Recommended Settings for PXW X70

[Lico Francisco]

HI Guys,

What is the recommended or optimal setting for the Sony PXW X70. Especially for church event to assist in lowering the the noise when area is not well lid. I notice that there is a lot of noise in the blacks. But this is my first time using this camera. So i am still learning and reading the manual. Any advice is recommended. Also how to add more picture profile to the camera since there is only 6 on it. Anyways thanks for your assistant.

[Donald McPherson]

Every situation can be different. You just need to get out there and experiment.
I don't know how qualified you are but 6 profiles is more than enough for a novice.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdc...ptimal+setting

[Noa Put]

You might give this a try: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-4k-...ml#post1902159

[Lico Francisco]

I am going to continue shooting with the camera to learn the ins and out of it.

[Jeff Pulera]

Make sure ND filter is off. The GAIN on the X70 is really pretty clean up to a point, maybe 18dB or so can look good. Either manually keep it from going above, or what I do is set the GAIN LIMIT in the menu system, then you can leave GAIN on AUTO and be confident it will not go too high.

If there is not a lot of motion in your shot, and you need to boost exposure, try setting SHUTTER at 1/30 rather than default 1/60. This will improve brightness in low light, but you will have to determine if the end result looks acceptable for your needs in regards to motion smoothness.

Thanks

Jeff

[Lico Francisco]

I will try that today when I get home. I will change and limit the db. Learning how it is different from ISO. I have it at 1/60. I have the setting on 60P XAVC at 50Mbps. Adobe Premiere CS5.5 does not like so I have been using Final Cut Pro X. Anyways, so far I like the camera since it is small and compact. Easy to carry it around.

[Jeff Pulera]

ISO is exposure, controlled by the IRIS. The Iris is the opening that lets light into the lens.

GAIN is an electronic amplification of the signal to make it brighter, but it also creates noise in the image.

The 1/60 is the SHUTTER speed. Each video frame is "exposed" for 1/60 of a second, which is a very short time. Changing to 1/30 means it is open twice as long so that more light gets collected by the image sensor while shutter is open, equals brighter image. But fast motion may have some blur due to long exposure.

You said you are shooting in a church. Usually there is not much motion, so perhaps try shooting at 30p with 1/30 shutter rather than 60p if really dark. Also, the AVCHD recording in X70 can look very good, and much easier to edit than XAVC, maybe try that footage with your Premiere.

Thanks

Jeff

[Lico Francisco]

Should not have issues with AVCHD since that's what I was using before. Just wanted to see if there is a big difference in the XAVC.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Jeff Pulera

ISO is exposure, controlled by the IRIS. The Iris is the opening that lets light into the lens.

GAIN is an electronic amplification of the signal to make it brighter, but it also creates noise in the image.

Maybe I understand wrong but ISO is not controlled by the iris, ISO and GAIN basically mean the same.

[Lico Francisco]

I see that there is a license purchase for mpeg Hdd. So we have to pay for it also?

[Donald McPherson]

You don't need that unless you work for the big boys.

[Paul Anderegg]

Low quality MPEG-2 license key is the same as XAVC 100Mbps 4K UHD license key.......really Sony?

You may want to shoot in XAVC and with black gamma set to 0 to decrease noise. Depending on how contrasty the scene is you are pointing at, you may need to get more aggressive with the manual knee. The X70 isn't the best camera sensor for bright highlights and shadows in the same shot. I shoot night news, and must use black gamma low +7 to bring up the shadows, so I can shoot lit windows without completely loosing the forground objects, but that adds slight noise. If you shoot black gamma 0 XAVC, the 10 bit codec will allow you to raise the blacks in your editing software to the point you find the black noise agreable.

Paul

[Jeff Pulera]

I stand corrected on ISO, according to the web "In Digital Photography ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor."

Since ISO is used to describe STILL cameras and not video cameras, I was only vaguely familiar with its meaning but knew it was something to do with light/brightness of image. I admit having a tendency to sometimes overly generalize my replies depending on my perceived experience level of the OP.

Thanks

Jeff

[David Barnett]

I agree with Jeff re; Gain levels & Shutter Speed. I've had the X70 for this year & find that a Gain or 12-18 is the sweet spot for indoors, while over 18 starts to become critical mass. I've used 21 in a backlit toast and it was acceptable. After that it will start to become grainy, especially I would think a dark church. I try for 1/60 but if no motion in the shot I'll dip down to 1/30.


As for ISO, it traces back to the days of film & film exposure speed. High quality film, used for outdoors had a speed rating of 80-100/200ish. When shooting indoors, you used film stock of 400/800/1000 etc. With 800 & up being a grainy film (think 'Clerks') whereas cleaner footage was movies like 'American Pie' 'Something About Mary' etc..

[Lico Francisco]

Thanks Guys. I started testing it yesterday with limiting the DB from not going over 18db. Anyways, is there a preferred profile to use for indoor or is it always best to leave it off.