Sony AX2000: I have to make shots with few light.

HDR-AX2000 / HXR-NX5 (2010).
FoxAdriano
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Sony AX2000: I have to make shots with few light.

Post by FoxAdriano »

Hi, I will make a documentary in the night with few light. I will have some small bonfires. I'm tinking to make shots with 1/3 second shutter but in spite of it I think I will get video noise. How can I improve those shots? Thanks
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Stephan
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Re: Sony AX2000: I have to make shots with few light.

Post by Stephan »

Use manual gain to keep gain low. Too much gain causes noise.
FoxAdriano
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Re: Sony AX2000: I have to make shots with few light.

Post by FoxAdriano »

.... but with a manual gain do I have to put the shutter to 1/3 or 1/25 sec.? About "manual gain" do you mean it as "zero"?
thanks
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Stephan
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Re: Sony AX2000: I have to make shots with few light.

Post by Stephan »

No, manual gain means not automatic. Under your control. You can put some gain, but not too much. With my FX7 I could go up to 9dB gain without problem, beyond that (12dB and up) it was too much noise. Do some tests with your AX2000. You can let a bit of gain, no problem. Too much is a problem.

Shutter speed is unrelated. I think 1/3 shutter speed will give you a weird slow shutter effect (blurry image). Too slow.
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Doughie
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Re: Sony AX2000: I have to make shots with few light.

Post by Doughie »

Dropping shutter-speed by 1 stop will allow you to use 6dB less gain and get the same exposure.

So if you're cam is shooting at, for example 1/60th sec and needing to use +12dB to get good exposure (fairly dim environment) then if you dropped the shutter speed to 1/30th sec, this will allow you to reduce gain to +6dB and this will reduce image noise quite a bit. It's definitely something worth playing with for owners of camcorders that allow them to change shutter-speed, and therefore control gain in low-light situations.
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Re: Sony AX2000: I have to make shots with few light.

Post by acgold7 »

Or you could just set AGC LIMIT to 9dB, lock shutter on 30 or 25 and use AE SHIFT or SPOTLIGHT as necessary to compensate for the brightness coming off the firelight.

Or you can go full manual but you must use your zebras on the faces. 1/3 second shutter speed will make your video look worse than the worst Skype web video. Only blurrier. Did you mean 1/30th?
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Doughie
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Re: Sony AX2000: I have to make shots with few light.

Post by Doughie »

FoxAdriano wrote:.... but with a manual gain do I have to put the shutter to 1/3 or 1/25 sec.? About "manual gain" do you mean it as "zero"?
thanks
To echoa acgold7, i am sure you meant 1/30th sec?? You are in Europe, so it likely that you will be using shutter speeds of 1/50th or 1/25th if you drop one stop.
FoxAdriano
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Re: Sony AX2000: I have to make shots with few light.

Post by FoxAdriano »

Doughie wrote:
FoxAdriano wrote:.... but with a manual gain do I have to put the shutter to 1/3 or 1/25 sec.? About "manual gain" do you mean it as "zero"?
thanks
To echoa acgold7, i am sure you meant 1/30th sec?? You are in Europe, so it likely that you will be using shutter speeds of 1/50th or 1/25th if you drop one stop.
A friend of mine have told me he made some shots close to bonfire with 1/3th sec. He get very interesting shots and intentionally wavy images. For example he made ​​shots about guys walking on hot coals at night and he get much "pathos". Surely with 1/3 sec. some shots only and not every shot.
Yes I'm european and I think my camera is 1/50th for default. Thanks for your suggestions.
Last edited by FoxAdriano on 26 Aug 2011 10:24, edited 2 times in total.
FoxAdriano
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Re: Sony AX2000: I have to make shots with few light.

Post by FoxAdriano »

acgold7 wrote:Or you could just set AGC LIMIT to 9dB, lock shutter on 30 or 25 and use AE SHIFT ............
I like your reply but I'm sorry but I don't understand fine. Do you mean I have to use my videocamera on automatic way (AE) and with AGC LIMIT to 9dB?
thanks
Last edited by FoxAdriano on 26 Aug 2011 10:37, edited 1 time in total.
FoxAdriano
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Re: Sony AX2000: I have to make shots with few light.

Post by FoxAdriano »

acgold7 wrote: or SPOTLIGHT as necessary to compensate for the brightness coming off the firelight.
With "SPOTLIGHT option" will I get more homogeneity lighting on background? In other words if I shots close to bonfire I will film in addition to faces of guys also background (behind)? (otherwise backgrounds would be dark) .
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