View Full Version : Night shooting


kushnerb
August 21st, 2002, 01:54 PM
ANy one out there have any tips for the following problem:
When shooting at night at Animals that are lit with a spolight.. the balck areas have Blue pixels and appear very grainy.. Any tips for night shooting for a novice?
thanks
Brin

Ken Tanaka
August 21st, 2002, 03:00 PM
What type of camera are you using? If an XL1s, XL1 or GL-x try the "Spotlight" exposure setting. It's designed for hot subjects against a dark background. You might get better results.

kushnerb
August 21st, 2002, 03:07 PM
Thanks Ken.
Will try using the spotlight setting.
Am using an XL1s... great camera, but always battling in low light, as I shoot from the hip in the African bush, and lighting is a problem. Getting amazing results sofar with the camera. The DV community is a great help, and my first documentary should be broadcast in 3 months, all shot on the Canon...WHo needs film!

Rob Lohman
August 22nd, 2002, 01:24 AM
If you get too much grain it might be that you have Gain set to
auto or on a too high a setting. Try something lower and
compensate with other things like shutter and iris.

Oh, and in my experience you can shoot with a lot lower light
then either your light meter is indicating and what you are
seeing in the viewfinder. In other words. When I see the resulting
footage back it is always way brighter than I thought when I
was shooting it. So usually you can get away with more than
you think. Try it out.