Favorite EX1R settings for night video? at DVinfo.net

Duane Adam · April 24th, 2010, 06:10 PM

Shot my first night session last night which was a vividly lit home with multi colored pool lights. While the finished video looked good, there was noticeable noise in the darker scenes. I played with 3 gain settings (-3, 0, +3) during the session and 0 seemed to be the best compromise. Anyone have any settings they're happy with for night shots?

Michael B. McGee · April 26th, 2010, 01:17 AM

you might want to check the PP sticky, but personally i prefer the lens cap off setting.

Alister Chapman · April 26th, 2010, 11:42 AM

Instead of using gain you might want to consider using a bit of positive Black Gamma to help lift shadows. This will increase the brightness of the darker parts of the image without adding as much grain as positive gain. You can also use a high positive crispening setting (+40??) to prevent detail correction from being added to low contrast parts of the image, which helps reduce the appearance of noise.

Duane Adam · April 27th, 2010, 11:59 AM

Thanks Allister, I'll try those tonight. I was shooting negative black gamma to get a high contrast look but thought afterwards it would have been better to do the opposite, (just as you're suggesting). Haven't played much with the crispening settings and have it switched off in most of my picture profiles, but that's a pretty creative use and I'll try it also. Thanks again.

April 24th, 2010, 06:10 PM	#1
Duane Adam Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Gilroy, CA Posts: 398	Favorite EX1R settings for night video? Shot my first night session last night which was a vividly lit home with multi colored pool lights. While the finished video looked good, there was noticeable noise in the darker scenes. I played with 3 gain settings (-3, 0, +3) during the session and 0 seemed to be the best compromise. Anyone have any settings they're happy with for night shots?

April 26th, 2010, 11:42 AM	#3
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	Instead of using gain you might want to consider using a bit of positive Black Gamma to help lift shadows. This will increase the brightness of the darker parts of the image without adding as much grain as positive gain. You can also use a high positive crispening setting (+40??) to prevent detail correction from being added to low contrast parts of the image, which helps reduce the appearance of noise. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

April 26th, 2010, 01:17 AM	#2
Michael B. McGee Major Player Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Santa Monica, CA Posts: 318	you might want to check the PP sticky, but personally i prefer the lens cap off setting.

April 27th, 2010, 11:59 AM	#4
Duane Adam Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Gilroy, CA Posts: 398	Thanks Allister, I'll try those tonight. I was shooting negative black gamma to get a high contrast look but thought afterwards it would have been better to do the opposite, (just as you're suggesting). Haven't played much with the crispening settings and have it switched off in most of my picture profiles, but that's a pretty creative use and I'll try it also. Thanks again.