HMC80 in low light at DVinfo.net

Chris Harding · February 15th, 2011, 05:50 AM

Hi Guys

I did a Realty shoot yesterday which involved the interior of a new apartment block and decided to try the 80 in low light. Well, I started in the parking garage two levels below the roadway and it was pretty dim in there!! The image in the EVF seemed like it had a mesh over the screen and my heart sank..but I filmed anyway!! In the apartment itself, they had opted for energy efficient lighting which meant the bedrooms had a glass fitting with a tiny 8w CFL lamp inside...it sorta glows rather than lights the room!!!

The EVF also had the fuzzy look so I certainly wasn't expecting great footage (in the same dismal conditions I would have got a far brighter image on the EVF than I was getting with my older HMC70!!!)

After dropping the clips into Sony Vegas ..I was quite shocked...nice sharp footage and certainly nothing like the EVF was telling me I was filming at all!!!! Most of the time the lens data showed the iris as "OPEN" so it must have been into gain mode. The footage even in this poor light was pretty good I must admit. So far I now know that "what you see" isn't "what you get" The EVF obviously doesn't display low light images as well as the camera "sees" them.... Haven't checked yet but maybe the EVF needs a bit of tweaking??? It's currently on default settings....

Don't take the footage for granted if it looks poor in the EVF/LCD ..it's a lot sharper!!!

Anyone out there with an HMC40 that has the same issues?????

Chris

Tom Bostick · February 15th, 2011, 10:06 AM

my hmc 40 is terrible for judging exposure

Alex Pineyro · February 15th, 2011, 11:56 AM

Aw c´mon Chris... you know we ALL want to see the footage!

You teaser you!

Cheers!

Mike Beckett · February 15th, 2011, 12:18 PM

I wouldn't say my LCD is fuzzy (on the HMC40), but for exposure I tend to rely on the Zebras and the Waveform rather than trusting a combination of my squinty eyes and the picture alone.

Chris, you should notice that as well as "Open" on the LCD, it shows you a gain somewhere: 12dB or something like that.

You can engage hyper gain and go up to 32dB or something like that, but you will see more than a little noise at that level!

Chris Harding · February 15th, 2011, 06:35 PM

Hi Mike

This was a rough property shoot just to show the apartment's condition so I just shot in auto. I did go down to manual as well (just to check gain) and it actually varied from 6db right up to 18db in one very dark bedroom. Dunno about the 40 but on the 80 gain level is only displayed in manual mode in auto the display says 'AGC' BTW Alex ...You don't want to see video of an empty apartment!!!!!..I'll upload some more interesting low light footage when I take some. Mike?? I know about hyper-gain ..on this one my gain was maxed to 24db only ..not 32db.... however I'll try it sometime just for interest.

Are you guys keeping your EVF/LCD on default brightness and contrast settings (mine are currently on zero) Even if the EVF is not that good in low light it's still heaps better than the tiny EVF in the 70's eyepiece.

So far I'm pretty happy with the camera but miss the thirds grid that the 70 has and really cannot understand why the menu has a "beep" setting but it doesn't assign to record start and stop??? Only beeps when the battery is low or card is full!!!

Chris

Mike Beckett · February 16th, 2011, 03:30 AM

I have my LCD set to +1 brightness, just to help a little. I don't want to make it too artificial. It might be different for you with the viewfinder assembly instead of just the simple screen.

I think the beep may be problematic if it happened when you start and stop. You'd have to have a very slight delay, otherwise you'd record the beep. For me, it only seems to beep when using the touchscreen, and I don't think the 82 has a touchscreen.

Chris Harding · February 16th, 2011, 08:12 AM

Thanks Mike

It was a comforting feature on the HMC70 having a beep and double beep on start and stop but I will get used to it. The HMC82 has almost everything outside the camera now so the menus are very basic (which I love!!!) Nope they are not touch screen as they are inside the evf housing!!!

Just an opinion but I think the loupe screen on the 82 has a little too much magnification!!! Using the LCD on it's own looks great but highly magnified makes the grain look worse than it is.

Still an awesome camera!!! I ordered my 2nd cam this morning and my two HMC72's will go on eBay on Friday to offset some costs!! (have to do one more wedding on Saturday with one 82 and one 72)

From my supplier the 82 and 42 are currently the same price!!!! Weird???? AUS$2600 (before tax and duty)

Chris

February 15th, 2011, 05:50 AM	#1
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	HMC80 in low light Hi Guys I did a Realty shoot yesterday which involved the interior of a new apartment block and decided to try the 80 in low light. Well, I started in the parking garage two levels below the roadway and it was pretty dim in there!! The image in the EVF seemed like it had a mesh over the screen and my heart sank..but I filmed anyway!! In the apartment itself, they had opted for energy efficient lighting which meant the bedrooms had a glass fitting with a tiny 8w CFL lamp inside...it sorta glows rather than lights the room!!! The EVF also had the fuzzy look so I certainly wasn't expecting great footage (in the same dismal conditions I would have got a far brighter image on the EVF than I was getting with my older HMC70!!!) After dropping the clips into Sony Vegas ..I was quite shocked...nice sharp footage and certainly nothing like the EVF was telling me I was filming at all!!!! Most of the time the lens data showed the iris as "OPEN" so it must have been into gain mode. The footage even in this poor light was pretty good I must admit. So far I now know that "what you see" isn't "what you get" The EVF obviously doesn't display low light images as well as the camera "sees" them.... Haven't checked yet but maybe the EVF needs a bit of tweaking??? It's currently on default settings.... Don't take the footage for granted if it looks poor in the EVF/LCD ..it's a lot sharper!!! Anyone out there with an HMC40 that has the same issues????? Chris

February 15th, 2011, 10:06 AM	#2
Tom Bostick Major Player Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Austin TX Posts: 292	my hmc 40 is terrible for judging exposure

February 15th, 2011, 11:56 AM	#3
Alex Pineyro Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Sabinas, Coah. MEXICO Posts: 51	Aw c´mon Chris... you know we ALL want to see the footage! You teaser you! Cheers!

February 15th, 2011, 12:18 PM	#4
Mike Beckett Trustee Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Antrim, Northern Ireland Posts: 1,569	I wouldn't say my LCD is fuzzy (on the HMC40), but for exposure I tend to rely on the Zebras and the Waveform rather than trusting a combination of my squinty eyes and the picture alone. Chris, you should notice that as well as "Open" on the LCD, it shows you a gain somewhere: 12dB or something like that. You can engage hyper gain and go up to 32dB or something like that, but you will see more than a little noise at that level!

February 15th, 2011, 06:35 PM	#5
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Hi Mike This was a rough property shoot just to show the apartment's condition so I just shot in auto. I did go down to manual as well (just to check gain) and it actually varied from 6db right up to 18db in one very dark bedroom. Dunno about the 40 but on the 80 gain level is only displayed in manual mode in auto the display says 'AGC' BTW Alex ...You don't want to see video of an empty apartment!!!!!..I'll upload some more interesting low light footage when I take some. Mike?? I know about hyper-gain ..on this one my gain was maxed to 24db only ..not 32db.... however I'll try it sometime just for interest. Are you guys keeping your EVF/LCD on default brightness and contrast settings (mine are currently on zero) Even if the EVF is not that good in low light it's still heaps better than the tiny EVF in the 70's eyepiece. So far I'm pretty happy with the camera but miss the thirds grid that the 70 has and really cannot understand why the menu has a "beep" setting but it doesn't assign to record start and stop??? Only beeps when the battery is low or card is full!!! Chris

February 16th, 2011, 03:30 AM	#6
Mike Beckett Trustee Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Antrim, Northern Ireland Posts: 1,569	I have my LCD set to +1 brightness, just to help a little. I don't want to make it too artificial. It might be different for you with the viewfinder assembly instead of just the simple screen. I think the beep may be problematic if it happened when you start and stop. You'd have to have a very slight delay, otherwise you'd record the beep. For me, it only seems to beep when using the touchscreen, and I don't think the 82 has a touchscreen.

February 16th, 2011, 08:12 AM	#7
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Thanks Mike It was a comforting feature on the HMC70 having a beep and double beep on start and stop but I will get used to it. The HMC82 has almost everything outside the camera now so the menus are very basic (which I love!!!) Nope they are not touch screen as they are inside the evf housing!!! Just an opinion but I think the loupe screen on the 82 has a little too much magnification!!! Using the LCD on it's own looks great but highly magnified makes the grain look worse than it is. Still an awesome camera!!! I ordered my 2nd cam this morning and my two HMC72's will go on eBay on Friday to offset some costs!! (have to do one more wedding on Saturday with one 82 and one 72) From my supplier the 82 and 42 are currently the same price!!!! Weird???? AUS$2600 (before tax and duty) Chris