Canon Vixia HF20/200 - Low Light, P mode Test

Canon Vixia HF20/200 - Low Light 60i P mode Test

Camrea setup: Program AE Mode (P mode), 60i, AWB, Auto Exposure (except last scene), LP (5 Mps).

The first two scenes were shot with a .42x wide angle lens, hand held. The third scene is hand held with no wide angle lens and the last scenes were mounted on a tripod with no w/a lens. All the scenes were shot at 60i in the Program AE Mode except the very last scene which shot in the P mode and locked the exposure. I did the editing with Sony Vegas Platinum Pro 9 where I added the Title, Music, Fades & Crossfades and Unsharpen Mask, then rendered it to 29.97 fps @ 1280x720 .m2t

It 's definitly more noisy shooting in the P mode... but doable! The last scene proved the best when I locked the exposure (took it out of Auto Exposure) and shot in simi-manual / P mode. It's worth the time to set the camera up in full manual mode if your looking for the best quality, least noise night shots.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• CANON HF20
• CANON HF200
• PROGRAM MODE
• P MODE
• CANON VIXIA
• LOW LIGHT TEST
• HD CAMCORDER
• REVIEW
• HF20
• HF200
• HF S10
• HF S100

[STiTypeUK]

very nice video.. love the vibe with the city and the jazzy music.

what lens did you purchase for your hf200? im looking into the canon .37 but yours seems to be high quality and gives a wider angle.

[NeCubFlyer]

The wide angle lens I use is a Kenko 0.42x Wide - KUW-042 PRO. I've owned this lens for years and don't think it's available anymore. As far as quality, it suffers from barrel distortion on the wide end and goes soft on the zoom end plus the typical lens flare in direct light.

I'd consider buying the Canon lens except it lacks the thread mount on the front of the lens... so no way to mount filters, hood etc!

[Narutotjuhh]

@Delpheno2K7 actually, there is quite possibly not a single camera below a thousand dollars that has good performance in low light situations, so unless you have a big budget, you're gonna have to settle with semi-good low light images.

[dwdrader]

@SmithandSmithCo

I looked for that setting but couldn't seem to find it on my HF200. Is it located under the 'func' button area or am I looking in the completely wrong place? I'm trying to find the best possible settings for night recording of city streets while moving (albeit moving very slowly) and that setting would probably make a big difference, and improvement, for what I'm wanting to do. Thanks for any info and tips/hints.

[SmithandSmithCo]

Great Video, I do however suggest that you go into the camera menu and find AGC (auto gain control). If you set it to 18db or 12db it will get rid of the grain. 12db is recommended as the sweet spot for brightness and grain. 18db makes the image brighter but has more grain than 12db.

[curtismichael14]

its not bad, aleast you can tell that canon tried to make it avalible in low light....awesome video!, thanks for posting

[MaverickMuze]

I am wondering which is better in low light settings? hf20 or hf200?

[vighu999]

Canon is any day better

[bluediamond2077]

true .. wish I got a hf20 because of that. You also got the fact you have to watch out what card you buy and were from. I got scammed on e bay for $30 on a card. It was a fake . Id say if some one was buying go for hf20

[bluediamond2077]

i got mine for $530 back in nov off e bay. brand new. $500 is a good deal but i don't know about standing out side for 6 hours.

[adamr1113]

I'm looking between a Sanyo Vpc-Fh1, Sony Hdr-cx100, and this Canon. They're all about the same price.. can anyone tell me which out of the three will rank the highest in overall quality also considering low light performance?