I captured some footage at a pals wedding last month with my Sony MiniDV and during the party at night the footage was quite dark (of course).
I edited with Painnacle Studio and lightened it and it came out pretty good.
There was a limit to the lighteneing though, it started to 'grain' a little so I couldn't push it too far.
As for analogue captures I use Virtualdub, and have noticed there's a facility to lightene the image as you capture.
I guess this is the easiest option but the trouble is I don't envisage the preview I get on the monitor is the image quality I'll be capturing, right?
I know I can play around but would appreciate any tips.
Thanks,
Will