Low light blues

[themixguy]

I've been pretty knocked out with the results of the HV-20. Over the weekend, however, I shot an indoor birthday party that looks like crap. VERY low lighting (one or two 60w bulbs in a 15' x 15' room, a bit of daylight coming in, but not much. I suspected it would look bad from the noisy picture in the LCD, but I had no choice but to keep shooting. When I looked at it at home on the computer, then on the plasma, it was confirmed. TONS of noise, almost a solarization effect due to all the gain I guess, muddy colors, poor contrast.

Obviously, extra lighting would help. I didn't flip on the onboard light as it gives a pretty artificial flashlight look.

I did try a couple different program settings, making sure the aperture was all the way open, but settled on "Auto" mode.

Any thoughts on how to get more out of low light? I know: garbage in = garbage out, nothing I can do with the existing footage. Just looking for tips to handle the next low light indoors shoot. What settings do you use?

-DC

[Erik Bien]

The best and simplest way is, as you stated, "extra lighting." If you're a DIY'er, hit the Depot and pick up parts to build a china ball (http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/index.php?showtopic=24322). The "N:Vision" brand compact flo bulbs they sell there have nice color and won't set your paper lantern on fire!

[Rikki]

www.neatvideo.com

[PWHerman]

Using the LED light would've helped a little at least. Put in in P Mode and play with the settings, though. Putting the white balance to "Fluorescent H" helps a lot for making the light look more natural and less white. Other than that, get a mounted camera light like the Canon VL-3 or VL-10. They'll help tons with something like that.