For best quality output use best quality Input

[jmorton]

I find that my best quality output in any format comes from captured footage that has been shot with abundant lighting. The video images are sharp and colors saturated when there is good / excellent lighting.

I plan to do some tests and if the footage works I'll post it.

What I'm thinking about doing is placing my HV20 with shutter-priority on a tripod and shooting some footage where there is good / excellent lighting then use manual exposure to reduce the exposure step-by-step until the aperature goes down to 1.8.

Then I'll export each clip and see which is best.

Here is why this can be important: you can always get great video images when there is good / excellent lighting but you probably won't when the lighting is less than good.

What I am thinking is to always shoot in good / excellent lighting conditions then if the scene calls for a darker sense to make it darker in post. This way I'll always have great video light or dark.

And for situations where I'll need dark / night shots with night lighting then I'll shoot at dusk or around dusk with night lighting and then darken appropriately in post. This way I can still get reasonably accurate nighttime contrast using post effects.

JM :)

[lordtangent]

What I am thinking is to always shoot in good / excellent lighting conditions then if the scene calls for a darker sense to make it darker in post. This way I'll always have great video light or dark.



The main goals you should be striving for are:

1. Using all your available dynamic range
2. Avoiding using gain at capture time.

That's basically what professionals do when they shoot film. (they strive to capture a "thick" negative and adjust the brightness in the print) Filmeven has a sort of "gain" available, which is "pushing" the development. It increases the ASA but also the grain... alot like digital gain does! (Though some would argue, in a much more pleasant way)

One thing you left out in your idea is the important artistic consideration of key to fill ratio. I hope you understand this concept becasue it's what separates good lighting from bad lighting.

Basically, "Dark" scenes are percieved as "dark" because there is more dark in frame and the fill light level is lower. It is impossible to totoally control this aspect in post, so it needs to be taken into consideration when setting up exposure.

[zephyrnoid]

What my old-er generation suspected all along. Shoot for perfection in camera and tweak in post. Great video is many parts playing nicely together. gr8 lighting, script, cast,audio and of course... the camera work. Post really creates the show from all this core footage but post can only correct for so much.

[lordtangent]

Great video is many parts playing nicely together. gr8 lighting, script, cast,audio and of course... the camera work. Post really creates the show from all this core footage but post can only correct for so much.

Exactly. "The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts." And every step needs to be given care.

No amount of post can make up for lousy lighting. The point at which lighting switches from being a purely technical consideration to being an artistic consideration is what separates home videos from hollywood movies. (It's true for every technical aspect of film making... but I like the cinematography part, so I'm dwelling on it!)

In very broad terms, other than the need for a semi decent lens the camera has very little to do with the final result. It is almost entirely the way the lighting is handled and some careful post that accounts for the final look possible with a given setup. And of course, context is everything. Sometimes "ugly" is the right kind of lighting for a particular scene!

I hope to post some actually decently lit stuff soon because all I've posted so far have been crappy tests that have nothing to do with lighting. But lighting and cinematography are really my main forte. I'm just still getting used to this little toy camera and I haven't had time to do any "real" projects with it yet.

[jmorton]

It was uncanny how I turned on my television today and the original "Die Hard" was on HBO.

If you get a chance to watch it again notice how every shot is lit up like daytime even when it is outside at night or indoors in elevator shafts, etc.

But what really determines the effect is the context of the shots.

The lighting is truly unreal so much so as to be comical but like I said, the context makes the technique work. It's still an exciting ride.

JM :)