Low Light Conditions

[ricksi]

I have been recording my son’s Jazz Band concerts with an FX-1 camcorder and have not been happy with the results. The performers wear black tuxedos and the concerts are usually outside at night under spots, or indoors with minimal stage lighting. I’ve been recording in high-def using fully automatic settings including the preset white balance. The exposure and color have been lousy, and I’ve been using Vegas to alter the final product. While Vegas has helped, when I convert it to NTSC wide screen and transfer it to a DVD and play it, the results are not good.

I’m looking for any advise to obtain better results. I’ve started to look deeper into the camera’s features and also purchased WarmCards to try to obtain better white balance. I will be recording a concert in 2 weeks, so I’m trying to refine the process between now and then. The WarmCard kit came with 3 cards marked Warm 1,2, & 3. Would anyone know which one might work the best in the situation I’ve described? Also, I know that the gain is at its upper limit due to the low lighting and I’ve read that for the best picture quality it is better to reduce the gain. Would it be better if I drop the shutter speed from 60 to 30 so I can reduce the gain, the camera is always on a tripod? Should I be adjusting any other settings? Again, any advise would be greatly appreciated.

[daamon]

Hi ricksi,

Welcome to the forums.

The simplest answer and the most effective solution is to, quite literally, shed more light on the subject. A better lit shot will save you fussing around with settings, getting a grainy recording because of high gain, hours spent mucking around in Vegas, and $$$ spent on aids.

If it's not practical to turn up the lights at the venue, and you can't afford / don't want to mess around with bright lights mounted on a pole (the proper description escapes me), then you might want to experiment with a light source on-board your camera (if the cam supports it).

The only down side with these is that you have to be fairly near the subject - but you've got two weeks to experiment.

Good luck!

[ricksi]

I don't have the luxury or liberty to use additional lighting because he typically performs with big name performers and I'm lucky to get my video gear set up off to the side.