low light custom preset setting

[Paul Gallagher]

Hi all,

I've only owned my XL2 for 4 weeks and the main work that I will be using it for will be Weddings which as you know leaves alot of low light shooting towards the end of the day.

I have an onboard light, a PAGlight 20watt which gives me very good results but for during speeches etc. the house lights can be turned up full but I am still getting noise on my picture through the view finder. What is the best low light custom preset yous have found that works the best on a PAL Camera?

Thanks all

Paul

[Mike Cassidy]

During the speeches, if the lights are reasonsable, you should be o.k.
If a little dark, reduce the shutter speed to 25th. Sec. Open up the iris. and lock your exposure. Those windows behind the top table are a pain, aren't they?
Don't use Auto Gain, or you will have noise. Set your white balance, don't rely on the camera doing it.

Mike.

[Paul Gallagher]

Thanks Mike,

I always keep it on auto gain, this is probably the reason for the noise.

I will have to get use to full manual settings as soon as I get more use to the camera, but its a bit nervous on a wedding as its a one of day and there is no room for a re-take. I will try out these settings at the week-end Mike and thanks for your help.

Is there any other preset settings I can use to bost the colours as the skin tones are very pink under the low light also?

Paul

[Mike Cassidy]

Paul, the Auto Gain is a Pain, it seems to go over the top. The other week at a Wedding, I switched it on by mistake, at the register signing, it went up to 18db. I knocked it back to 3db! that was much better.
With the speeches, try to keep to a maximum, of 6db Gain. If it's neccessary. If the couple want to do it in the dark, if you'll pardon the expression! Well, it will be dark!
There are low light presets on here somewhere, I've got one on my camera, e-mail me if you want it. But it's not something you should be using for speeches or ceremony.
By not using auto gain, you should be fine. Learn to lock the exposure, then, alter the iris to suit the situation. But the colour(white) balance must be set. or the pink funny coloured faces appear!
The Paglight for the evening, and the first dance, will see you just fine.
This camera, does take some getting used to, but it's worth it!

Mike.

[Christian Mallari]

here is the link in the bottom for some setting of XL2. as long you are use the preset costum you would be able to do alot of setting.

http://www.dvcreators.net/media/demos/xl2featuretour/

Then right-click the 2nd item (XL2_feature_tour.mov) and choose download
linked file.

It's 118MB, so it may take a couple of minutes, but then you'll have it on
your HD and you can watch it as many times as you'd like.

very good information!

Chris
Tel-Aviv

[Vipul Amin]

Mike,
While setting the shutter speed at 25th of sec, what shooting mode do you suggest in this case? 30p, 60p ...

[Michael Cassidy]

This is for shooting with a Pal camera. the choice you have is 50p or 25p , in 25p the default shuter is set to 25th, anyway.
Mike.

[Paul Gallagher]

Thanks again for your help all and I will give this a try.

Paul

[Ash Greyson]

I have a low light preset floating around on the forum. You can use gain up to +6db and get no noise, you can use +12db and curb it quite a bit. First thing to do is to turn UP the coring, go all the way if need be. Then you can turn the sharpness down 2 or 3 notches. If the blacks get noisy, turn down the MP and setup a little and if that doesnt help, turn on NR to LOW. I also recommend a +1 or +2 saturation boost when gain is on as well...



ash =o)

[Paul Gallagher]

Thanks Ash, I suppose that will all make sense in the menu when setting up the custom preset.

Paul