I am currently in pre-production and have been doing some test shoots with the Canon XL-1 which is supposed to be great in low light situations - but up unitl now we have not found that to be the case! Any ideas on how to open her up in low light situations?

thanks.

angela

-- angela hughey (ahughey@msn.com), May 26, 1999

Answers

When I tested the Canon XL-1, I found that it had ASA equivalant of about 160-200 under Tungsten lights. This surprised me a bit and seemed slower than what I was expecting. Have you tried cranking the gain up? You can also open the shutter speed up to 1/30, 1/15 and (I think) 1/8 of a second. Each step should effectively double your camera's sensitivity. Hope this helps.

David Oulashian

-- David Oulashian (david_o@juno.com), May 26, 1999.

Hi,

I just finished DP'ing principal photography on my DV feature "Click" which I shot with the XL-1. I shot some scenes with either a few candles or a single Zippo lighter with amazingly good results by opening up the shutter and f-stop to the max. I didn't find it necessary to bump the gain.

BTW check out my website for info about "Click" and using the XL-1, Premiere 5.1, and the Canopus DV-REX M-1 firewire card to make DV features at http://www.ccgnv.net/admitone

Regards,

Steven Kahler Admit One

-- Steven Kahler (admitone@ccgnv.net), August 22, 1999.

Hello Angela, I too have witnesed (directed) the same troubles with the XL-1. My only advice to you (smalltime Canadian filmakker) is learn how to light digital to look like film...you spend less in film stock, so spend more on lighting...a good recent grad from a filmschool should know how to light dv like its film...if he/she can't then the school they attend is not current/ no bs...if this is advice cannot accomodate you then shoot in Can

-- (drewpedley@hotmail.com), January 07, 2000.