Is adding gain on camera any different from adding brightness in post?

[Gary Douglas]

I'm using a hv30.
If I set a shutter speed or f stop, then go to exposure and make the image brighter (purely gain and not the iris opening i'm guessing), is that any different from just adding brightness or gamma in post?

[Dean Sensui]

In post you can only extract what's there. If the camera picked up nothing, that's what you'll extract.

[Robert M Wright]

Boosting brightness in post is akin to boosting gain on the camera. Boosting brightness in post is amplifying the signal recorded by the camera. Boosting gain in the camera is amplifying the signal from the sensor. A difference though, is that in post, you are boosting a signal recorded at 8 bits (usually), whereas using gain in-camera the DSP is usually working with 10 or more bits.

[Shaun Roemich]

Dean is right about "you can only extract what's there". The additional caveat is that once the noise generally associated with "gain up" is added, it is difficult to impossible to remove completely. My PERSONAL position is to use as little gain as possible to get as much exposure as I can in field without adding noticeable noise and then using a 3 way colour corrector (NOT brightness) in post to reset my black, white and gamma (midpoint, sort of...) points.

[Robert M Wright]

Gain doesn't really add noise. It simply amplifies what noise is already there (along with signal) in the first place, whether it is done in-camera or by doing the equivalent in post.

[Oren Arieli]

I might be wrong regarding the new breed of camera sensors, but what I learned in my TV/Film classes was that gain is increased by 'flashing' the sensor with a small amount of light to bring up the minimum sensitivity levels. A sensors 'bucket' won't move a charge unless it detects one...by putting a small amount of light in that 'bucket', it doesn't take as much to have it register and moved along the pipeline. The grain results because these photosites (buckets, as I call them), that normally wouldn't fire, are now firing.

This isn't the same process as adding brightness in post, which accounts for the difference in the resulting image (post brightening tends to wash out an image).

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Robert M Wright

Gain doesn't really add noise. It simply amplifies what noise is already there (along with signal) in the first place, whether it is done in-camera or by doing the equivalent in post.

Actually, gain DOES add noise. Any amplification of an electronic signal past unity gain adds noise.

[Dean Sensui]

I should add a bit to clarify my statement: It's ok to brighten it up a -little- in post. But not a whole lot.

As for during production, shutter speed can be adjusted if you want to keep a particular f-stop. But extending the exposure time also increases the accumulation of noise. As usual, anything extreme can have extreme results.

Best way to find out is to test it and see.

[John S. Cooper]

I would say that its better to adjust the brightens in post, because if your not satisfied whit the results from the gained camera, you can do nothing. But in post, you just have to remake, if you not happy the first time.

[Brian Boyko]

I'd have to disagree here. I've used HV20s, HG10s and HG20s. I always shoot in cinemode, as that adds the least gain.

I've got to say that adding gain in post is usually less noisy than adding gain in the camera, though I don't know why that is.

[Andy Tejral]

Well, ya can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear (and remember, avoid cliches like the plague).

My theory is to add as little gain as possible in camera--enough to get the image. The nice thing about post is that you can control it better. You are probably rushed and need to concentrate on different things during the shoot but back home, you can take your time and balance noise vs brightness level.