Best Low Light Preset
 

I have been asked to videotape a Church service that start sat 11:30 Pm and ends around 2:30 AM. This wil be mainly in low light with my XH-A1S. There is a large chandilier in the front third of the Church and the altar is is fairly well lite. Have read these posts for hours. I have the PFVision (PanaFilm Vision) preset. Are there any other good low light presets that don't look grainy/noisey that you can recomment?

Will tape in HDV, down convert to SD and output to standard DVD. Edit software = Adobe Premier Elements version 3.0 - Need to film next weekend.
Thanks in advance!
- Don

Don,
I have found that PFVision is THE BEST low light preset with the proper custom white balance it gives a comperable image in low light to the VX2100... I highly recommend it.
Bill

Orthodox Easter service?

Yes - tough to set proper white balance when you arrive at 11:30 PM and not allowed to use even a flashlight in a totally dark Church. There will probably be one or two candles next to te grave and tha's it. After the first half hour or so, they process around the outside of the Church three times. the priest then knocks on the door of the Church and when it opens the grave is gone and the entire Church is lighted representing the Resurrection.

If I went during the week and set the white balance to "A", would it reatin it so when I turn the camera on during the weekend, it would still be set??

You can preset it but in a situation like that IMO you have to set the WB just before you shoot. You could try using an Expodisc to WB both cameras.

ExpoImaging - ExpoDisc Neutral

I'd go to the church during the late afternoon anyway, shoot as much stock stuff as possible.
Use the available light, slowly zoom thru to the stained windows, icons etc. Then you can dial them down to match your service footage. Find out what the exact theme of the service is and shoot some appropriate footage .. out of books if necessary.

If you shoot for 2+hrs you're going to have a tape change and I'd make sure the audio is first class, sound is 70% of what you see. Put an audio recorder on the priest delivering the service.

Cheers.

Thanks for the help!

- Don

I would guess that using the tungsten preset would give you the best results.

Aren't most all the lights that will be turned on be tungsten?

The candles are supposed to look yellow. If you white balance to candle light, the candles will look light alien energy points.

Tungsten white balance will give lights the feeling they have in person.

This is what I would do.

Hi Don.
Try these. Without a doubt, the best lo light presets I have used. Wolfgang's HD Blog - Presets für die Canon XH A1

As Bill said, PFVision is the best for low light. It's better than Wolfgang's +6/+12db presets.

Shooting without presets is also not a bad idea for low light, most presets darken the image a little.

I find that suprising. I have tried both presets and found the LoLights filtered out far more noise than any other, when viewed back via HDMI using an HV30 as feed to a 42" HD plasma. (but hey its all subjective) Whatever the noise level, it will mostly dissapear once encoded to Mpeg2 and burnt to DVD. Out of interest I took side by side shots inside our local church with my XH-A1 and HV30 (this church is very dark), and to my suprise the HV 30 was virtually noise free, compared to the XH-A1 at + 6 and 12. Amazing the way technology marches on.

I just returned from a test shoot at the Church with my XH-A1 and see several problems now that I am watching the video. I used the PFVision low light custom preset and the camera was on Tv 30 with no db.

1.) When holding the camera still, looks pretty good but if you move at all in any direction, the candle stands vibrate (noticable move), the windows vibrate - looks bad. Is Tv 30 the cause? What should I use? Am I better off using Auto with 3db in this low light situation?

2.) I see green "Lights" or green dots at times. Appear to be a reflection of the candles or other bright lights. Is the UV filter on the lens causing these green lights? If yes, should I get a clear filter?

Stupid question, but did you have autofocus on??
Flickering candles could cause havoc to this....

Yes - AF was on