NEW exposure setting trick (?)

[memento515]

Found a version of this online, played with a bit, seems kosher. Discuss.


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1. Lock Exposure (I use a gray card).
2. Set to Manual Focus, Press FOCUS ASSIST.
3. Put your hand over the lens to make total blackness.
4. The dancing funky pixels are gain. Lower the exposure till they disappear.
5. Remove your hand and shoot.

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(takes shelter, waiting for the bomb to hit)...

[Janke]

OK, but what happens when you lower the exposure?

Answer: You darken the picture. A black image with less grain is just as useless as a normally exposed one with a lot of grain...

[memento515]

If there's enough light on the scene , You won't end up with an underexposed/too dark image. I believe this is the first line of defense against grain and overall poor image quality in general anyway- having enough light.

I'm surprised there's no more takers on this thing- either willing to discuss use of the focus assist to discern grain, or to jump in with Janke here and correct my whole line of thinking.

Maybe the silence is enough response.

<tumbleweed blows>

[Janke]

If there's enough light, the extra gain won't kick in in the first place, and you won't get extra noise...

I trust the photo button; set the aperture one click from where it starts to close.

[Erik Bien]

There are several different ways to achieve wide-open aperture with no gain. I remember reading of a method similar to yours used by someone here at HV20.com: he zooms out, covers the lens with a lens cap and locks exposure, then bumps the joystick until the gain-grain goes away and a half-press of the photo button shows f/1.8. The advantages of doing it this way are speed and repeatability (once you learn how many 'clicks' it takes to go from fully wide open aperture and maxed-out gain to f/1.8 and no gain, it should take the same number of 'clicks' every time).

Personally, I find this and the "cell phone trick" method unnecessarily complicated for 90% or more of my shooting situations; generally speaking, I only want to be WFO with zero gain when shooting a dark, moody scene, and I want clean, noise-free shadows. In that case, I simply:

• frame my desired shot
• lock exposure
• check f/stop with a half-press of the photo button
• if iris is already open (f/1.8 on a wide zoom setting, or up to f/2.8 when zoomed in), I click the joystick left and re-check with the photo button
• my goal is to lock at the last "iris only" setting before gain kicks in. I can usually see the noise on an outboard monitor or by 'punching in' with focus assist, but in any event when clicking exposure right (brighter) brightens the picture without changing the f/stop, I know gain is being added, and I can back off a click

[Janke]

That's exactly what I meant.

[Halsu]

There are several different ways to achieve wide-open aperture with no gain. I remember reading of a method similar to yours used by someone here at HV20.com: he zooms out, covers the lens with a lens cap and locks exposure, then bumps the joystick until the gain-grain goes away and a half-press of the photo button shows f/1.8. The advantages of doing it this way are speed and repeatability (once you learn how many 'clicks' it takes to go from fully wide open aperture and maxed-out gain to f/1.8 and no gain, it should take the same number of 'clicks' every time).

That user may very well have been me. But the trick is, after locking the camera using this method, one needs something else to adjust the exposure with. My solution is using a variable ND filter: http://hv20.com/showthread.php?t=1132

This said, most of the regular stuff i shoot more or less plain vanilla, in cinemode, just adjusting / locking the exposure as necessary, using gain if necessary.

[Pali]

I have used the method described in the first post.

I'm in a dimly lit bar to shoot a band. Even with the stage lights on it's still dim. I've lowered the shutter (TV mode) to 30.

Now, I want to be sure there isn't any noise. I cover the lens with my hand to create total darkness. Click exposure and wait 5 or 10 seconds. Now I lock it. Artificial gain is all the way up. Now I click it back four steps and it is the best I can get without having that super grain/noise from too much artificial gain.

Sure, I can point it at a light source, find the 1.8-2.0 sweet spot and lock it in there. But when there is a low light situation, artificial gain is necessary.

[producer]

This is good for lowlight/indoor, but then what to do if shooting outdoor?!? The picture is extremely brighten.

[Pali]

This is good for lowlight/indoor, but then what to do if shooting outdoor?!? The picture is extremely brighten.

If you're outdoors and it's sunny you can use P mode and let the camera make the adjustments automatically, especially if the camera is not in a fixed position, where exposure will be changing with every movement.