HV-30 settings help

[Jan Vanhoecke]

Hi, i'm a mobile dj, mostly for weddings. Now to get ahead in my service, i give away a dvd to the couple, which contains random video-shoots with the days happenings. I said random shoots, it's not a classical, normal wedding-edit as we know.

I've done this a several times with great succes in my opinion, people loved it and it is free. I ca do this rather easy, because i build my audio-set in the afternoon before the weddingparty of course, and in the free time, i join the couple and family/friends in the afternoon some hours before the dinner, shooting video.
After the dinner, there's the weddingdance and the following dance party, these shoots are done, with the cam on a tripod, which stands near to my dj-set. I don't use additional light.
Afterwards all is edited in Vegas and burned to a menu-based disk.

I've used my brothers Panasonic GS500 (3ccd) for this work alot to give it a try. Which does it's job pretty good. Some lowlights scenes, can be too dark, but not grainy in a sort.

Now i bought a HV-30. Not the lowlight expert, but i've chosen this model, mainly for it's mini-DV's. Didn't explained earlier, but i also have a projector/screen in combination with my DJ-set, which displays music/videoclips, pictures-slideshows of the couple, their own made powerpoints and so on. So the tape i shoot in the afternoon, i display this first tape on the screen to the audience with another mini-DV camcorder attached to my computer, meanwhile shooting further video with the main camcorder.

So much for now. What i would like to know? I'm not that familiar with manual settings, like white balance, aperture, shutter speed and so on.

1.Can you help how i set the HV-30 at it's best for lowlight-scenes, as the parties are done in dimmed environments some discolights-effects? What's best?

2.If i bought a extra light-LED, should i stick to the Canon accesoires, or is there another brand that could to the job? Is this LED necessary?

3.The manual says you should turn off the image stabilizer when filming on a tripod? Why is that?

grtz

[Taky Cheung]

This is my take for HV30 low light settings

(1) The "Photo Button Trick" / "Cell Phone Trick" to lock down gain/grain
http://dvxuser.com/jason/hv20/

(2) Shot in Cine Mode
Cine mode seens to reduce the amount the visible noise in low light.

(3) Shoot in Cinema mode (24p)
Lower frame rate allows each frame has long time to expose to light.

(4) Tv mode with shutter speed set to 1/30 (NTSC) or 1/25 (PAL)
Use lower shutter speed

(5) Shoot in Spotlight mode
Spotlight mode won't give you better low light performance but it will be sure noise free

(6) Get on-camera light
For example Canon VL-10 is a 10 watt light that uses a different Canon battery (BP-900series). Canon VL-3 is a 3 watt light that consumes power from the camera main battery.

Then for your other question, yes you are supposed to turn off OIS when mounted on tripod. However, I never turn off OIS simply because the OIS on/off settings is buried inside the menu.

[Jan Vanhoecke]

Thanks Taky, cine/cinema mode setting works fine. Now if i work with this setting in regular daylight, (seems to look good by the way)...is this ok, or should i switch the better to another preset?
(i was on vacation, sorry for my late reply)
grtz

[Taky Cheung]

You have to be careful using Cinema Mode (24p). You have stuttering motion if you pan too fast. Also, if you don't remove pulldown, you will get some ghosting frames. I will stay away shooting PF24.

I personally don't do Cine Mode either. I just don't like the color output.