light issues at DVinfo.net

Ben Rushby · June 28th, 2007, 10:08 AM

Hi all, just got my XM2 and am getting use to it, went out yesterday to take some footage of buildings in the city where I live, I used manual and set shutter to 1/50 - I needed the ND on otherwise it was way to bright so that was on all the time, and I altered the aperture to control the brightness of the picture. (gain being left at 0 of course) It was a very sunny evening with the sun low in the sky casting a lot of shadows, with lots of bright areas and shadowy areas. Most of my shots ended up with the subject (a cathedral and old buildings being too dull - and the sky often looking very bright) Is this due to the variable light condition (such as shooting from a dark area to a light area and vise versa) I used what i presume is a light meter (cant find reference to it in the manual) on the display and adjusted aperture to keep the meter in the middle - but after downloading footage it would have been better to ignore that and let the image go much brighter. The viewfinder gave me a much brighter image than the actual footage captured at - so any advise on this would be greatly appreciated. Great camera - took some lazy footage in auto the other day of some wildlife and the colours are amazing.

thanks all

Dale Guthormsen · June 28th, 2007, 10:12 PM

Ben,

First, it does take a lot of practice to learn how to get the best out of this camera.

the gl2 collects light very well!! A good thing really.

In normal light I always have my uv and a polizer on pretty much all the time. Then with the ND on you will be able to shoot around 1/60 to 1/100 most of the time. I have much more success like this. I wont do this when I am shooting shallow depth of field.

It also wouuld not hurt to have an additional nd filter.

Enjoy your camera, they can make awesome footage!!

Ben Rushby · June 29th, 2007, 03:13 AM

cheers

I've just run the footage from camera straight into a 42 inch tv and it looks very good - so it must be my computer unit playing tricks- I'm just looking at capture options to see if something is awry - I thought it looked good through the viewfinder.

Don Palomaki · July 2nd, 2007, 07:54 AM

Computer and video monitors can behave very differently. If the original looks OK on a TV, your captured footage is probably OK, and what you really need to do is set up your computer monitor for video. To verify this, export from your computer back to the camcorder and they see how it looks. If OK, then find the instructions for calibrating your computer system for video (might not be possible to do a good job of it with some systems).

June 28th, 2007, 10:08 AM	#1
Ben Rushby New Boot Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Lincoln Posts: 5	light issues Hi all, just got my XM2 and am getting use to it, went out yesterday to take some footage of buildings in the city where I live, I used manual and set shutter to 1/50 - I needed the ND on otherwise it was way to bright so that was on all the time, and I altered the aperture to control the brightness of the picture. (gain being left at 0 of course) It was a very sunny evening with the sun low in the sky casting a lot of shadows, with lots of bright areas and shadowy areas. Most of my shots ended up with the subject (a cathedral and old buildings being too dull - and the sky often looking very bright) Is this due to the variable light condition (such as shooting from a dark area to a light area and vise versa) I used what i presume is a light meter (cant find reference to it in the manual) on the display and adjusted aperture to keep the meter in the middle - but after downloading footage it would have been better to ignore that and let the image go much brighter. The viewfinder gave me a much brighter image than the actual footage captured at - so any advise on this would be greatly appreciated. Great camera - took some lazy footage in auto the other day of some wildlife and the colours are amazing. thanks all

June 28th, 2007, 10:12 PM	#2
Dale Guthormsen Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Saskatchewan Posts: 3,048	Ben, First, it does take a lot of practice to learn how to get the best out of this camera. the gl2 collects light very well!! A good thing really. In normal light I always have my uv and a polizer on pretty much all the time. Then with the ND on you will be able to shoot around 1/60 to 1/100 most of the time. I have much more success like this. I wont do this when I am shooting shallow depth of field. It also wouuld not hurt to have an additional nd filter. Enjoy your camera, they can make awesome footage!! __________________ DATS ALL FOLKS Dale W. Guthormsen

July 2nd, 2007, 07:54 AM	#4
Don Palomaki Wrangler Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Northern VA Posts: 4,488	Computer and video monitors can behave very differently. If the original looks OK on a TV, your captured footage is probably OK, and what you really need to do is set up your computer monitor for video. To verify this, export from your computer back to the camcorder and they see how it looks. If OK, then find the instructions for calibrating your computer system for video (might not be possible to do a good job of it with some systems). __________________ dpalomaki@dspalomaki.com

June 29th, 2007, 03:13 AM	#3
Ben Rushby New Boot Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Lincoln Posts: 5	cheers I've just run the footage from camera straight into a 42 inch tv and it looks very good - so it must be my computer unit playing tricks- I'm just looking at capture options to see if something is awry - I thought it looked good through the viewfinder.