Grainy Video from Canon XH A1

[Jimmy Moss]

I would use Steve Dempseys VIVID RGB preset. Its awesome in low light and is very clean. You can get it on the presets page. I use it for all my weddings.

[Mark Fry]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Moss

I would use Steve Dempseys VIVID RGB preset. Its awesome in low light and is very clean. You can get it on the presets page. I use it for all my weddings.

It's a good idea to try out this preset first. It's quite "extreme", so make sure it's the effect you want. I did some test shots in my garden in bright evening sunlight recently, and it was too vivid for my tastes.

[Wil Vermeesch]

Hello,
During my last holiday at Nkorho bush Lodge (Sabi Sands - South Africa) tested my Canon XH A1 with Gain setting - 3 during night filming under difficult light conditions. Standard Canon preset used.

http://www.vimeo.com/1378508

Comments for better settings or ideas are welcome.

Thanks,
Wil

[Matt OBrien]

Originally Posted by Chris Soucy

What happened?

You guys find God, the Holy Grail, a free ticket on the Metro for a year, did whathisname get glasses, find the focus ring, or what?


CS

Well I definitely had a good laugh at that one. Hah

[Matt OBrien]

Originally Posted by Mark Fry

It's a good idea to try out this preset first. It's quite "extreme", so make sure it's the effect you want. I did some test shots in my garden in bright evening sunlight recently, and it was too vivid for my tastes.

I agree, I used to use VividRGB, but after shooting some flowers (orange and red) the colors were way too blown out for my liking. VividRGB is appealing I think to many because it gives that CSI/color corrected look straight out of the camera. Unfortunately, as with most things in life, the shortcut has many shortcomings.

I like panalook 2, but I crank the softness even further. The colors don't pop off the monitor straight out of the camera, but I find it much more neutral to CC with.

Just my 2 cents

[Stuart Graham]

I had problems with grainy footage when I first got my camera, but had neglected to turn off the AGC (auto gain control) - silly me. It was fine after that with gain set to off.

[Mike Leah]

It took me a while to get the look i was after with the a1. Straight out of the box the a1 was very grainy. Had to play around with it alot.

A little off topic, im trying to catch up my emails so anyone here that ive talked to about collaborting with ill catch up on everything. Went through a bad car wreck recently with some neck pain. Doing better now so cant wait to get back to playing with the a1 and learning more everyday. Im now trying to learn about 35mm adapt.

[Jesse R. Borrell]

When I first was playing around with the a1, I too noticed what I though was grain. As I scoured this site for answers, I never found one that sufficed my claims.

The more I got familiar with the aesthetic style of image this camera produces, I can only further describe the subtle textures as "dancing."

The smaller artifacts when viewed full screen and up close sort of 'danced' around while interpreting the image, in both the light and darks of the image.

Does anybody else out there think their image "dances" in the xh-a1 digital interpretation of light?

I think I just needed to redefine my expectations for this era of "higher definition" ...

[Jake McGlothlin]

Jesse,

I think I have the same issue as you. After reading this thread, I am going to turn my AGC off and adjust the gain a bit and see if that helps. I certainly know what you are talking about, and am anxious to see if that fixes it.

[Stuart Graham]

Originally Posted by Peter Wiley

I have been shooting a docu on the local volunteer fire company and go out on calls with the firefighters, sometimes at night, sometimes in dark buildings.When in the dark I use +12 or +6 depending on the situation.

I have noticed that when there is only dim ambient light there is there is more noise than in situations where there almost any light source, however dim, in the frame. If, for example, there is a flashlight source anywhere in the shot, the whole shot, the dark portions looks, to my eye, less noisy than a similar shot in which there is not such a source.

I have an idea that small point sources (which aren't providing much if anything in the way of over-all ambient lighting) illuminating even a small portion of a subject has some kind of effect on how the A1 processes a low-light signal overall.

It's hard to explain, and I might be nuts, but I think it's a real effect.

I found the same thing Peter. With AGC OFF and gain set to zero I get a lot of noise in the dark areas of the image. It's possibly because I have the pedestal set to zero I guess. I'm hoping when I edit I can correct it by increasing the pedestal.

[Petri Kaipiainen]

If a person is complaining about a grainy image and does not state how he is monitoring it, we really can not help much.

The only way to judge is to connect the camera to HDTV and play the original tape. If he is using editing system with normal PC monitors and small images, anything can be going on totally unrelated to tha camera.

So, what was the monitor and how did the image get there?

[Ken Wozniak]

Looks like our original poster, Eddie, fell off the face of the earth...or maybe realized he was shooting in "green box" mode. ;)

I shoot most indoor events at 6db at 60i. If the venue is really dark, I'll do all shooting at 24f so I can gather as much light as possible. Compared to -3db there is grain, but that's only because -3 is so clean. I have not (yet) found a preset that masks grain from the 12db to my liking.

[Lou Bruno]

I am with you. 12db and up seems impossible to mask.

[Giovanni Speranza]

There are plenty of presets and some are noisier, other cleaner.
IMO the cleanest presets are:
VIVIGRGB
PANALOOK
VISION02

[Stuart Graham]

Sorry for not getting back sooner.

With AGC OFF and gain set to zero I get grain on my XH A1 where the light is dim. I am uploading to my PC by converting to a Cineform intermediate in HDLink at high quality and watching the footage in Windows Media Player on a Samsung TFT monitor with enough resolution to display high definition footage. Any one know where the noise might originate?

My camera settings are:

NAME : FACTORY
GAMMA: NORMAL
KNEE: MIDDLE
BLACK: MIDDLE
MASTER PED.: 0
SETUP LEVEL: 0
SHARPNESS: 0
H DTL FREQ : MIDDLE
DTL HV BAL : 0
CORING: 0
NR: OFF
NR2: OFF
COLOR MAT. NORMAL
COLOR GAIN 0
COLOR PHASE 0
R GAIN 0
G GAIN 0
B GAIN 0
RG MATRIX 0
RB MATRIX 0
GR MATRIX 0
GB MATRIX 0
BR MATRIX 0
BG MATRIX 0


Is it possibly because I have the pedestal set to zero on the camera?

I'm hoping when I edit I can correct for the noise.

Thanks.