Beginner Camera Questions

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arthobby

I'm using a Canon Vixia HF S20. I'm still figuring stuff out on how to use it and change the settings.

One thing I'm trying to understand is manual settings for light levels. Right now the camera will adjust for dark but then the picture becomes grainy. I would like to set the camera so that it doesn't adjust for low light. Eventually I'd like to do some low lit scenes. Can anyone help me? Thanks.
 
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I've never used the hf s20 before but I do know how camcorders work. (I also looked up the specs of your camera).
Your lens can go all the way to F1.8 it seems (on the specs list) so that will be good for low light. (In low light you want your aperture/F-stop usually to be as low a number as possible). The lower the aperture/F-Stop, the more light your lens lets in.
You can also lower your shutter speed, as a high shutter speed lets in less light. Finally, make sure your ISO or Gain (whichever it is) is not super high. The higher the ISO/gain the more grain/noise is introduced to your image. The best solution is of course to use more light, whether cheap Home Depo lights or professional lights. More light will usually make everything easier and look better.

As I do not know how this camera works it may be easier for you to try looking up videos of other people using the camera. But these setting should be easily accessible in manual mode.

Hope this helps.
 
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Mantaxb20 said:
I've never used the hf s20 before but I do know how camcorders work. (I also looked up the specs of your camera).
Your lens can go all the way to F1.8 it seems (on the specs list) so that will be good for low light. (In low light you want your aperture/F-stop usually to be as low a number as possible). The lower the aperture/F-Stop, the more light your lens lets in.
You can also lower your shutter speed, as a high shutter speed lets in less light. Finally, make sure your ISO or Gain (whichever it is) is not super high. The higher the ISO/gain the more grain/noise is introduced to your image. The best solution is of course to use more light, whether cheap Home Depo lights or professional lights. More light will usually make everything easier and look better.

As I do not know how this camera works it may be easier for you to try looking up videos of other people using the camera. But these setting should be easily accessible in manual mode.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

That's very helpful. Thank you.

This might be overly obvious, but can digital cameras record in dark settings without getting grain/noise? Is the grain/noise a result of only the gain, or will it always do that if there's not enough light?
 
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A movie that I really love the look of is John Carpenter's The Thing. The movie is very dark. In the scenes outside, the glow from the lights is blue. I'm wondering if it's possible to record like that with the camera that I have. It seems like on my camera, when it gets dark there is noise and grain instead of just black.
 
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The higher (slower) your aperture/f-stop is the darker your image will be. However, with a slower more things will be in focus in your image.

A lot of people love a lower (faster) aperture/F-Stop because it
1. Let's in more light which is great for low light
2. Has a much shallower depth of field (what's in focus)
With a faster aperture fewer thing will be in focus which means your subject could be in focus while your background is out of focus, vice versa, plus it makes it look better and more obvious when you transition between focus points.

The faster a shutter speed your camera has, the less motion blur you will have.
This is great if you want a "saving private Ryan" look, or are shooting 60P to turn into slow motion in post. The downside is that it lets in less light because the shutter is moving faster and blocking more light.

Every digital camera will add more noise (film adds grain) the higher your gain/ISO. It's just the way they work. Some real expensive cameras like the c500 (I've heard) add noise reducing filters to the image in camera. Keep in mind these are very expensive cameras and lower priced cameras do not have these features.


It is definitely possible to record videos like that.

You can always film with as much light as you need and the DARKER THE IMAGE IN POST! :)
(Via color grading in Davinci, speed grade, color, etc)
A lot of people do this!

It is so much easier to film with as much light as possible and then color grade the image in post to get the colors and light perfect!

(One thing to also keep in mind is the codec your camera shoots with.)
Your camera shoot h.264 .mov files I believe.
This is a codec that is used a lot because it heavily compresses the image and gives very small file sizes. However, it tends to fall apart in post because it is heavily compressed. That said, you still can get great images and do great things in post.
Just make sure you shoot on the highest quality setting you can as that will give you more pixel information to play with in post.

Also, keep in mind the frame rate you shoot at has no effect on grain/noise. It is only how many frames you shoot per second. 24 is standard for film/movies. 30 is higher for other uses. And 60p is used a lot to get 1/2 speed slow motion by slowing the videos down in post.

Also, you might be wondering how you get shallow depth of field in daylight as you can't have a high aperture in daylight because everything will be blow out (too bright)
To achieve this you can use ND filters (whether on lens or by using matte box)
These filters simply darken the image so you can use higher apertures.

Hope this helps.
 
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arthobby said:
Eventually I'd like to do some low lit scenes.
Click to expand...

Low-lit looking scenes are not necessarily lacking lights. In fact, it's a pretty terrible idea to shoot like that. Learning to light properly is a very important skill, which comes with practice & experience.

I'm wondering if it's possible to record like that with the camera that I have.
Click to expand...

The camera, while an important part of the equation, is only going to capture great images of scenes which are lit well to start with. That's what you need to start on. :cool:

.
 
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Are there filters that will take noise away from footage?

I think that recording with plenty of light and then darkening the image later is a great idea. What filters would you start with to achieve that?

I'm using sony movie studio and the fx that come with it.
 
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Zensteve said:
Low-lit looking scenes are not necessarily lacking lights. In fact, it's a pretty terrible idea to shoot like that. Learning to light properly is a very important skill, which comes with practice & experience.



The camera, while an important part of the equation, is only going to capture great images of scenes which are lit well to start with. That's what you need to start on. :cool:

.
Click to expand...

Thanks. So, for the movie The Thing, they probably had everything well lit and then adjusted it later? Or would it be different because they were using an expensive analog video camera?
 
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arthobby said:
Are there filters that will take noise away from footage?

I think that recording with plenty of light and then darkening the image later is a great idea. What filters would you start with to achieve that?

I'm using sony movie studio and the fx that come with it.
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with the Sony Movie Studio, but your great idea, shooting with a lot of light first then darkening the image in post, is what I would personally do.

I could be wrong (someone please correct me if I am), but I would start out with using Day4Night filters if such thing exists in the software. If not, try messing around with brightness/contrast until you get your desired effect.
 
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I don't know of any denoising filters, (but there may be things that do that)

The Exposure control is what you should look for in Sony movie studio. It lets you brighten or darken the overall image. It may even be in your fx program. (While I own movie studio 10, I don't use it much so you might google where the effect is.)

For that movie, that's probably what they did. It doesn't matter what camera or equipment you have, if you shoot at night without light, it will look like crud 100% of the time.

Also, there are a lot of YouTube channels that I think would help you.

Film Riot is a great channel for low budget filmmakers and they teach you how to do "Hollywood" effects on low to no budget. As well as other tutorials for lighting, cinematography, and more!

Indy Mogul (even tho no more content will be made after this Monday) is another great channel with a lot of great tutorials and information.
 
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RedStudios_TSBnick said:
I'm not familiar with the Sony Movie Studio, but your great idea, shooting with a lot of light first then darkening the image in post, is what I would personally do.

I could be wrong (someone please correct me if I am), but I would start out with using Day4Night filters if such thing exists in the software. If not, try messing around with brightness/contrast until you get your desired effect.
Click to expand...


I'll look for that filter. I think adjusting brightness and contrast could work too. It looks like the color balance might help too.
 
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Keep in mind you can also install Davinci resolve lite. It's 100% free and is a great color grading program which will help a lot in getting your color and exposure just right.
Color grading is tricky and time consuming, but very useful to get your image perfect.
 
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Mantaxb20 said:
I don't know of any denoising filters, (but there may be things that do that)

The Exposure control is what you should look for in Sony movie studio. It lets you brighten or darken the overall image. It may even be in your fx program. (While I own movie studio 10, I don't use it much so you might google where the effect is.)

For that movie, that's probably what they did. It doesn't matter what camera or equipment you have, if you shoot at night without light, it will look like crud 100% of the time.

Also, there are a lot of YouTube channels that I think would help you.

Film Riot is a great channel for low budget filmmakers and they teach you how to do "Hollywood" effects on low to no budget. As well as other tutorials for lighting, cinematography, and more!

Indy Mogul (even tho no more content will be made after this Monday) is another great channel with a lot of great tutorials and information.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
 
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I played around in sony movie studio last night. I couldn't find a median filter. However, the suggestions about contrast and brightness did the trick. Thank you so much for the help and information.
 
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you need to know your camera better.

Shutter Priority or Aperture Priority is a major limitation. You need to know what that means. You should have your manual in your pocket right now. Until you know it inside and out. You need to test, test, test, test. Learn the basics.

If you use Aperture Priority, the camera will slow down the shutter speed to allow the exposure to be good..

If you use Shutter Priority, which is likely where your at now, the camera will adjust the aperture as it sees fit to again, make the exposure be good.

In addition, there is "gain" you camera will automatically add "gain" to the video, again, to make the exposure look good.

All of theses settings need to be understood. You will also need to know how to trick the camera into locking the setting. So that it doesn't CHANGE one you in the middle of a shot.

Dont worry, Iv been exactly where you are know, youll get it, it just takes time to understand and internalize.



Found this: Try this ASAP.
http://www.manualslib.com/manual/24507/Canon-Vixia-Hf-S20.html?page=74
 
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