Canon HV20 Lighting - Suggestion?

[Swebby]

I have myself a wee Canon HV20 camera and am looking to invest in some lighting for it, I've only done a little research as lighting is something I've never really understood.

Really what I'm asking is does anyone have any suggestions for some form of lighting for my wee camera. I am hoping to shoot a short film in the woods in Scotland and figure I need some sort of lighting for this.

I realise I'm properly not explaining myself very well, but it's late here.

Gary.

[Flicker Pictures]

From my experience with the HV20 (and HV40) you will need to give it more light than you would have to with a DSLR or some of the newer camcorders with better sensors. It's not the ideal camera for low lighting situations; not impossible to capture decent footage, but be sure to have more lighting on hand to avoid cranking up the gain, which can/will produce grainy images.

Hope that helps.

[josh-ozirigpro]

Here're some screenshots from a short I did with my HV20 a while ago.
(It looks much darker on this Plasma screen, haha)



This thing performs amazingly in low-light if you put it into 24p CineMode (I think that's what it was called, anyway)

These scenes were done with practically ZERO light - we had some basic $50 work lights set up to give some ambient light, but no soft boxes or anything.

Sorry about the quality, this video is oooold and I could only find a 320p version.

Edit: The lighting here is anything from what I now consider "good", but it was a decent job considering how little we had to work with and it really fit well with the narrative.

[JFP]

I shoot a lot on my HV30. The sensor is tiny and you really need to throw a lot of light at it to not add gain. Outdoor stuff always looks great. For indoor stuff and low light, first lock your exposure using "cell phone light trick", which essentially tricks the camera into not adding gain. From there add light until you are properly exposed and get the look you want.

I'll post some screen grabs of some low light stuff with the HV30 later when I get home.

[directorik]

Hi, Gary

Getting exposure is quite different than lighting.

josh showed what that camera can do with no lighting. Are you
asking how to get by with no lights? Or are you asking about
how to light a short film outside?

[Swebby]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the replies so far. I guess what I'm wanting to acheive is some reasonable lighting for an outdoor shoot at night. I was thinking we would shoot at around dusk time to try and avoid pitch-blackness, but am not entirely sure.


I guess a lot of this stuff is trial and error really, I sometimes think I haven't made enough mistakes yet to really know what I'm doing.

[JFP]

Yeah, shooting outdoor at night is pretty tough. A lot of your lighting options vary depending on your access to power sources.

But if you do have a power source, you could do with some work lights if you want to keep it cheap.

Either way make sure to lock your exposure so you don't add any gain, because the camera will do it on its own right when you turn it on if it isn't pointed at something well lit.

[josh-ozirigpro]

Originally Posted by Swebby

Hey guys,
I was thinking we would shoot at around dusk time to try and avoid pitch-blackness, but am not entirely sure

Shooting at Dusk (or Dawn, for that matter) will generally work out badly for you as you have to worry about the changing lighting conditions. At least if it's dark you can get the lighting how you want and it will generally stay that way

[directorik]

Originally Posted by Swebby

I guess what I'm wanting to acheive is some reasonable lighting for an outdoor shoot at night.

So are you asking what lights to use? Do you have access to power?

Regardless of the camera you use, lighting exterior night takes
some power to really look like night. If you do not light the
background it will simply fall into black.

Of course you can get away with just a few worklights and some
smaller fill lights. But you still need a power source.

[IndieBudget]

Might want to think about day for night instead. I had some HV20's and low light was an issue. If you plan it right and get enough light they get good pics. D4N would work best. Even then you would want some lighting / bounce.. I suggest trying it and getting an experienced editor to show the results. I suggest against shooting for real then trying to figure out if the footage will work in post.

[Morris]

If your scenes are relatively static, you might be able to get away with some battery powered lite panels.