Hi all. . .

Okay, I've read the posts. . . including answers to a few of my own.

It seems that while the HVX's various settings will reduce noise levels (B.Press gamma, Detail Coring turned up, etc.), adequate lighting is also key.

But this suggests the following question:

It would seem that, no matter how much light one pours on a subject, gray will absorb almost all of the light, reflecting little. Thus, it would seem that grays will always be noisy, regardless of light levels (and I now have a lot of Arri lights to throw at things!). Blacks can be pitch black and noiseless, but grays and other super dark colors are aways going to be an issue, right?

How then, does one deal with dark, noir subjects using the HVX? Or do they?

Thanks much.

Stephen

Unfortunately this is one of the weaknesses of the HVX; it is the noisiest of the handheld HD cameras. How you ultimately deal with or compensate for it is all dependent on your shooting/editing preferences, but it sounds like you've got all the angles covered.

FYI: No digi-cam does low-light very well, not even the F900 or Varicam. Heck, it's still the bane of DSLR's too, things get noisy when you're dealing with black, dark subject matter and have to compensate with either long exposures or high ISO/gain. That's why film is still king with low light.