[Ed Acheson]

This thread is three years old, but I’m hoping my inquiry will generate responses. Until last Friday, I have never had a project shooting video with a black background. I have done several still projects with black background, but not video. The project resumes this Friday (November 4) with six talking head interviews. The problem is noisy black (or as the editor says “dancing black”). I shot with an Canon XF305 as well as a Nikon D810. The XF305 was shot with the iris wide open, 1080p, and plus 6dB (or maybe it was 12dB) gain. The in camera exposure meter was always pegged at the low end, but the talent was bright. The background was black curtains, and the black danced. Knowing the XF305 is not a low light camera, I tested the D810. Under the same lighting conditions, it required an ISO of 6400 at f2.8, to have the proper exposure for the talent. And that produced just as bad dancing black. We flipped the set up 90 degrees to push the black curtains about fifteen feet back, and the results were better, but still some dancing. The solution seems to be more light on the talent to get the gain/ISO down, and to keep the sensors/processors from trying to see light where there isn’t supposed to be any. But how do you increase the light reaching the talent to a sufficient level without them squinting? Compounding the problem is a mostly black banner placed in the shot, which means upping the light reduces the blackness of the banner.