Filming Lightning with the EX1 at DVinfo.net

Alister Chapman · May 2nd, 2008, 06:55 AM

I know much has already been said about the rolling CMOS shutter. It's a fact of life that CMOS cameras will under certain rapidly changing lighting conditions exhibit banding caused by the way the shutter scans the CMOS sensor. I just spent some time in the USA tornado chasing. As well as storms and tornadoes I also filmed a lot of lightning with my EX1. I didn't really expect it to do that well with the lightning, but in reality in most cases it did a reasonable job. Bolts of forked lightning with bright scenes didn't cause any noticeable problems. At night some lightning strikes suffered from banding especially if inside a cloud and the cloud filled large parts of the screen. However when shooting with a CCD camera at night I would often get smear which I don't get with the EX1. Overall the EX1 performed very well dealing with some very challenging lighting conditions such as dark skies with bright horizons and the timelapse functions are excellent. For night lightning I found that if I used a 2 frame or slower shutter then there was almost never any banding, this also help bring out the details in the darkness without having to use gain. You can see some of my footage on the end of this clip:

http://www.vimeo.com/963436

Monday Isa · May 2nd, 2008, 07:29 AM

Very nice Alister! You are making me impatient on my ex1 purchase (^_^) thanks for sharing.

Greg Girardin · May 2nd, 2008, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monday Isa

Very nice Alister! You are making me impatient on my ex1 purchase (^_^) thanks for sharing.

ditto. Great use of time lapse.

Alister Chapman · May 3rd, 2008, 09:06 AM

Thanks for the kind remarks. The EX1 is an excellent timelapse tool.

Ray Bell · May 3rd, 2008, 12:57 PM

Looks great Alister... now you get to see why I insist on parking in the covered parking area each week at the airport.. the hail will tear your car apart in a short time period....

If you get used to the storms in the spring they are actually pretty nice...

Energy and great sounds fill the air around you... nice to be with your girlfriend during the storms...

my two sons can thank a couple of those storms for them being here... :-)

Sean Seah · May 4th, 2008, 12:20 AM

Amazing shots! Thks for sharing!

Dean Sensui · May 4th, 2008, 04:04 AM

Nice work Alister!

Amazing how far a lightning bolt will travel horizontally before finally hitting the ground.

We don't get very many ground strikes like that here in Hawaii.

May 2nd, 2008, 06:55 AM	#1
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	Filming Lightning with the EX1 I know much has already been said about the rolling CMOS shutter. It's a fact of life that CMOS cameras will under certain rapidly changing lighting conditions exhibit banding caused by the way the shutter scans the CMOS sensor. I just spent some time in the USA tornado chasing. As well as storms and tornadoes I also filmed a lot of lightning with my EX1. I didn't really expect it to do that well with the lightning, but in reality in most cases it did a reasonable job. Bolts of forked lightning with bright scenes didn't cause any noticeable problems. At night some lightning strikes suffered from banding especially if inside a cloud and the cloud filled large parts of the screen. However when shooting with a CCD camera at night I would often get smear which I don't get with the EX1. Overall the EX1 performed very well dealing with some very challenging lighting conditions such as dark skies with bright horizons and the timelapse functions are excellent. For night lightning I found that if I used a 2 frame or slower shutter then there was almost never any banding, this also help bring out the details in the darkness without having to use gain. You can see some of my footage on the end of this clip: http://www.vimeo.com/963436 __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

May 3rd, 2008, 09:06 AM	#4
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	Thanks for the kind remarks. The EX1 is an excellent timelapse tool. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

May 4th, 2008, 04:04 AM	#7
Dean Sensui Inner Circle Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 2,054	Nice work Alister! Amazing how far a lightning bolt will travel horizontally before finally hitting the ground. We don't get very many ground strikes like that here in Hawaii. __________________ Dean Sensui Exec Producer, Hawaii Goes Fishing

May 2nd, 2008, 07:29 AM	#2
Monday Isa Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: College Park, Maryland Posts: 913	Very nice Alister! You are making me impatient on my ex1 purchase (^_^) thanks for sharing.

May 3rd, 2008, 12:57 PM	#5
Ray Bell Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,414	Looks great Alister... now you get to see why I insist on parking in the covered parking area each week at the airport.. the hail will tear your car apart in a short time period.... If you get used to the storms in the spring they are actually pretty nice... Energy and great sounds fill the air around you... nice to be with your girlfriend during the storms... my two sons can thank a couple of those storms for them being here... :-)

May 4th, 2008, 12:20 AM	#6
Sean Seah Trustee Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,498	Amazing shots! Thks for sharing!