XL2 Low Light Capability

[Michael Salzlechner]

<<<-- Originally posted by Chris Hurd : Cross-posted here: please direct all responses to this thread.

Folks, please do not cross-post! -->>>

Actually the reason for this post is because part of the original post was specific to the XL2 (belongs here) but the other part was not (does not belong here) so really part of it belongs here which i corrected with this post.

[Chris Hurd]

You've had some good responses to your first thread, so now the two have been merged together for consolidation.

[Jordan Walz]

Hi everyone. First and foremost, I would like for you to forgive me if there is already a thread concerning a similar topic, and if so, would you please direct me to it? Anyway, I recently purchased a new XL2 and am working on a 24p project that requires some low light scenes, specifically, being outdoors at night time. I was wondering if any of you had some settings and/or lighting suggestions to keep a good picture. And by good picture, i mean a "filmic look." If there are no reasonable solutions, is switching to 30p or 60i a worthy consideration? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Andrew Oh]

Switching to 60i will help. Uping the gain will also help. If you want the film look, you will want to stay in 24P. If you want to get the best quality, don't boost the gain too much. It all depends where you will be shooting. If you're shooting under a street light, it might not be that bad. If you're shooting where there isn't much ambient light, it will be difficult to get a good image without lighting the set. The best thing to do is get a set of battery pack operated lights to illuminate the subject if it's a run and gun shoot. Trust me, it's better than nothing. Good luck.

[Marty Hudzik]

Originally Posted by Andrew Oh

Switching to 60i will help.

I have to disagree with this. I find that there is not a significant increase in light sensitivity in 60i over 24P mode....maybe non at all. I had the DVX100 for 2 years prior to the XL2 and it did improve majorly in the 601 mode. Someone said once that was because it averaged interlace lines together which made it brighter and more sensitive. I don't know about all of the technical mumbo jumbo there but I can tell you that I have never had to switch to 601 to increase light on the XL2. So far it get the same exposure in 24P. FWIW.

[Kevin Kocak]

Rent the proper gear and light for night. You'll never get a solid picture without the right lighting. Just b/c you use lights doesn't mean it can't look like night.

[Jon Laing]

I would think that 60i would actually lower the exposure because of the faster shudder speeds as opposed to 24p, but im only speaking from conjecture, since i havnt had the opportunity to shoot in extremely low light situations with my XL2 yet.

[Jordan Walz]

So it looks like my best option would be to rent out some decent lighting equipment. Thanks for the help guys.

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Jon Laing

I would think that 60i would actually lower the exposure because of the faster shudder speeds as opposed to 24p, but im only speaking from conjecture, since i havnt had the opportunity to shoot in extremely low light situations with my XL2 yet.

Yes Jon, my experience with my XL2 is that going from 60i to 30p and then to 24p will actually help in low light because of the slower scan rate of the ccds allowing for more light along with the slower shutter speeds. This is visible on the exposure bar in the v/f when in full manual mode. In fact, the 'magic pix' mode of my Pana 953 does the same thing. It drops the frame rate and shutter speed down below what's accesible from the menus to give a 'usable' picture in very low light. Usable is a subjective term in that previous sentence.

-gb-

[Richard Hunter]

Originally Posted by Jon Laing

faster shudder speeds .

Yes, shudder is always a problem in low light. :)

Richard

[Jon Bickford]

shoot just before sunrise if you can, the last hour-45 minutes before the sun rises it is just beneath the horizon and shining up towards the sky, there's usually enough moisture and dust etc in the air to give the sky a nice deep blue glow, and mountains or buildings in the distance will appear in silhouettes

-Jon

[Bill Edmunds]

Is there anywhere on the net that compares the low light performance of the XL2 with other cams in its class, such as the Sony Z1/FX1, PD150, or Panasonic VX100?

[Steve Interrante]

Hello all,

I'm beginning work on a Short film this weekend that has a lot of exterior night shots. Any suggestions or advice? Our cinematographer has a pretty descent light kit, but he's new to the XL2. Are there any settings which will help maximize our image?

More importantly I suppose, if anybody has any offerings on what not to do, that would be appreciated as well.

Thanks for any help,

Steve

[Ash Greyson]

Do not let the gain get over +3dB if possible and do NOT use auto gain. You might want to adjust your knee setting to High (you will lose details in highlights) and if it start to lose some color, bump the color gain up a notch or two. If you HAVE to use gain, make sure you adjust the NR accordingly and turn down the sharpness a notch or 2. You can also try bumping the set-up level and master pedestal, start with the master pedestal. If you go too high, things may look a little flat...

Just play around with those settings, you should be good to go. The XL2 is much better in low light than many people think, it just takes some tinkering.



ash =o)

[Kelly Wilbur]

I know a lot of people are interested in how the XL2 handles low light. You can see some stills from a recent shoot I had in low light at www.snd.toobookoo.com. I think they show the XL2 does a great job.

Some of you may know that I've never owned a camera or shot anything before I purchased the XL2 recently and the M2 adpater (from Redrockmicro.com). On the webpage above are some stills from my first shoot ever. This was with the XL2 at 24pA and the M2 adapter with a Nikon 50mm lens. I edited with FCP, but the images are compressed because I haven't learned all the ins and outs of editing and changing formats for still images.

We still have some more shooting to do and I should have some video in about a week or so.

The actors are Luke Renn (2 pics) and Timothy Tyler from Indianapolis, Indiana.

Thanks,

Kelly