[Al Bergstein]

Well, I’m not ruling out that you may have some settings wrong. As mentioned, I’d switch to 1080p first and see how that changes things. That’s a minor change that you can test well in advance. Then do a series of step tests with a gray card and see where the grain starts showing up. I’ve also got my camera out and would wonder what shutter speed you have it set at. There is a huge difference between the low light capability of 180 degrees and 1/30 for example. I also tried it with -6, -12 and -18 db which also bring a great deal of more light in, and I didn’t see huge noticeable gain.

I just did a cursory search of Canon XF-305 Low Light Vimeo and found a bunch of stuff shot with people with the 305 in low light situations, churches, etc. This one in particular might be of interest to you.
https://vimeo.com/14749439 especially starting around 1:20.

Anyway. Good luck on this! I think the camera can do better, but ultimately for shooting in dimly lit churches without additional light I’d likely look at the C100.

Al

[Al Bergstein]

Thanks for posting the photos. What was your settings on the XF305 for that side shot? What shutter speed? How much gain? I think you said it was shot at 25 and 1080i. Can you do some tests at 25p? Progressive is the native setup on this camera. I wouldn’t even start with interlaced, unless this was for broadcast workflow, which it seems to not be.

One thing that jumps out at me is that the 305 was shooting into the shadow (sun coming from left upper and the NX5 was having the benefit of light over the shoulder, so it was better lit. But the chapel looks pretty dim. This is likely one of the not great situations for this camera. There’s a couple of things I might do in a similar situation.

1. Might see if I can boost the lighting a small amount. Scouting the venue in advance might allow you to run in even something as small as a 1×1 light panel, or Sola spot and light up the couple from behind and to the right (or behind you and above) of where you are shooting. This light could be as far away as the aisle, but it can boost the front unlit faces enough to make any camera shine. I would talk to the couple and the minister about having a small light that can really make their video memories look much better, without blinding anyone.

2. Since you are not shooting for broadcast, I might switch to 720. On both cameras this will give you more latitude. Tests available to watch on either Youtube or Vimeo (I can’t remember which) show a dramatic improvement in low light situations by shifting to 720p in these situations.

3. Ultimately, if I *had* to shoot weddings in low light churches, I’d probably look at moving to a C100. The much larger sensor will be dramatically better in low light, over the Sony or the Canon xf305.

This video I shot of writer Cheryl Strayed was shot with the 305, after I tried to shoot it with a Canon 7D and it was terrible. I ran back to the van and got my 305 and was able to pull this. It was lit very lowly with stage lights from above. A bit better than your situation, but not by much.

https://vimeo.com/48091715

Hope this helps.

Al

[Al Bergstein]

I’ve seen the same thing, but only once. I was shooting with a Light Panel 1×1 outside on an overcast day, and noticed the flicker. But it’s never happened again. It may be a combination of lighting and your shutter speed. (I think I was using a 180 degree shutter when it happened). I would do some tests and see if you can isolate it. Like I said, I’ve never seen it happen since that one time. Other footage shot earlier the same day with the LP and the C100 did not exhibit the flickering. Not sure to what to make of it, but would love to know under what conditions it happened. Let us know what your capture settings are. (what shutter speed, frame rate, etc. )

Al

[Al Bergstein]

Hi Peter, welcome to the Cow. I also have the 305 and it is not the greatest camera for low light situations. That being said, since I don’t know the specifics of how low the light is that you are shooting in, it’s hard to know what’s happening. I accept your statement that the EX1 in the same light is far less grainy, as I have had to boost gain quite a bit to get acceptable images when in low light. It got so bad that I moved most of my work that is not able to be lit to shooting with the C100, where there is never an issue with gain affecting standard lower light situations.

I assume you are required to shoot in i rather than p for broadcast workflow? Could you shoot P and render to i? A few issues, I’ve found that 720p opens up an extra stop.

The issue of whether the xf305 is BBC approved only means that they have approved it for newsgathering work. When lit properly, even a shadowy area lit with a Lightpanel for example, it gives wonderful results. But I try to stay away from dimly lit situations. The small sensors just don’t have the oomph.

There are a number of Youtube and Vimeo videos that came out when it was released by folks who were partial to Sony, did show that there was a small difference, but I never saw anything that made me question my choice at that time. Can you post some examples when you have a chance?

Al

[Al Bergstein]

My take on Ned’s excellent marketing, is a few things. One is that he is in Chicago, a huge market. It’s much more likely that media buyers for rapidly growing businesses are not as tuned into who to call for video expertise. In smaller markets, It’s been my experience that personal relationships through Kiwanis, and other business to business organizations, seem to be the way to make connections.

I got one lead from LinkedIn, and it ended up being a job for hire, low pay but I did get an extra work day out of it, and the customer got satisfied. So I can say it *occassionally* works.

My attitude towards LinkedIn is that it is another, more professional marketing tool than FB. Lots of people see that I’m working, I post a photo and text every day that I shoot, with a snippet about the job. I have had business associates call to find out about pricing jobs for their companies, but usually too far distant from me to be worth doing, so I help them find shooters in the area and give them an idea what to expect.

I haven’t felt that it was worth $25 a month for search functions, but I’m not really that hard core on marketing. Might be worth trying in a larger city though.

Al

[Al Bergstein]

Ari, you didn’t mention if you checked out my suggestion. If you were recording one track at 10db below the other, it would sound “tinny’. Did you check to make sure that wasn’t the issue?

Al

[Al Bergstein]

So my best guess is that the DR60 has the feature that you can have one track record at -10db or more . It’s called “Dual Mono Mode”. When in dual mono mode, (page 52 of the manual), you can set the Dual level so that the second track records at some amount less than the first track, so you can avoid levels that may peak during the recording. If one channel of dual mono is fine (the louder track) then throw out the second channel and copy the first one on your timeline. Now you have dual mono that match. If you needed the second channel (I’m not sure how you would since it’s recording the same thing to both channels) then put that on the timeline, normalize the volume in your software and you should be good to go.

The manual contains pretty clear descriptions of the various recording modes. If you were really trying to create a stereo pair, with two different mics recording two different things, then you would likely have chosen the mono setting and simply recorded separate mono channels.

Hope this helps!

Al

[Al Bergstein]

I worked editing last evening with no problems. Didn’t even hear about until now. CC continues to be a good value for me, i use Pr, Lightroom, AE, PS and find it quite ok to pay monthly and have access to the suite when needed. As long as Adobe learns from their issues, i’m ok with infrequent issues, luckily I wasn’t under deadline.

Al

[Al Bergstein]

On my camcorders, I have the ability to record continuously, so when one card fills up it falls over to the second card, and I can remove the card and insert a new one. Many camcorders, even low end ones, now have that option. It’s worth buying that feature if you are doing events. The 5D might be able to do that, I’ve not checked, but it does come with an SD and a CF card slot. Never tried it actually.

Al

[Al Bergstein]

I think that was a good choice. Best of luck!

Al