EX3 Under Low Light at DVinfo.net

Lance Librandi · December 10th, 2009, 04:17 PM

Hello can some advise me the best way to clean crisp images form the EX3 under low light while filming stage productions. The camera produces great crisp pictures in daylight but under low light they are soft. My SD camera produces better pictures in low light than the EX3.
Thanks

Leonard Levy · December 10th, 2009, 06:49 PM

Images are soft in low light? That's weird unless your backfocus is off. Is it the wide shots that are soft or close ups? If you lose focus when you zoom out esp when the lens is wide open its back focus . Same thing should happen outdoors if you put in enough shutter and ND to get your iris wide open.

If that's not it be more specific about the exact problem and post your camera settings.

Perrone Ford · December 10th, 2009, 07:50 PM

Maybe he's trying to use autofocus. That will cause problems for sure. But I wish the term "low light" were banned from existence. It tells less than nothing about what the shooting scenario is.

Erik Phairas · December 11th, 2009, 01:14 AM

Nothing I produce is even close to the level of the guys on this board but the EX seems to handle less than ideal lighting wonderfully.

for example... EDIT: didn't want the video to embed like that.. sorry. I just wanted a link.

Lance Librandi · December 13th, 2009, 04:27 AM

Hi Guys,
Yeap I had auto focus on. The problem is that with HD you really have to nail the focus where the SD camera in the same conditions is a lot more forgiving and has a better depth of field.

Perrone Ford · December 13th, 2009, 09:03 AM

Depth of field is a physical property relating to focal length, distance to subject, and sensor size. HD does not inherently have any less DOF than SD. What it does have is the resolution to SHOW you that you're out of focus more clearly.

So, I would advise you to

1. Get as close as you can
2. Select an F-Stop that keeps your entire area of interest in focus
3. Select gain and other setting that allow you to shoot with the chosen settings.

Lance Librandi · December 18th, 2009, 06:15 AM

Thanks for that Perrone.

December 10th, 2009, 04:17 PM	#1
Lance Librandi Major Player Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: South Australia Posts: 374	EX3 Under Low Light Hello can some advise me the best way to clean crisp images form the EX3 under low light while filming stage productions. The camera produces great crisp pictures in daylight but under low light they are soft. My SD camera produces better pictures in low light than the EX3. Thanks

December 10th, 2009, 07:50 PM	#3
Perrone Ford Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Tallahassee, FL Posts: 4,100	Maybe he's trying to use autofocus. That will cause problems for sure. But I wish the term "low light" were banned from existence. It tells less than nothing about what the shooting scenario is. __________________ DVX100, PMW-EX1, Canon 550D, FigRig, Dell Octocore, Avid MC4/5, MB Looks, RedCineX, Matrox MX02 mini, GTech RAID, Edirol R-4, Senn. G2 Evo, Countryman, Moles and Lowels.

December 11th, 2009, 01:14 AM	#4
Erik Phairas Major Player Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 628	Nothing I produce is even close to the level of the guys on this board but the EX seems to handle less than ideal lighting wonderfully. for example... EDIT: didn't want the video to embed like that.. sorry. I just wanted a link. Haunted Halloween 2009 on Vimeo __________________ EX3, Q6600 Quad core PC - Vista 64, Vegas 8.1 64bit, SR11 b-cam

December 13th, 2009, 09:03 AM	#6
Perrone Ford Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Tallahassee, FL Posts: 4,100	Depth of field is a physical property relating to focal length, distance to subject, and sensor size. HD does not inherently have any less DOF than SD. What it does have is the resolution to SHOW you that you're out of focus more clearly. So, I would advise you to 1. Get as close as you can 2. Select an F-Stop that keeps your entire area of interest in focus 3. Select gain and other setting that allow you to shoot with the chosen settings. __________________ DVX100, PMW-EX1, Canon 550D, FigRig, Dell Octocore, Avid MC4/5, MB Looks, RedCineX, Matrox MX02 mini, GTech RAID, Edirol R-4, Senn. G2 Evo, Countryman, Moles and Lowels.

December 10th, 2009, 06:49 PM	#2
Leonard Levy Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: USA Posts: 1,684	Images are soft in low light? That's weird unless your backfocus is off. Is it the wide shots that are soft or close ups? If you lose focus when you zoom out esp when the lens is wide open its back focus . Same thing should happen outdoors if you put in enough shutter and ND to get your iris wide open. If that's not it be more specific about the exact problem and post your camera settings.

December 13th, 2009, 04:27 AM	#5
Lance Librandi Major Player Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: South Australia Posts: 374	Hi Guys, Yeap I had auto focus on. The problem is that with HD you really have to nail the focus where the SD camera in the same conditions is a lot more forgiving and has a better depth of field.

December 18th, 2009, 06:15 AM	#7
Lance Librandi Major Player Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: South Australia Posts: 374	Thanks for that Perrone.