Hey everyone! Ok laugh if you must, but I'm new at this stuff. I've been doing lots of family/memory/wedding/funeral videos with my little consumer Canon, but now I've rented a Sony pd 150 to shoot a dance recital in a large auditorium. The problem is that I really haven't ever used this camera let alone in such a low light situation. Can anyone recommend some low light settings to try? I'll be there the day before for the dress rehearsal so I can play around a bit, but I really need a place to start. Help!

Thanks,

Bonnie

Hi Bonnie and welcome to DVinfo!

For starters you might browse the threads about shooting live performances here - there's a lot of good information and much of it applies to the PD-150: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=60275

Oh thanks... I'll check it out-

Bonnie

Is it really low light ? Sounds like there might be stage lighting. Seems like it might be more important to be sure zebras are on. Shoot on manual. Set shutter speed to 1/60 (60) and then push exposure button and adjust aperature with the wheel. If it is really low light, you will see gain coming into play. Watch for over exposure by monitoring zebra pattern.

Ahh.. that's the kind of specifics I was looking for! I'm picking up the camera on Thursday and the performances are Friday and Saturday so I should have some time to try the settings out. Thanks for your imput.

Bonnie

Boyd...your links really did lead me to a ton of great info. I don't think I was searching under the right terminology. Seriously, it was very helpful-

Bonnie