Low Light Help AG-HMC150

[Gil Rainault]

I need help! I just got the AG-HMC150P and i`m having trouble shooting in low light , I`m getting alot of noise and fuzz. I`m a stringer and work nights so i`m always in low light shoots. I shoot mostly in 1080/60i. I`ve tried messing around with different settings but i am still having the trouble. My other camera is the Canon HF S10 and i get good clear images in low light with the AGC to the max. I know this camera is a hell of a lot more different than the S10. Any suggestions for what settings i should use in low light conditions at fires and auto accidents or just low light conditions period.

[Sherri Nestico]

I'd put those on my newspaper web site as is. I didn't see any problems with them. What specifically about them concerns you?
I didn't see anything that couldn't be fixed with a filter applied during editing.

[Gil Rainault]

At night i`m just getting a bunch of noise. I like to bring good clean video to the 5 various news stations i sell to in the Tampa Bay area. Like i said i was using the Canon HF S10 i didnt notice the noise on the level i`m getting with the HMC-150. The first time i touched a video camera was 5 months ago when i started this job. The HMC-150 just has alot more settings and such compared to the prosumer HF S10. Just looking for some advice on how i should shoot at night with my new HMC-150. i.e. settings and such or any kind of tips. You can see all my vids on youtube at pinellasfire. The first 10 are with the HMC-150 the other 100 are shot with the HF S10 you will be able to tell the difference.

[Sherri Nestico]

I've looked at a couple more of your videos.

Do your original files look like that when you play them on your computer? The only noise I see is caused from compressing the HD file down to .swf for the web. Plus the quality of the YouTube player isn't the best.

I'll defer to other members for exposure tips; I just got my HMC-40 a few days ago so I haven't had a chance to experiment. But for what it's worth, I think your videos look as good as or better than anything I've seen on the TV news lately.

[Gil Rainault]

The Canon looks great at night and day. The HMC-150 looks great in the day but i`m getting a lot of noise at night even with my gain control off. I realize using gain gives more light but also jacks up the noise. On the computer it looks better the real noise can be seen straight from the camera to a tv or to the computer. I mean this camera is far more advanced than the Canon settings wise.

[Gil Rainault]

Originally Posted by Sherri Nestico

I've looked at a couple more of your videos.

Do your original files look like that when you play them on your computer? The only noise I see is caused from compressing the HD file down to .swf for the web. Plus the quality of the YouTube player isn't the best.

I'll defer to other members for exposure tips; I just got my HMC-40 a few days ago so I haven't had a chance to experiment. But for what it's worth, I think your videos look as good as or better than anything I've seen on the TV news lately.

Thank you. None of the agencies have said anything and since the new camera sales for me have been up. 20 stories sold this month already.

[Robert Turchick]

read somewhere that the black level needs to be set to take care of noise. Not sure if it's true and off the top of my head I can't remember how to do it (only had the camera a week) but I set it as per the manual (says only to set when you make a change in format) and my shoot today went from outdoors AZ sunshine to a very dark server closet. No issues at all with noise at 1080 60i.

[Paulo Teixeira]

I would experiment with shooting in a shutter of 30 and see how it’ll look.

[Simon Zimmer]

Someone in this thread mentioned that the youtube player is not the best player. Which is better?

HD Youtube is excellent.

I own the HMC-150 also. I export my work at 720p (5MB) using H.264 codec and upload it to youtube. The quality rocks especially at HD.

And the best part about youtube is that it is free.

H.264 is the standard codec for web use.

Simon

[Rob Katz]

though i have not posted any of my work on the web, i have read in many threads that vimeo provides a cleaner image than youtube.

i'm sure u can search this site for additional vimeo info.

glad to hear the hm150 is making u money.

what types of news stories are u selling?

local news to local news sites?

be well

rob

[Simon Zimmer]

Hello,

I have also used Vimeo. I would assume that the paid version of Vimeo is just as good if not better but the free version is definitely not as good as youtube.

Both rock though.

Simon

[Thomas Moore]

Originally Posted by Robert Turchick

read somewhere that the black level needs to be set to take care of noise. Not sure if it's true and off the top of my head I can't remember how to do it (only had the camera a week) but I set it as per the manual (says only to set when you make a change in format) and my shoot today went from outdoors AZ sunshine to a very dark server closet. No issues at all with noise at 1080 60i.

To set the black balance hold in the AWB in for like 5 seconds, make sure you set the white balance first.

[Richard Sharum]

Gil,
I’m anxious to hear how the low light issue on your HMC-150 panned out. I’m on the verge of getting one for High school varsity soccer under lights. Good low light performance here is very important.

But a clean crisp auto focus would be important to me also. I keep myself so busy trying to maintain a suitable focal length for fast moving action coming to and fro that I just have to trust the auto focus. HMC’s comments over at B&H worry me.

"The auto focus is the worst I have ever experienced. It is very slow and unstable(keeps shifting even with a stationary subject).”

Have you experienced disappointment with the speed or accuracy of the auto focus?

[Gil Rainault]

I set the black balance and learned not to use anything over 12db gain. 6db is the best if you can get away with it. Opening the iris also helped. I`m happy where i`m at now with it. Sometimes i need 18db gain and i have learn with the noise.

[Gil Rainault]

Originally Posted by Richard Sharum

Gil,
I’m anxious to hear how the low light issue on your HMC-150 panned out. I’m on the verge of getting one for High school varsity soccer under lights. Good low light performance here is very important.

But a clean crisp auto focus would be important to me also. I keep myself so busy trying to maintain a suitable focal length for fast moving action coming to and fro that I just have to trust the auto focus. HMC’s comments over at B&H worry me.

"The auto focus is the worst I have ever experienced. It is very slow and unstable(keeps shifting even with a stationary subject).”

Have you experienced disappointment with the speed or accuracy of the auto focus?

Under lights you will not have a problem just dont go over 6db gain and try your shutter at 30. My problems were with no lights filming breaking news stories.