Letus Extreme @ Extreme Low Light at DVinfo.net

Stathis Athanasiou · January 24th, 2008, 04:30 AM

This is a test I made one night with absolutely no moon (don't know how it's called in English). I am telling you, it was DARK !
Camera settings: f2.4 S1/25 Gain +3 or 0
Lens: Nikon 50mm f1.2

http://www.snapdrive.net/files/516833/Letus%20dark.avi

Dennis Murphy · January 24th, 2008, 12:54 PM

I don't know how much of the noise was the compression, but to me that is unusable footage.

Bill Busby · January 24th, 2008, 01:03 PM

slowwwwwww server. Still waiting for DL to complete :-\

Stathis Athanasiou · January 24th, 2008, 02:20 PM

Bill, sorry about that. It usually downloads pretty fast. Do you know any alternative free upload servers?

Dennis, as there are a lot of people discussing how low can you go lightwise (including myself), I figured I would shoot a test and post a video with the lowest light possible. It is not meant to be put on a commercial or shown to a client, although it would make sense to see such a dark shot in a film, should the situation call for it.
As for the grain, I believe you are seeing compression artifacts. I shot with Gain 0 and +3 which doesn't produce grain. Not that noticeable anyway.

Bill Busby · January 24th, 2008, 11:33 PM

Everything was either soft looking or out of focus. Makes it hard to tell regarding any low light performance if detail is lost for whatever reasons.

I know there's faster servers & many have been discussed on the forums here. Do a search & you'll find plenty of recommendations.

Bill

Russ Motyko · January 30th, 2008, 03:03 PM

Agree with Bill. Allot of the footage appeared to be out of focus.

Thought the raw video file may not have had any noise, in order to be used in a film the footage would have to be combined with other scenes and recompressed. If this recompression results in horrible noise; the footage is unusable.

And to tell you the truth I haven't seen very many films where the amount of light was that low. I was under the impression that most night scenes are shot in somewhat well-lit areas and then color-corrected to give them the "night look."

January 24th, 2008, 04:30 AM	#1
Stathis Athanasiou Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Athens, Hellas Posts: 73	Letus Extreme @ Extreme Low Light This is a test I made one night with absolutely no moon (don't know how it's called in English). I am telling you, it was DARK ! Camera settings: f2.4 S1/25 Gain +3 or 0 Lens: Nikon 50mm f1.2 http://www.snapdrive.net/files/516833/Letus%20dark.avi

January 24th, 2008, 12:54 PM	#2
Dennis Murphy Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Whangarei, New Zealand Posts: 396	I don't know how much of the noise was the compression, but to me that is unusable footage.

January 24th, 2008, 01:03 PM	#3
Bill Busby Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 959	slowwwwwww server. Still waiting for DL to complete :-\

January 24th, 2008, 02:20 PM	#4
Stathis Athanasiou Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Athens, Hellas Posts: 73	Bill, sorry about that. It usually downloads pretty fast. Do you know any alternative free upload servers? Dennis, as there are a lot of people discussing how low can you go lightwise (including myself), I figured I would shoot a test and post a video with the lowest light possible. It is not meant to be put on a commercial or shown to a client, although it would make sense to see such a dark shot in a film, should the situation call for it. As for the grain, I believe you are seeing compression artifacts. I shot with Gain 0 and +3 which doesn't produce grain. Not that noticeable anyway.

January 24th, 2008, 11:33 PM	#5
Bill Busby Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 959	Everything was either soft looking or out of focus. Makes it hard to tell regarding any low light performance if detail is lost for whatever reasons. I know there's faster servers & many have been discussed on the forums here. Do a search & you'll find plenty of recommendations. Bill

January 30th, 2008, 03:03 PM	#6
Russ Motyko Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 56	Agree with Bill. Allot of the footage appeared to be out of focus. Thought the raw video file may not have had any noise, in order to be used in a film the footage would have to be combined with other scenes and recompressed. If this recompression results in horrible noise; the footage is unusable. And to tell you the truth I haven't seen very many films where the amount of light was that low. I was under the impression that most night scenes are shot in somewhat well-lit areas and then color-corrected to give them the "night look."