CANON HV20 Low Light Test. 24P

[SilverEvolver]

Other than the last shot, there is practically ZERO noise in this video (from what I can see)... how did you achieve that?

I usually have cinemode, 25P, f-stop at 1.8 and a 1/50 shutter speed. And I get a shit load of noise.

[Tkreft1128]

@SilverEvolver

Probably that shutter speed. I keep mine on 24p. There's a bit of a blur, you can really tell with the shot of the building at the beginning. But it lets more light come in and the image is there without noise.

[SilverEvolver]

@Tkreft1128 so you're saying that you let the shutter speed and F stop automatically calibrate?

Do you happen to know what shutter speed you were at etc? As 24p doesn't mean a 24 shutter speed, typically it would default to 48 I'd imagine.

[Tkreft1128]

@SilverEvolver

I guess I'm saying, don't mess with the f-stop or shutter. Just 24p cinemode alone worked fine for this test.

[ribenawrath]

I found low light with this camera to be pretty awful. But me personally I wouldn't shoot in poor light.

If you wanna keep the picture quality then don't be using digital zoom EVER, and only use gain in post.

[plasmavox]

and another proof that video just sucks.... not only when it comes to low light

[Uhoh2012Productions]

Were those kids smoking pot?

[Anjaan1971]

All Canon Camera is being act like gay when its in low light, I hate this camera now days

[crobs808]

the hv20 in low light is TERRIBLE. trust me, i have two of them as b cameras, and the hvx200 and Sony EX1 as main cameras. the EX1 blows them all out of the water, but then of course it is still HDV so not as high quality as the hvx200. the hv20 is by far a horrible low light camera. sure, this might be artistic, as a video, but go film this, then watch your footage

[Tkreft1128]

oh believe me if i could afford an EX1 or HVX200 i'd be using them, lol.

[crobs808]

i was replying to the guy that said it was "great" in low light...totally opposite. in fact, to add further, i would rather have a Canon XL1 for $1,500 which is a VERY old SD camera, rather than this camera at under $1,000 even though it is HD. The lens on the XL1 (made in 1996) beats this camera out...kinda sad how behind consumer technology is :(

[AngerPacifist]

I have to second this. I just bought and tested HV20 and low light performance is very poor. Left on auto, it cracks up gain and makes the video very pixelized. Compared it to DVX today and it's like night and day. But the of course, $1500-dollar camera is not a $600-dollar camera... Still think it's worth buying, day-time performance with a good lens and a UV filter blows my mind.

[touchogrey]

Try blowing up any XL1 footage to what an HV20 gets out on larger formats. Good lighting in low-light is a price to pay for larger formatted HD footage in great light.

[MatthewBuick]

Mine is bollocks in low light too, great everywhere else.

[buddyroach]

wow. i have always been looking for a camera that can take a shot of the moon in clarity and zoom in on it enough. You could actually see the texture on the shady edge of the moon. Was the moon really orange or did the camera make it look that way?

[LazerPhotographer]

This is good low light performance.

Colors and tonalities are nice to my eyes.

I use a semi-pro VX-2000 camera with 3ccd and what I see here is almost the same quality.

I think some of you confuse low light performance of HV20 with that of DIGI-BETA cams... Low light is a problem even for the TOPpro cameras so for the money HV20 is stellar in low light.

Merry Christmass dude and keep trying, you own a very nice camera!

[huntsman420]

This person is "cranking the brightness" or bleaching and gaining the crap out of it while also using the digital zoom, basically everything you can do to make it look like crap. Ive seen hv20 low light footage that surpasses the vx.

[UAC220]

I completely agree with you. The camera is merely a tool help anchor what the film maker's vision. It's all about how one uses it (or learns how to).

[ewigkase]

to me it seemed to not do so good with low light. it just might be youtube but all I was able to see is were it was bright but now low tone lights (low levels of light reflective lights that would probably be on the walls of building it was just dark.) maybe it is just the way you shot it I don't know

[Ryguy1450]

it does better in low light then other cam's in the price range.

[ewigkase]

do you know of any cameras that can film stars? because most cameras don't seem to good at that.

[Tkreft1128]

This camera can if you get a tripod and lower the framerate to about 12fps. But if you move it you get a crazy trail effect. It also helps if its not cloudy or windy out that night, cause even that messes with the capture when at 12fps.

Also, if you mess with the gamma and etc in color correction in your editing software, you can pick up tones and images you couldnt see in the view finder.

Still. it's not the best camera for low light at all.

its a great camera for portability and quality. :)

[kuunami]

how do you lower the frame rate on the hv20? I thought 24p was the lowest it could go.

[hotty198]

24p is the lowest it can go. its 24 frames in a 29.97fps wrapper.

[KRAFTWERK2K6]

It does. But it also has a night mode which actually is nothing but a longer shutter mode, which exposures the CMOS sensor a bit longer. Like you would make a long time exposure with a standard digital camera. It creates light snakes and blurred shapes when shooting moving objects. I call it painting with light :)

[libertadfilms]

NICE MUSIC AND NIGHT SHOTS

[italovalerio]

try again, now, down shutter speed to 30 or 15 and up gain level. If the iris setup is separated, then set to F1.6 (iris open).

Visit the Youtube High Definition Group and join us, its open to all HD users show your works:

/group/highdefinition

Really HD camcorders no have high sensibility, like 1 or 2 lux.

[Tkreft1128]

yeah -- im learning this camera one day at a time -- not a day after I shot this I finally got it out of Cine Mode and messed with the TV and shutter settings.

[italovalerio]

turn off cinemode too, this make up contrast and make dark more dark