60d low light settings 1.4 lens at DVinfo.net

Steve Bleasdale · September 8th, 2011, 03:38 PM

Ok so using my 60d a lot more a lately, just love the look!!! So Saturday lights going to be dimmed i guess with disco led lights with maybe just a few side lights on so pretty darkish but a little light there. Just got the sigma 1,4 30mm lens, dont want to use a light on the cam. I am in 50 shutter speed no lower, i guess slip in auto see what iso the cam wants, if its over 3200 any suggestions the bride is fussy and no mistakes by me...
So white balance to kelvin i would imagine around 3900, or would you put in auto or tungsten? what white balance is best for low light and ambient lighting./? Any other settings to help for low light...steve

Nigel Barker · September 9th, 2011, 12:51 AM

AWB is best for a disco as the WB will be totally screwy anyway. The only issue is if you were using multiple cameras it's better to put them all on the same setting so it's easier to match them up later. AWB is safe to use most of the time as it will probably do a quicker & better job of eyeballing the ambient light than you will. If you don't have time to do a manual WB then use AWB.

The Canon DSLRs are great at high ISO but 3200 is going to be noisy. I never go above 1600 on the 5DII or 800 on the 600D. Don't be afraid to drop the shutter speed to 1/30 if necessary. Better a bit of extra motion blur than too dark or too grainy.

Steve Bleasdale · September 9th, 2011, 01:26 AM

Cheers Nigel thanks mate, sweet. steve

Steve Bleasdale · September 11th, 2011, 01:34 PM

Ok some one enlighten me, the 30mm 1.4 sigma lens great lens and testing and checking it out, so in lowish light in the street, street lamps and house lights on going dark. 50 shutter speed, working at the 1.4 aperture in the meter bar bottom of the screen, iso 640, the footage looks great true to life,but the histogram is showing all to the left so presuming the footage is to dark, so put the iso up to 1250 and still looks ok and histogram nice and level all near the middle showing correct exposure and lighting. Transfer to the computer to test but the footage at 640 iso looks great and true to life, the 1250 iso with the correct reading at the histogram looks to bright for the actual look of the street?

Bruce Foreman · September 21st, 2011, 11:02 AM

First off there is no "correct", "right", or "wrong" histogram. The histrogram merely displays the range of image tones and their intensity. With your ISO at 640, night street scene, you are going to have far more dark tones than otherwise. So most of your histogram spikes will tend to be on the left or "crowd" the left (street lights and lighted window displays will show a few "thin" spikes to the center or to the right). Adjust exposure so the spikes move to the center on that kind of scene and you will have a real problem.

As you found out.

If you were going for skiers on a snow covered slope most of your image tones would be light to bright so most of your histogram spikes would tend to be on or "crowd" the right hand edge of the display.

The histogram merely shows you the distribution of image tones in your scene and by itself is not a good exposure indicator. Your comparison results between ISO 640 and ISO 1250 pretty much shows that.

Now, what to do? Assuming you are using an LCD viewfinder loupe (and you cannot do this without), really examine the image on the LCD, also review and interpret the histogram according to what I've outlined above. Do some testing to see how what you see on the LCD compares to how the material looks when brought into your editor.

I found in bright sunlight my eyes had adapted to that lighting level and in order to properly see image tones on the LCD (with a loupe!), I had to increase LCD brightness. When doing this insure you can see distinctly all the grey scale steps.

Conversely, working outdoors at night my eyes adapted as much as they could, to the darker environment. When the image (with LCD brightness set to normal or midscale) looked right on the LCD (again with loupe), the recorded scene was too dark (underexposed) in the NLE. Again the cure was to adjust LCD brightness (darker) while insuring I could still see all the grey scale steps. Then when the image exposure looked like what I wanted on the LCD it was also the same in my editor.

When adjusting LCD brightness insure you put it back to normal or midscale for "normal" lighting environments. Also it helps if you "snap" a quick still of the scene you are working on so the LCD brightness in the menu also shows that image with the grey scale.

Canon has given us some incredible tools in these cameras.

September 8th, 2011, 03:38 PM	#1
Steve Bleasdale Trustee Join Date: May 2010 Location: England liverpool Posts: 1,343	60d low light settings 1.4 lens Ok so using my 60d a lot more a lately, just love the look!!! So Saturday lights going to be dimmed i guess with disco led lights with maybe just a few side lights on so pretty darkish but a little light there. Just got the sigma 1,4 30mm lens, dont want to use a light on the cam. I am in 50 shutter speed no lower, i guess slip in auto see what iso the cam wants, if its over 3200 any suggestions the bride is fussy and no mistakes by me... So white balance to kelvin i would imagine around 3900, or would you put in auto or tungsten? what white balance is best for low light and ambient lighting./? Any other settings to help for low light...steve

September 9th, 2011, 12:51 AM	#2
Nigel Barker Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK Posts: 3,531	Re: 60d low light settings 1.4 lens AWB is best for a disco as the WB will be totally screwy anyway. The only issue is if you were using multiple cameras it's better to put them all on the same setting so it's easier to match them up later. AWB is safe to use most of the time as it will probably do a quicker & better job of eyeballing the ambient light than you will. If you don't have time to do a manual WB then use AWB. The Canon DSLRs are great at high ISO but 3200 is going to be noisy. I never go above 1600 on the 5DII or 800 on the 600D. Don't be afraid to drop the shutter speed to 1/30 if necessary. Better a bit of extra motion blur than too dark or too grainy.

September 9th, 2011, 01:26 AM	#3
Steve Bleasdale Trustee Join Date: May 2010 Location: England liverpool Posts: 1,343	Re: 60d low light settings 1.4 lens Cheers Nigel thanks mate, sweet. steve

September 11th, 2011, 01:34 PM	#4
Steve Bleasdale Trustee Join Date: May 2010 Location: England liverpool Posts: 1,343	Re: 60d low light settings 1.4 lens Ok some one enlighten me, the 30mm 1.4 sigma lens great lens and testing and checking it out, so in lowish light in the street, street lamps and house lights on going dark. 50 shutter speed, working at the 1.4 aperture in the meter bar bottom of the screen, iso 640, the footage looks great true to life,but the histogram is showing all to the left so presuming the footage is to dark, so put the iso up to 1250 and still looks ok and histogram nice and level all near the middle showing correct exposure and lighting. Transfer to the computer to test but the footage at 640 iso looks great and true to life, the 1250 iso with the correct reading at the histogram looks to bright for the actual look of the street?

September 21st, 2011, 11:02 AM	#5
Bruce Foreman Trustee Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: San Angelo Texas Posts: 1,518	Re: 60d low light settings 1.4 lens First off there is no "correct", "right", or "wrong" histogram. The histrogram merely displays the range of image tones and their intensity. With your ISO at 640, night street scene, you are going to have far more dark tones than otherwise. So most of your histogram spikes will tend to be on the left or "crowd" the left (street lights and lighted window displays will show a few "thin" spikes to the center or to the right). Adjust exposure so the spikes move to the center on that kind of scene and you will have a real problem. As you found out. If you were going for skiers on a snow covered slope most of your image tones would be light to bright so most of your histogram spikes would tend to be on or "crowd" the right hand edge of the display. The histogram merely shows you the distribution of image tones in your scene and by itself is not a good exposure indicator. Your comparison results between ISO 640 and ISO 1250 pretty much shows that. Now, what to do? Assuming you are using an LCD viewfinder loupe (and you cannot do this without), really examine the image on the LCD, also review and interpret the histogram according to what I've outlined above. Do some testing to see how what you see on the LCD compares to how the material looks when brought into your editor. I found in bright sunlight my eyes had adapted to that lighting level and in order to properly see image tones on the LCD (with a loupe!), I had to increase LCD brightness. When doing this insure you can see distinctly all the grey scale steps. Conversely, working outdoors at night my eyes adapted as much as they could, to the darker environment. When the image (with LCD brightness set to normal or midscale) looked right on the LCD (again with loupe), the recorded scene was too dark (underexposed) in the NLE. Again the cure was to adjust LCD brightness (darker) while insuring I could still see all the grey scale steps. Then when the image exposure looked like what I wanted on the LCD it was also the same in my editor. When adjusting LCD brightness insure you put it back to normal or midscale for "normal" lighting environments. Also it helps if you "snap" a quick still of the scene you are working on so the LCD brightness in the menu also shows that image with the grey scale. Canon has given us some incredible tools in these cameras.