hello all.

I am using a XH-A1 in HDV1080/50i (PAL). Im trying to shoot street locations (purely backgrounds no actors or action) without extra lighting at night and have tried a variety of shutter speeds and apertures but am still getting very grainy midtones. any help would be muchly appreciated.

thanks Sal.

I would try the pfvision preset. But even that has its limitations.

You say street scenes with no action, would a stills shot on a digital stills camera provide a better solution? The problem is, if there ain't no light, there ain't much you can do if you want the quality as well

we are attempting to create a 3screen moving image piece exploring narrative through splitting background/action on separate projections.. all the action is being shot in a studio under fully controlled lighting and the backgrounds on location. yes digital stills are definitely an option for some of the shots but in places were going to need pans/tracks. It doesn't need to be bright as darkness is the overall aesthetic we're going for (its set in east-london at 4am!) but how can i get dark shots in the dark without all the noise and grain? what is pfvision setting?

pfvision is a custom preset....here is the link:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/xh-series-sample-clips/140962-new-preset-pfvision-sample-included.html

Another option may be to shoot day for night or shoot at dusk with iris closed down.