Low-light shooting

[azinkin]

Hello,

I'm planning on buying a camera and the problem is that I can't decide what do buy. I'll also be using the camera for filming in the dark, so I was wondering if any of you could recommend a cam that can do this at a relatively high quality... I've read about Sony's Nightshot feature, but that greenish infrared light is not what I need. Do any of you know of anything better, that maybe can preserve the original colors of the scene?

Also, do you know any websites with some good reviews on camcorder performances?

Thanks, and hope you can help

[zoobie]

I think it was determined that the Canon HV20 was superior in low light over the Sony HC7 as far as state-of-the-art consumer cams were concerned
dunno about the HV30...assume it's the same as HV20 but better research this first
all HDV with tape drives
check www.camcorderinfo.com

[2Bdecided]

No light = no picture

The HV20 isn't magic - it's just the slower shutter speed on 24fps / 25fps (as opposed to normal 60i / 50i) lets more light in. The Sony cameras (and the HV20 in "normal" 50i/60i mode) have an automatic slow shutter speed which also uses a slow shutter to get more light, but gives strange stuttery movement, especially as the light drops - you get down to about 8 pictures per second! On my HV20 at least, these pictures are very noisy, but have at least some colour to them. The HV20 does not have a night-shot mode.

Review sites (like camcorderinfo) disable the auto slow shutter and don't use the night shot mode - so they don't really show you what the camcorders will do under extreme low light.

Many people use infra red lighting and a camcorder that responds to it to get noise-free black-and-white footage in the dark.

Cheers,
David.

[azinkin]

Thanks for the replies

David, you say you have a HV20. I was wondering about a thing: can it film in lower, non-HD, resolutions?

[Soopafresh]

Yes, it can film in "regular" resolution.

[ks47]

Try “the king of low light” Sony DCR-VX2100; it’s rated 1 lux.

Never mind this post if you are looking for hi def.

TS

[racer-x]

For low light performance, three things that help:

1) Fast lenses - F1.8, F1.6 (the lower the number the better it lets light in)
2) Large image sensor 1/3 in or higher ( the larger the sensor, the more light it captures)
3) Slow shutter speed 1/60, 1/30, 1/15 ( the slower the shutter speed, the more light it traps)

You could also include noise reduction filters built into camera S/W...........