur. 30 is usually lowest.
- Stay away from shooting in Auto or GreenBox modes (these will override any custom gain settings you make.)
- Try a good low light preset like Truecolor (great and flat) or PFVISION
- Try some on camera lighting that will give you a stop or more of added light. Add gels to change things up.
- Try calibrating your lcd with a monitor to ensure you are seeing a more accurate on camera display - or use the view finder/eye cup more - or just use a monitor.
- When shooting in low light you almost always see gain in the darker areas. From my experience I would class the A1 as so-so in low light - definitely not where it shines.

[Chris Hurd]

Thread title changed from "Canon XH A1" to "noise at 0db gain."

Please avoid ambiguous thread titles. Thanks,

[Joel Peregrine]

Originally Posted by Alvin Witcher

Thanks but this link not work.

Sorry about that. Seems as though the search ID links are temporary. This is what the search was for:

Search: Keyword(s): noise, 0db ; Forum: Canon XH Series HDV Camcorders

[Chris Hurd]

Sorry Joel -- the search ID links last only about an hour.

We might change that up in the near future, but for now they are
a real drain on the system so they don't live very long unfortunately.

[Jonathan Shaw]

Did you solve the problem Alvin... even at 0db you shouldn't see any grain. I actually shoot most of the time at 0 as opposed to -3db.

Jon

[Nancy Fleming]

regarding Gain, here's what I've learned and I did some extensive testing inside in low light and outside is sun.

No auto gain. You would think you could use auto gain on a lovely sunny day but NO. If you see the "ND filter" blinking and you set it on, and you have auto gain, the picture will be so grainy you would think you are watching a VHS tape.

My 3 gain settings are -3, 0, 3

Even in sun, I noticed a tiny bit of grain using 3. Inside with sufficient light, use -3. If not sufficient light, use 0 or 3 depending on what grain you see in the viewfinder.

Personally, I use the Automatic setting alot. Not the square green box.

My 2cents!