need some tips for the dv953

[Kathy Rale]

I bought the dv953 this past summer and have been using it in all sorts of situations. I'm disppointed by the still picture quality when indoors. (Outdoor shots are amazing.)

Is the low light performance so bad on this camera that taking a picture at around 5 pm in the summer with all flourescent lights on in a kitchen with 5 windows isn't enough light to produce sharp pictures, or am I missing something?

At 3mp, I was expecting some pretty sharp photos, but even with the flash adjusted to "+", sitting 3 feet from my subject, and using a tripod, the pictures are not sharp. It almost mis-focusses to the thing behind my subject...and I am waiting for the green focus light. I've tried all kinds of adjustments and am now stuck.

Would shooting a frame from video yield sharper results?

Should I not shoot everything on the best, finest, most pixels settings?

I would really appreciate some advice on how to get great indoor stills with this...even if the advice is to buy a video light. (How many watts would be suffiecient for indoor filming and still photo shooting in a 15x15 room?)

Thank you. I really enjoy learning from all of you.

Kathy

[Samuel Raj]

Kathy,
I guess you are using Auto mode.

Try one of these
1) In Auto mode change the AE to indoor or fluorescent mode and focus the subject with in 2.5 meteres with flash on

2) change to manual mode, set the iris fully open(fstops), increase the gain up to 6 db, (you can go up to 12 or 15, but it will be noisy). If you take still shots, You can expose(shutter speed) longer up to 1/25 of a second.(if gs100 maximum 1/2, I am not sure abt 953). Sure you have to use tripod if you expose longer, unless you can hold firm in your hand.
You can also manually set the white balance, point to a white or grey paper, on that light, fully in your frame and set the white balance to accurately reproduce different colors.
If all didnt work, go to night shot or low light mode:-), Its best for stills.

Hope this helps.

Cheers....

[Samuel Raj]

Is the low light performance so bad on this camera that taking a picture at around 5 pm in the summer with all flourescent lights on in a kitchen with 5 windows isn't enough light to produce sharp pictures, or am I missing something?

one CCD size is 800k, and the effective image size takes 680k,
the more number of pixels, you need more light to get the best picture. So if you want the best pic, you need to LIGHT the scene.

So in order to get in more light, we have to increase the gain or make the aperture wide open.

Would shooting a frame from video yield sharper results?

I dont think, because still you can go up to 3 mp by pixel interpolation technology, but Video stills are 720 X 480 pixels(DV maximum).

Should I not shoot everything on the best, finest, most pixels settings?

It doesnt depend on the light settings, In low light both the large number and less number of pixels may introduce noise. May be the higher pixel settings pronounce more noise, since it has to extract lot of details from the low light.

even if the advice is to buy a video light. (How many watts would be suffiecient for indoor filming and still photo shooting in a 15x15 room?)

I guess u dont need video light if you take care of all the aspects I mentioned in the previous post. But if u need you can get good video lights. Refer to some of our forums, you can find some links.

[Kathy Rale]

Thanks Samuel. I really appreciate your help. I've got some tinkering to do...if you have any other helpful hints, I'll be checking back during my experimenting.

Thanks again.

[Eric Bilodeau]

Samuel,

Do you know the effective pixel count in video (or is it the same as in photo shoot?). A friend of mine is interrested in the camera. Pannasonic is not very explicit on that.

Thanks

[Frank Granovski]

Is the low light performance so bad on this camera that taking a picture at around 5 pm in the summer with all flourescent lights on in a kitchen with 5 windows isn't enough light to produce sharp pictures, or am I missing something?

Kathy, with bright sunlight coming in from these windows, the cam's (any cam's) sensors is going to adjust to this light, and not light balance those darker areas. What you have to do is set the cam in manual, then point the cam (close-up) to an area that's darker---away from the sunlight (flourescents). Then go back to the spot you want to take the pic and take it. The light from and around the windows will be over-exposed, but the dark areas will be properly exposed. Another option is to keep the bright windows behind you, and use the flash.

[Frank Granovski]

Would shooting a frame from video yield sharper results?

No. Because video resolution is much lower than the PV-DV953's higher res still mode.