Low Light Problem

Jason Balich · June 7th, 2003, 12:23 PM

Ok' I went out with the Camera to a club last night for a promoter. The settings I played with in manual mode were :

30 shutter ( sometimes 15 to make it better )
16-18 gain/db
1.6 / 1.8 F

Shot in movie mode : frame as it seemed to work better for lighting.

It was hard to get very much at all. If there are any suggestions, Please advise. It was a dry run before next weekend that is the "REEL" deal.

Frank Granovski · June 7th, 2003, 12:27 PM

There's not much else you can do to improve the LUX requirements, other than to buy a good onboard external light.

Alex Knappenberger · June 7th, 2003, 12:51 PM

Yeah. There's not much you can do but get a oncamera light or tell them to turn on some lights there.

Jason Balich · June 7th, 2003, 12:55 PM

I bought the Blinding piece of barely usable light VL-10Li Battery Video Light. Is there anything else out there that woul dbe suitable for these sorts of gatherings where I wouldnt upset a persons evening?

Bud Kuenzli · June 7th, 2003, 01:03 PM

there really isn't anything you can do other than what was mentioned. You can buy a different camera (but the difference isn't going to be earth shattering) or you can add more light. when you see shots of a dance club on TV or in the movies, you can bet there are huge lights all around lighting the set "just so" to make it look dark and dingy. If you simply take a video camera into a dark club and expect to get good footage, it just won't work. The small on-board light you added will be good for "interview" closeups but not for lighting the entire room. If the promoter wants promo shots of the club he is going to have to allow it to be staged with actors and lit properly. He could let you shoot live footage on a normal night, but people might not be real happy at the club with it all lit up.

Jason Balich · June 7th, 2003, 01:39 PM

I just captured a bunch of shots. Ill post them for everyone to see the results.

Not bad shots when lights are flashing. I think i fi took out some frames that are darkit mught be usable when i export it from premeire and start getting creating with it in after effects.

Thanks for the relistic expectation update.

Jay Finneburgh · June 7th, 2003, 06:46 PM

you might try a lower wattage light to brighten up what is right in front of the camera. i bought a sima 3 watt light for just such a purpose. i have the canon 10 watt– for clubs it would be a flame thrower. the sima comes with rechargable AAA batteries and last about 20 min. per charge.

another option would be to put some sort of gel on the on camera light, so it would blend into the club lighting and not look like a cop spot light! wrap the canon in a couple of layers of red or blue gel and see what it looks like.

Jason Balich · June 7th, 2003, 11:06 PM

I got some good footage with the light shows. I figure when i use the footage that i can just do effects to the video with overlays in the black zones to give it a cluby feel. Have a look at something I threw together for a client. It is a web version remember, but the NTSC version is excellent.

http://www.soulshockent.com/video.html

Matthew Flesher · June 8th, 2003, 10:43 AM

Jason,

Did you manually white balance or where you on auto? I just got my GL2 a few days ago, but in the little experimenting I have done, it seems that if you manually white balance, it can dramatically improve your low light shots. At least that seems to be the case for me so far.

Chief

June 7th, 2003, 12:23 PM	#1
Jason Balich Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Toronto Posts: 58	Low Light Problem - True with GL2 Ok' I went out with the Camera to a club last night for a promoter. The settings I played with in manual mode were : 30 shutter ( sometimes 15 to make it better ) 16-18 gain/db 1.6 / 1.8 F Shot in movie mode : frame as it seemed to work better for lighting. It was hard to get very much at all. If there are any suggestions, Please advise. It was a dry run before next weekend that is the "REEL" deal. __________________ It's not the tools that make u great. It's how you use them!

June 7th, 2003, 12:55 PM	#4
Jason Balich Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Toronto Posts: 58	Recomendation for lights? I bought the Blinding piece of barely usable light VL-10Li Battery Video Light. Is there anything else out there that woul dbe suitable for these sorts of gatherings where I wouldnt upset a persons evening? __________________ It's not the tools that make u great. It's how you use them!

June 7th, 2003, 01:03 PM	#5
Bud Kuenzli Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: North Pole, Alaska Posts: 197	nope there really isn't anything you can do other than what was mentioned. You can buy a different camera (but the difference isn't going to be earth shattering) or you can add more light. when you see shots of a dance club on TV or in the movies, you can bet there are huge lights all around lighting the set "just so" to make it look dark and dingy. If you simply take a video camera into a dark club and expect to get good footage, it just won't work. The small on-board light you added will be good for "interview" closeups but not for lighting the entire room. If the promoter wants promo shots of the club he is going to have to allow it to be staged with actors and lit properly. He could let you shoot live footage on a normal night, but people might not be real happy at the club with it all lit up. __________________ on the Internet, when you get where you're going you still don't know where you are

June 7th, 2003, 01:39 PM	#6
Jason Balich Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Toronto Posts: 58	Gotcha' I just captured a bunch of shots. Ill post them for everyone to see the results. Not bad shots when lights are flashing. I think i fi took out some frames that are darkit mught be usable when i export it from premeire and start getting creating with it in after effects. Thanks for the relistic expectation update. __________________ It's not the tools that make u great. It's how you use them!

June 7th, 2003, 11:06 PM	#8
Jason Balich Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Toronto Posts: 58	I did some editing today I got some good footage with the light shows. I figure when i use the footage that i can just do effects to the video with overlays in the black zones to give it a cluby feel. Have a look at something I threw together for a client. It is a web version remember, but the NTSC version is excellent. http://www.soulshockent.com/video.html __________________ It's not the tools that make u great. It's how you use them!

June 7th, 2003, 12:27 PM	#2
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	There's not much else you can do to improve the LUX requirements, other than to buy a good onboard external light.

June 7th, 2003, 12:51 PM	#3
Alex Knappenberger High School Student Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Canton, Ohio, USA Posts: 609	Yeah. There's not much you can do but get a oncamera light or tell them to turn on some lights there.

June 7th, 2003, 06:46 PM	#7
Jay Finneburgh Tourist Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: oakland, ca Posts: 4	you might try a lower wattage light to brighten up what is right in front of the camera. i bought a sima 3 watt light for just such a purpose. i have the canon 10 watt– for clubs it would be a flame thrower. the sima comes with rechargable AAA batteries and last about 20 min. per charge. another option would be to put some sort of gel on the on camera light, so it would blend into the club lighting and not look like a cop spot light! wrap the canon in a couple of layers of red or blue gel and see what it looks like.

June 8th, 2003, 10:43 AM	#9
Matthew Flesher New Boot Join Date: May 2003 Location: Upstate New York Posts: 11	Jason, Did you manually white balance or where you on auto? I just got my GL2 a few days ago, but in the little experimenting I have done, it seems that if you manually white balance, it can dramatically improve your low light shots. At least that seems to be the case for me so far. Chief