Filming at night

[flattenedone]

Hello,

New around here and hoping for some advice.

I'm doing some filming with my d5100. Beyond hitting the record button, pointing, and zooming... I'm pretty much useless. The plan is to do quite a bit of filming indoors at night... so there will be zero natural light.

With some brief experimentation, I've found that the video produced is a bit grainy... lacking the clarity and crispness that I get with daytime filming. Obviously I need to upgrade how I'm getting light into my shot... so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I'd like to replicate the quality of footage I'm able to obtain in daytime filming as best possible.

Thanks in advance!

 

[AC016]

It will be grainy because of how high the ISO will go. Unless you get more light on the scene, you will not be able to get the same results as you would outside in sunny daylight. There are LED lights that you can attach to the hot shoe of your camera to get more light on the scene and it will be a soft light. That way, you can atleast turn down the ISO.

 

[Dave_W]

As you've indicated, the lack of light is the reason for the graininess and the only way to avoid this is to introduce more light.

 

[flattenedone]

It will be grainy because of how high the ISO will go. Unless you get more light on the scene, you will not be able to get the same results as you would outside in sunny daylight. There are LED lights that you can attach to the hot shoe of your camera to get more light on the scene and it will be a soft light. That way, you can atleast turn down the ISO.

Forgive my ignorance, but are you saying the camera is too "tuned up" in terms of ISO for the level of light I'm working with? Which is why I obviously need to introduce more light? If that's what you're saying, would it be helpful to turn the ISO settings down, assuming that's possible.

Here's why I ask...

I was blasting the set with a halogen contractors light I picked up from Lowes. It's bright as hell. But the quality still turned out a bit grainy.

 

[AC016]

Forgive my ignorance, but are you saying the camera is too "tuned up" in terms of ISO for the level of light I'm working with? Which is why I obviously need to introduce more light? If that's what you're saying, would it be helpful to turn the ISO settings down, assuming that's possible.

Here's why I ask...

I was blasting the set with a halogen contractors light I picked up from Lowes. It's bright as hell. But the quality still turned out a bit grainy.

When you are in liveview, read out the settings at the top of the screen. I can only assume that the grain is from high ISO. I don't shoot video with my D5100. Artificial light and sunlight are very different. I suggest you read the manual about video and perhaps search google and youtube. At this time, all i can suggest is to try and turn your ISO down and adjust the lgihting. Good luck

 

[§am]

I think with video you have to adjust the aperture too before you hit record, not sure about focusing though.
I'd assume if you're chucking lots of halogen light on the scene then the ISO should dial down, unless there's a setting which you've put to a high level (can't remember off the top of my head, but one of the menu options lets you do that).

 

[Dave_W]

Some of your problems of graininess can be ameliorated by using fast lenses. What lens are you using for your night filming? I would suggest only using lenses with a aperture of 1.8 or larger (and by larger I mean an aperture with a smaller number). If you do not have any lenses this large consider renting one. You'll find that even a slightly faster lens can make a huge difference.