How to capture good footage in low light?

[Amit]

Hi,

Very soon, can be any day now, I am going to be a father. This is going to be our first child and I want to record the child birth using my mini DV camera - SONY TRV900. We went for a birthing facility tour to the hospital where my wife is going to deliver. In the tour I found that the lights are going to be very low in the delivery room.

If anyone has any experience recording a good footage under low light I would like to hear from your experience. I think other people over here will learn too on how to use our small yet prosumer level cameras to its best. Any settings or things or tips or links to web site will do.

Please respond fast as I have limited time to read and ask any questions, if I have any after reading your comments/suggestions.

Thanks in advance.
-Amit

[communist]

Some camcorders do have 'low-light' settings - if yours doesnt try to open the IRIS as much as possible and enable GAIN (+9 -> 18db).
Though this will add a lot of noise / grain to the image.

Though I can only advise you to use a external light if possible as this will help the most (much better picture quality).

[mustardman]

A lot of newer video cameras can shoot low light by reducing the shutter speed. Although this improves the image (brighter with less noise) it looks terrible (very staggery). It also makes a tripod essential! (try doing it without).

I don't think your wife would be too happy about poking a video camera light where only other things should go, so you may have to go the IRIS and additional gain settings as suggested. I would sure do a test or two first though!

Alternatvely, (or even as well as) process the final footage with a smart temproral filter, or spacial filter, to remove noise and retain a decent shutter speed (eg: PAL 50, NTSC 60)

[vhelp]

Hi Amit,

You would be surprised at what you can acheave w/ low light conditions
when shooting footage and your dv cam (sony is good.. epsicially w/ the
Carlos lens) and a Tripod.

If you are destined to have to hold your cam, then you're on your own
w/ this low light. But, w/ a tripod, the "spacialness" of the non
moving cam will result in good quality, even for low light. You just
gotta trust it, and allow the "naturual" of the DOCs do what they do
best - - get in the way all the time.

But, if you can work out something w/ the docs and nurses, that when
they have to do their hand/arm things, that they do so w/ minimal
of getting in the cams way.

Also, (from experience) if you must attached at light to the cam, than
you must tripod it. Otherwise, YOU'LL be in the way, cause the light
will irritate your wife, as well as the docs/nurses.

Comprimise with a good cam position. If anything, see if you can get
hold of a 2nd cam, and place one at a different angle. Maybe a little
further, so that you get a longer perspective view. Sometimes, it's an
added effect, to have a paning of nurses comming/going through doors
and things. You wanna see what going on around your wifes delivery
too.

Now, what I would do, (as time is comming shortly) is practice NOW,
your low light shooting. If you do go w/ a Tripod, and you practice
with this, you'll get good results. But, do try and mimic as close
as possible, the low lighting conditions. Don't just assume that
you're the best, and can wing it when the first-time happens. Cause,
in the end, you'll reslize that you regret it. Just some words of
wisdom.

Remember, make sure you talk w/ your wife about this. She may not know
all the intricitcies of what will be taking place in the delivery.
Like, and not to be descusting.. but will they prep her first. If they
do, then there will be minimal "yuk" stuff going on and being captured
in your cam. Else, if they don't prep her (as I've heared that these
days, they don't practice this anymores or recommend that you don't)
So, what am I talking about ?? hmm.. it's embarising, but ask someone
that has gone through pregnacy, and you'll know (unless you already
know)
She might not know (or relize at first) whats going to be recorded,
and later, regret it and be quite embarrest about it all. But, I
would find out about the "preping" part first, before you make any
serious plans. Well, its' just an FYI at best. But, at least I worned
you in advance.

Good luck,
-vhelp

[malum]

Would it be out of order to suggest that your Mrs might rather have you holding her hand and mopping her brow? Than worrying about the low light level in the delivery room.
Childbirth is a magical thing and by videoing it you will be able to watch it another time but you will miss the actual event as you will be glued to a small screen.

Just a thought.

PS Vhelp is talking about your wife crapping herself, which she may not want to remember let alone watch.

[Amit]

@All,

I appolize for not replying to your inputs. But as you all know my situation, I don't get enough time to visit the forum. Anyway, here's my input to your suggestions.

Lot of you suggested things in relation to emotional stuff and all. We have already discussed about it together and would like to capture this moment on tape since our folks are not here and we would love to send something later on when all this is over.

Also in the hospital she will be delivering, use of Tripod or Flash is not allowed. As well as any kind of cables. Also I can only shoot from the side or from her head so as not to trouble the nurses and doctors.

If some wants to have a look at the camera manual, it can be found at

http://www.iq.sony.com/srvs/sosdocs/default.asp

Type DCRTRV900 in the "Enter Model Number" box and hit search.

@communist,

My camcoder allows upto 18db gain. But as you said, using the gain adds lot of noise. Since the noise is random and not in any pattern I don't know how to remove it. Unless someone over here knows how to get rid of it using some plugin/filter for Adobe Premiere or Adobe After Effects.

Also while reading my camera manual I found I hav an option to set my gain to -3db, normal is 0db, which will improve the image quality as well as reduce most of the noise. But this option is only good with atleast some decent amount of light and not in the low light situation I will be using the camera.

@mustardman
Since I don't have enough time to run a test against the AVI Synth filerts you have suggested. Based on your experience how much of gain I can use safely to get a decent picture.

@vhelp, @malum
Thanks for your input. I will surely look into the 2nd camera tip. I think I can arrange one from one of my friends but I am not sure whether I will be able to put one on tripod even far off because of hospital's policy. Also I have never tried a 2 camera shoot so I don't have single idea of how to sync the 2 cameras if I get lucky to take one inside.

@All,
On my camera I have a setting called AE Shift. Does anyone know what it is used for. There's no any information about it in the manual. The camera does have a low light preset but as you all said, it requires a tripod and any sudden movements are recorded as jerky because of the shutter speed being too slow.

Does anyone know of any manual good & tried setting that will work. Besides setting the shutter speed to 60 fps and opening up the iris as much as possible?

One last question:

I have also have a SONY HVL Wide Angle lens. This is a heavy lens made of glass and weigthing 250g approx. Does using this lens will come in the way of getting most of light? I mean would it reduce the light getting into the camera's CCD? Since I will be standing pretty close to her I will be getting little bit bigger view/coverage of the thing using this lens but I am not sure should I be using it or not?

Once again, thanks all for your input,
-Amit

[mustardman]

If you have a steady hand, a smart temporal filter will improve the image by probably 3dB to 6dB with conservative settings, and due to the smarts, retain the edges in good nick.

I have heard good things about "peachsmoother" (spatial), although I have never used it.

I suspect AE shift is for doing things where most of the subject is dark, but there is a bright light causing the exposure to screw up. Hence the light is exposed beautifully, but the subject is just turned to night. I would imagine the reverse is also true. It may be of use in your situation.

If you can, go for two video cameras as suggested. It dramatically improves the overall effect. I did 3 cameras for my wedding, and the result was excellent. When someone (or somthing) gets in front of one camera, switch to the other (when editing of course). If you are concerned about absolute sync, it is easy if both cameras are running continously, pretty hard otherwise.

Otherwise, and I strongly recommend this, use one audio track as the master, and "un-lock" the video streams. Use the other audio only as a last resort. Once you do this, you can shift scenes around so they are "out of order". Film studios and TV broadcasts do this all the time, because it saves a huge amount of effort. The only time when you have to watch "lipsync" is when you are actually videoing people talking or things making identfiable sounds (like a hammer hitting makes the sound in sync with the picture). It is very useful for viewing from behind or from a distance when there is no lipsync.

edit: It took me about 4 weeks, 8 hours a day to do my wedding video, which was about an hour long. I learnt a few hard lessons during the procedure (like the "out of order" thing and using the audio as the "master"). However, I am lead to beleive that documentaries can take months per hour to properly edit, so I wasn't that hard done by!