What did I do wrong???
 

I thought I was shooting all manual at -3db but something went wrong....I shot about 25 inteviews ...some look great and some look awful...very grainy... I was turning the camera on and off instead of locking/stand by like I should have but I wonder if someone can tell me what I did wrong ..or suggesting something to do in post. You can see the difference here (look at the interviewers hair) Picasa Web Albums - 11666245405752992... - Drop Box

Hi. Don't know why you are having the problem but in post you might want to look at Neat Video - it actually does what it says, surprisingly.
Neat Video - best noise reduction for digital video

Thanks Gregory,
If the samples they have on their site are any indication of how it works, it is truly amazing!
Thanks again,
Randy

Keep in mind that if you were shooting in "easy mode" (the green box), the camera is in controll of the gain regardless of where you have your gain settings at. If you are not comfortable using the manual mode, I would sugges the "A" mode. This will allow the camera to do all the work but you can still keep control of the gain setting.

Thanks Kevin, I would never use easy mode (at least intentionally) but who knows ...I know I did something wrong...one interview is fine and another right afterwards is crap...then the next is fine.

AGC may have been mistakenly turned on.

I think you're right Michael ...in fact it may have even been intentional ...the camera is still relatively new to me, I was experimenting, and with the sun changing the shadows and highlights (I was there until after dark waiting for people to make it to this checkpoint) I may have tried it a couple of times and couldn't see the noise in the LCD or VF.
Maybe I should put some real sticky duct tape over the switch : )