Low light shooting with x5r

[giumick]

Hello everyone hope your all well

We have a shoot next week around sunset and obviously its low light. I wanted to ask some more experienced operators how far we can push the x5r ISO and APP wise. We are shooting RAW and i am praying we get some good results from it as i have only ever shot with the sun setting in shot so far and managed 200 iso max for nice footage.

Does anyone have some good advice for us about their expereinces and how far we can push things but still get good footage. This is a national video so needs to be top notch

p.s We have neat video haha

Thanks mick

 

[PortCanaveralFlorida]

Hello everyone hope your all well

We have a shoot next week around sunset and obviously its low light. I wanted to ask some more experienced operators how far we can push the x5r ISO and APP wise. We are shooting RAW and i am praying we get some good results from it as i have only ever shot with the sun setting in shot so far and managed 200 iso max for nice footage.

Does anyone have some good advice for us about their expereinces and how far we can push things but still get good footage. This is a national video so needs to be top notch

p.s We have neat video haha

Thanks mick

IMO, their will never be a “use this setting” in the exposure triangle. Ether with a drone or DSLR. Light changes drastically in the setting sun or room to room. Hi ISO, more grain, slower shutter more blur, the list goes on. The more you know (and experience) the exposure triangle the better you’ll become in low light situations.

If your video is a “national video” as you mentioned, and if your praying about it…I would certainly give the controls to someone that has experience with the exposure triangle.

We all know some photographers that “Pray and Spray”
just try not to be one of them. Good luck!

 

[giumick]

IMO, their will never be a “use this setting” in the exposure triangle. Ether with a drone or DSLR. Light changes drastically in the setting sun or room to room. Hi ISO, more grain, slower shutter more blur, the list goes on. The more you know (and experience) the exposure triangle the better you’ll become in low light situations.

If your video is a “national video” as you mentioned, and if your praying about it…I would certainly give the controls to someone that has experience with the exposure triangle.

We all know some photographers that “Pray and Spray”
just try not to be one of them. Good luck!

I know what you mean but im not saying i dont feel up to the job i am just asking for experience on how far people have pushed iso etc in low light situations before it looking below par. The gh4 and x5r both suffer in low light and i am trying to prepare for that.

The most i have done with it so far was indoors at 800 iso.

 

[niki]

My personal preference was to use no more than iso400 and the lowest shutter speed 24 or 30. Over iso400 the noise level was too much even for neat video.

 

[giumick]

My personal preference was to use no more than iso400 and the lowest shutter speed 24 or 30. Over iso400 the noise level was too much even for neat video.

Thanks for the good advice Niki, They want 25fps so is 50 shutter doable you think? I have a few clients after low light work. On the plus side i have learned that the app can be very open on this and it still does well so hopefully it is its saving grace.

 

[niki]

Depending on what you're going to shoot. My experience is only in a city like environment but not very bright one. We were shooting car chasing action on streets with some shops on the walk sides with a lot of artificial lights around plus a few very big cineflow lights and still 50 was darker for my taste but it may work for you.

 

[giumick]

Depending on what you're going to shoot. My experience is only in a city like environment but not very bright one. We were shooting car chasing action on streets with some shops on the walk sides with a lot of artificial lights around plus a few very big cineflow lights and still 50 was darker for my taste but it may work for you.

Its actually before dark we are filming. I may have to get the camera pointing at the sunset this rate to make it work and advise them to shoot earlier. Its easier to darken in post at the end of the day isnt it.

 

[niki]

Its actually before dark we are filming. I may have to get the camera pointing at the sunset this rate to make it work and advise them to shoot earlier. Its easier to darken in post at the end of the day isnt it.

Absolutely, if you can shoot in the bluehour that definitely will help out in reducing the noise.
But have in mind that then the sky could be a factor for adjusting exposure and if there's too much sky in frame then the resulted contrast between the sky and the darker ground will produce too much noise in the dark areas. So you may need to sacrifice a bit from the sky and adjust the exposure to overburn it a bit while keep the ground brighter enough to reduce the noise in it. On that matter you may plan your composition to contain less of the sky or to shoot with the sunlight behind the camera. The best is if you can do a scouting mission on the particular location and do all kinds of tests and then to decide what will be the best approach.

 

[Greg Lucas]

Clearly your shoot has past but just general guideline for anyone reading this thread... The worst thing you can do is underexpose your footage. It is always better to just let the highlights blow out a bit than to have noise and artifacts all over the shadows.