Best low light settings

[michaelschnepf]

Hy there,

i have troubles filming at low light scenarios using my SONY ALPHA 7 III, grain is always present.
What i read until now is that it is simply not possible filming with HD without getting grain.

If there is low light, you need to use 4K, and the best option for this is 24p 100M.
I tried using shutter speed of 1/50 (double the fps)

Even when keeping ISO low (1000 - 3000 MAX) i am still seeing grain on my pc when I import the files.

What i also found out is that (for best low light result) a picture profile should be used, but i did not try that until now.

In my opinion it should also be possible without picture profile, shouldnt it?

My shooting scenario is simply my flat, where i am lowering the lights and keep moving around with the camera.

What i am doing wrong?

[elgopro]

Hey Michael,

I was having similar issues video low light capabilities. I linked a video below by Joshyeo that helped me achieve better results. He goes over settings and profiles to shoot with to get clean footage. To summarize what he said in a few sentences, here are the recommended low light settings.

 

Custom Profile

1. Menu - Picture profiles

2. PP2 - Right on dial

3. Black Level -2

4. Gamma Still

5. Black Gamma -2

6. Color Mode - Pro

7. Saturation -4

8. Detail -7 (Make sure to sharpen in post)

9. PLAY WITH SETTINGS AN FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!

What if you want to shoot in 120fps?

"120p is clean in the day, and noisy in low light. so use a very fast lens, try bringing in practicals or use ambient line. use the profile I made, but keep gamma and black gamma at 0. and last try breaking the 180 degree shutter rule. You may be able to get away with shooting 1/125 shutter speed instead of having to shoot 1/250 (this will vary from subject to subject, the slower moving subject the better) GOOD LUCK!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjyu2s0JawQ 

 

I hope this helps!

 

[michaelschnepf]

Thanks for your answer.

Can you maybe tell me the settings which you achieved the best results with?

Do you shoot HD or 4k?

So i assume the usage of an Picture Profile is mandatory, but for a (not beginner, but also no pro) like me, i am afraid of using picture profiles because i read a lot that you have to keep footage over/under exposed. So i want to avoid it, because i will shoot scenarios where i cannot waste much time on experimenting with perfect exposure settings (Wedding)

Edited February 19, 2019 by michaelschnepf

[elgopro]

I shoot in HD, but I usually only switch between three Picture Profiles using HLOG, SLOG or the setting in the video. If this seems all too complicated, I would just shoot using a Creative Style that looks closest to real life on the spot. Then keep my histogram on the display to update exposure according to lighting conditions. In the case of a Wedding, I would most likely shoot in Hlog.

If you plan to use no Slow Motion, I'd shoot in 4k.

[michaelschnepf]

Thanks for your reply,

but what i ment is how your low light settings are, if you strictly followed the instructions of the guy, or made some for yourself.

What do you do if the video is too dark, and f is at the lowes 1.8 for example, do you change the shutter speed accordingly and break the 180 degree rule, or play with iso?

My (maybe amateur) thought is: always play with shutter speed first and then change the ISO (but not above 6400). What do others think?

[elgopro]

Depends. If I want slo-mo and Im getting grain at 120fps, I'd go to 60fps. Then I'd first make sure the shutter speed isn't more than twice the frame rate, so 60fps at 1/125. Second, is turning up the ISO (Preferably no more than 4000-6400 max). If the picture quality is still bad shooting at; F1.8__60fps__1/125__ISO6400; Then I'll have to shoot at 24 or 30fps to turn down the shutter speed and retain Picture Quality.

Weddings usually aren't that low in lighting conditions especially during the main ceremony. Either way, the best way to play it safe is to go to the location of the wedding before hand to get a glimpse of lighting before hand to adjust your settings accordingly.

If all that doesn't work, the last result will be to get a flash.

[DanArt]

Low light solution is just to add light. You have to remember that low-light has not really evolved over time.

With TV networks you can see the grainy red residue. On my A7RII via a 35Mm unofficial lens that redness is displayed. With my G lens it is not present.

Another problem is the display on the A7RII sucks in comparison to an external display. I use an external display that is setup like a television display.

Which is completely different from what the camera sees and what you get. So you could consider setting up via an external display because it is a big difference then what is recorded.

[michaelschnepf]

@DanArt i see what you are saying. But what i read so far is that the sony a7iii is one best option for low light (some film scenes by the light of the moon only).

@elgoproslowmo means Hd, if you talk about 24 30 fps you mean 4k i guess?

 

What do you think happens with the video if you simply turn down shutter speed in order to get a brighter image, does the grain go up or what does affect grain in a video in your opinion?

 

[adwb]

I have found with my A7r2 that the built in exposure metering  consistently suggests settings that actually give a overexposed look despite showing as neutral exposure on the display EV scale.

 I got used to that when shooting raw and always exposed raw at that suggested level, which allowed head room for recovery while allowing the black to show detail with out grain at higher iso settings.

However when shooting video that built in overexposure does cause a issue when using non log profiles, in that the over exposure does not take kindly to recovery.

Using a log profile however does seem to like the overexposure suggested by the metering with the exposure being reasonably gradeable.

Using a remote monitor with false colours and adjusting the exposure to obtain what the false colours show as a correct exposure results in the camera display showing one stop underexposed.

So , for me , shooting video with non log profiles I use one stop under and , for log profiles and for raw stills , one stop over works for me regardless of the ambient lighting available.

 

[michaelschnepf]

@adwb with non slog you mean everything which is not slog2 and slog3 , e.g. cine4?

 

 

[elgopro]

Yes, 4k is its really bad. Lowering the shutter speed will not affect image quality, but it may cause unpleasant motion blur. That's why twice the FPS is the recommended shutter speed in video. A balance between motion blur and "robot-looking" motion.

[adwb]

10 minutes ago, michaelschnepf said:

@adwb with non slog you mean everything which is not slog2 and slog3 , e.g. cine4?

 

 

On my body I have various profiles set but the only two that use slog gamma is pp6/7

:-

pp1-5 I use under expose -1

for pp6/7 I use 1 stop over.

[michaelschnepf]

Thanks for your answers. I will head out next days to test all the settings, i will give you feedback.

As you seem to be experienced sonya7iii users, i want to ask an additional question:
As i started filming about 1/2 year ago, i wanted to upgrade my stuff step by step.

1) i want to film HD at a wedding, because i need slowmotion. What setting do you recommend? I did 2 videos so far (couple video and a image movie for a club).
I filmed HD 50fps 50M. As the result was pretty good, i thought about keeping this setting also for the wedding i am filming (also because the amount of data is less so i do not need to buy a huge amount of sd cards by now)

Would you recommend to switch to a different setting (assuming enough light is present)

2)When filming a wedding, i need to ensure that no data is lost.
So i thought about saving the data on 2 cards parallely.
What do you think, how much SD cards do i need for this (i am booked for about 10 hours), referencing to the settings you recommend?

3) same question as 2 but for the battery?
 

[adwb]

shoot at 50/60p all the time, use a 24p timeline in your editor watch the attched links ,

https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/how-to-achieve-perfect-slow-motion-results-in-post/

http://frontside.de/dls/pan.htm

Regarding batteries for video use , look on amazon for remote  battery https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00S5FSZZO/?coliid=IKH3XFI83XSR9&colid=2UVJ3ZA03XP59&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

regards alistair

[michaelschnepf]

Thanks for the tip, i already did use this settings by now. Nice to see that those settings are used by others too.

Regarding SD cards i made a test:

10 Seconds of 4K/24p/100M = 127 MB = 516 Sequences = 5160 Seconds = 86 MIN
10 Seconds of HD/50p/50M = 66 MB  = 992 Sequences = 9920 Seconds = 2,75hours 

As i plan to film in HD mainly, and to use 2 cards simultanously, i should be fine to buy 4 cards don't you think? I am booked for 8 hours.
So i can film full 5.5h if i want to (will not happen), what do you think?

Are you using such a thing like a remote battery, and does it work? I was thinking about getting 4 batteries (maybe not original but cheaper ones) and a charger where i can charge 2 batterys simultanously.

[adwb]

I gave you a link for the best battery solution in the post above

[michaelschnepf]

Yes i saw it and i wanted to know if you use it personally? Brcause the sony a7 iii is not in the list of supported devices and i am afraid of crashing it

[michaelschnepf]

So as i could figure out this battery solution belongs to the battery NP-FW50 used by the SONA A7 II

The SONY A7 III uses the NP-FZ100 battery and i cannot find above solution for this type of battery, and i think this will not work out.

What happens if the voltage is too high, it will simply crash and the camera is dead, so don't you think that this is a bit risky?

[adwb]

Sorry ,did not spot the wrong camera was think8ng of mine, but if you look on Amazon for your battery, you will see dummy battery packs with usb leads that you can plug into a remote usb battery pack.

[michaelschnepf]

This is an awesome way to get a huge long lasting battery, the only thing i am really concerned of is the warranty, because if this thing fails in voltage or anythig  else it will damage the whole camera.