Correcting for low lighting using FCP

Hi,
I am trying to correct for low lighting conditions of a some scenes I shot using an XL2 MiniDV Camera. Any suggestions? The scenes were shot in 24P 16:9 at 1/48.
Best,
Gary

for what it's worth, i've had pretty satisfactory results with a combination of Shadow Highlight from Lyric Media...
(FREE at - http://www.lyric.com/fcp-plugins/index.htm#shadow)...
...and then rescue the grainy blacks with Black Restore from Too Much Too Soon...
(FREE at - http://www.mattias.nu/plugins/)...
Just my input.

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Best camera for low light and sports

have the sx200is
looking for a newer camera for sports and low light shots

The challenge with sports is that you are REALLY pushing the camera gear to it's limits. Fast action requires fast shutter speeds. But fast shutter speeds demand a lot of light and only outdoor games played during the daytime have that. Indoor games or games played under field lighting at night generally do not have the kind of lighting needed to shoot with fast shutter speeds -- not the kind of shutter speeds needed to freeze action. So this ends up demanding a camera with excellent ISO performance and lenses with very low focal ratios so they can collect a LOT more light when the shutter is open. This gear is expensive.
You will want to consider a reasonable budget depending on what you can afford and the needs of the specific sports.
Are these indoor or outdoor sports? If outdoors, are these played during the day or are they night games?
The "best" camera for sports and low light is the EOS-1D X. It has phenominal low-light performance, has an amazing focus system, and can shoot at 12 frames per second. But it's about $6800 for the "body only" and then you still need lenses. I'm guessing this is probably not what you had in mind. But if money were not a constraint... this would be the one to go for.
The 5D III is another amazing camera for low light performance and and also has an amazing focusing system (largely the same as the 1D X) can shoot at 6 frames per second, and only costs $3500... again, that's the "body only". Still probably not what you had in mind.
The 70D has an extremely good focus system (though not as good as the 5D III and 1D X), not quite as good as low light (but pretty good and much better than a point & shoot camera) and shoots at 7 frames per second (1 fps faster than 5D III) and it only costs $1200 for the body only.
The T5i will be noticeably less expensive than the 70D... a good (but not extremely good) focusing system and 5 frames per second, but the body and 1 kit lens combined is about $850 but that wont a lens suitable for use shooting sports so you'll still need to invest in more appropriate lenses.
When shooting action photography in low light, what you _really_ want is a lens that can collect a lot more light than the average lens for that very brief moment when the shutter is open. Such a lens can allow you to use a faster shutter speed to help freeze those action shots. But *which* lens you use depends on the sport.
For low-light sports, these would ideally be f/2.8 zoom lenses... but f/2.8 zoom lenses are not cheap. Canon's EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM (ideal for most indoor sports and outdoor sports IF the action is happening close to you) is about $2500. Sigma's lens is about half that price. But if you're covering action on a large athletic field and the players are far away, they'll still be small. Sigma makes a 120-300mm f/2.8 zoom for sports... for the low low price of only $3600.
Scott Kelby does a video to talk about sports photography and he discusses the equipment used and why... and basically says if you want the gear for shooting sports, you basically need a suitcase full of money.
Tim Campbell
5D II, 5D III, 60Da

The ipad mini does not have flash for pictures. Is there an app that can add flash for low light?

Since the ipad mini does not have flash for taking photos in low light situations I'm wondering if there is an app that one can use with flash?

Since there's no flash mechanism on the device, I doubt there's an app. You can't control what isn't there.

Mainframe data loaded into Oracle tables - Test for low values using PL/SQL

Mainframe legacy data has been copied straight from the legacy tables into mirrored tables in Oracle. Some columns from the mainframe data had 'low values' in them. These columns were defined on the Oracle tables as varchar2 types. In looking at the data, some of these columns appear to have data that looks like little square boxes, not sure but maybe that is the way Oracle interprets the 'low values' in the original data into varchar. When I run a select to find all rows where this column is not null, it selects these columns. In the results of the select statement, the columns appear to be blank, however, in looking at the data in the column using SQL Developer, I can see the odd 'square boxes'. My guess is that the select statement is detecting that something exists in this column. Long story short, some how I am going to have to test this legacy data on the Oracle table using Pl/Sql to test for 'low values'. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could do this????? Help! The mainframe data we are loading into these tables is loaded with columns with low values.
I am using Oracle 11i.
Thanks
Edited by: ncsthbell on Nov 2, 2009 8:38 AM

ncsthbell wrote:
Mainframe legacy data has been copied straight from the legacy tables into mirrored tables in Oracle. Not a wise thing to do. Mainframe operating systems typically use EBCDIC and Unix and Windows servers use ASCII. The endian is also different (big endian vs little endian).
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could do this????? As suggested, use the SQL function called DUMP() to see the actual contents (in hex) of these columns.

Creating the best RAID setup for my MacPro using FCP

I have a MacPro, 2 x 3GHz Dual Core, 16GB ram, 4 x 500GB drives and I work in FCP 5.1.4 and with my Hardware setup I feel it should be faster and I've been wanting to set up a RAID but not sure how to do it, or the best way way to do it.
Out of the 4 drives I have, Drive one is my main drive (boot drive, apps etc.) Drives (2 & 3) which is a TB combined, I'd like to turn those into a RAID) to speed up rendering, editing etc. In FCP and Motion. Drive 4 is where I keep all my working files.
My files are backed up regularly onto external harddrives and kept offsite.
Can I leave everything I have on my entire system the way it is and just turn Drives 2 & 3 into a RAID that's best for this application? People who work in VIDEO I know do this all the time to speed things up but I can't find the steps for the best way to do this. Bits and pieces all over the place but I can't put this puzzle together.
Can you point me in the direction in how to do this?
As I'm doing this is there anything I should be careful about?
Please help me understand this process.
Just in case you need to know what kind of drives I have here's the info:
Capacity: 465.76 GB
Model: ST3500641AS P
Revision: 3.BTA
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk1
Bay Name: "Bay 1"
OS9 Drivers: No
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
Startup Drive:
Capacity: 465.44 GB
Available: 367.86 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk1s2
Mount Point: /

My advice would be 'yes' to what you are saying... with the exception of the Softraid stuff - not that I think its wrong, but I've never used it, so I can't comment if you need it or whether the Mac OSX raid is sufficient - but others here say they prefer it so fair enough. You can see some comparisons here http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/softraid/351/
amug always have indepth benchmarks of stuff.
I wouldnt call myself an FCP guru, but I think that your suggestion of putting the FCP scratch disk and client, video files on the raid are the best idea. The scratch folder is essentially where the temp-rendered clips go, so its audio and video - you want that folder to be on a really fast volume. You also want your source video files to be on a really fast volume, so they can be streamed fast enough to play in realtime too when playing unrendered areas, or building a preview.
Some might say in FCP you get bast performance when your scratch disks and video files are on seperate disks. Thats totally true, so it can read from one disk and write to the other at the same time. But in your case you have a 3disk stripe, which is roughly 3x faster than either of your disks! So it would still be faster to have them all on the same stripe.
You can leave your FCP app on the sys drive, keeps things cleaner (drive1 for sys and appsm raid for data). You can keep your project files where ever you want, they're not very big and are kept in memory so dont affect performance at all. Though to stay clean I would keep it on the raid, so again the raid is for data, and you can back it up accordingly. The system drive is only for apps and system so you can back that up accordingly too (less frequently probably).
P.S. Technically your 'point 8' is inaccurate. After creating the raid you will not see drives 2,3 or 4. You will see only one 'volume' for all 3 drives. Overall your mac will have 2 'volumes': the system drive, and the stripe of 2,3,4. Physical drives and 'volumes' that mount in your OS are completely seperate. You can create multiple partitions in a single drive, or you can combine multiple drives into a single volume (e.g. using raid). But basically yes, you copy your client files back to the raid.
And remember, if any ONE of the disks in the stripe dies, you lose ALL of the data on the entire 1.5TB volume. So it is pretty important to backup regularly!!!!
(I dont wanna confuse you any more, but raid5 is a good option if you want more security and don't mind paying extra :P, you'll need more hardware for that, and more drives to make it worthwhile - but I would say skip that for now, as you can build your raid0 for free or almost free and use that until you think you need more)

Multi-Cam Color correcting and low light

I have scanned the forums and youtube but am having a hard time trying to figure this out.
I was filmed in Las Vegas at an event by two different cameras. My Sony Z5u (front shot) and a similar looking and priced Cannon using tape.
I have them downloaded and on the timeline synced
I would like to get the colors as close as possible on both clips in the first hour ( brighter pics attached )
Is there a way to match pretty closly the two clips in color with a color corrector automatically...or is this a manual thing i have to do?
Hours 2 - 6 the lights came down for power point and the video has this orange brown hue that looks like crap.
And ideas on how i might make it look a bit better?
Any help is appreciated :-)
Thanks!

It's a manual thing.

Best Way of Exporting for iDVD when using FCP?

What would anyone recommend in terms of getting the best output from FCP for making an iDVD?
I usually export as a self-contained QT movie. Is there a better way?
J.M. Prater

There's an easier way... export a non self contained movie. The result will be the same... just faster file export and smaller file to boot.
DVD SP will make a lot better looking DVD's if you have that. The encoding done through Compressor is better than what can be done in iDVD.
Jerry

Best camera for low light pictures?

Hello all.
I have a blog about gastronomy. I visit a lot of restaurants and take pictures of pretty much everything I eat. And in most cases, those pictures need to be taken without any kind of flash and at somewhat dark rooms.
Which mode would be best for these conditions?
It is also important to mention that I only have some basic understanding of photography.
Thanks in advance,
Marcus

Scott / Cicopo,
Thanks a lot. This has been extremely helpful.
I will post again once I had the opportunity to learn a little about the camera. Hopefully I can make you guys proud
Cheers!

50% discount for all Pro using FCP Studio/Sever!

I am a FCP Studio Pro user since version 1.0. I am have buy/download from the APP Store the new FCP X due to the numerous BAD ratings and publicity. I urge Apple to allow all FCP Studio/Server Pro users to buy FCP X at 50% discount in order to encourage them to try and play with the new FCP...

I was just looking at old reciepts the cheapest I can find is the 2003 upgrade that was just FCP.    $300 is pretty cheap.
2010:
FC STUDIO UPGRADE-INT      $299.00
back in 2005:
M9912Z/A FINAL CUT STUDIO UPGRADE      580.20
back in 2003:
M9039Z/A     FINAL CUT PRO 4 UPGRADE FROM FC3 199.50

Best Networking Setup for low CPU use?

Going to be connecting two G4's over a 100-T router. What is the least CPU intensive way to trasnfer files on computer A to computer B?
FTP?
Personal File Sharing?
I need the least CPU intensive out of all the possible options available.
Burning not an option, need to be over the network.

FTP while both machines are connected to a switch that is using Jumbo Frames. Of course, your network cards also have to support it (unlikely in a G4).
Using Jumbo Frames greatly reduces the amount of CPU time due to each packet being able to carry more data (less packets == less processing time). The only issue with JF is that every device inbetween the computers must support the same JF mode.
Since UDP (FTP) is a state-less connection, it is faster.

T3i won't AF in low light NIGHTCLUBS anymore (using 550 ex)

I do nightclub photography and I've had my t3i for about 2 years now and I use the 550 ex. Recently the red light doesn't blink when I try to get a focus in low light using the kit lens.
I know the red light does work because I used it with a trigger and I've put the flash on a 7D and it works fine. In order to get a focus now in low light, I have to use a secondary video light for the camera to focus. The camera's AF works fine in regular light and in dim light- just not in a dark nightclub (but it used to).
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Check to see if Focus Assist with External Flash has been turned off or not.
Weekend Travelers Blog | Eastern Sierra Fall Color Guide

5d mark III focusing slowly/etc. in low light wedding receptions

I've been using 5d2s for a long time because I am simply not rich enough (and I don't want the huge body either) to buy 1d-series cameras for work. I've shot about 20 weddings with the 5d3 since I bought it, and I finally sent it in to Canon the other day for an autofocus checkup.
My #1 issue is reception autofocus. My 5d2s beat my 5d3 at reception focusing (with 580EX AF assist always used). They are more reliable for AI servo and faster for one-shot.
My 5d3 struggles to acquire in one-shot, taking probably close to 2 real seconds (it feels like forever) to establish and confirm a lock on a static subject during wedding receptions with lenses like 24L II, 35L, 50L. In contrast, in the exact same lighting conditions and with the same lenses and flash AF assist, my 5d2s all snap right to focus and I click the shutter within about 1 second or less, getting an in-focus image about 90-95% of the time.
With AI servo, the 5d3 is just inferior to my 5d2s in low light. I was hoping, one day, to get a camera that would give me the ability to track subjects well during processionals/grand entrances/reception dances using the outer points, because I'm pretty tired of being stuck with center-point framing for these situations. I thought the 5d3 was supposed to solve that problem, but in fact it took a step backward in low light AI servo accuracy and locking. My 5d2s (center point) both acquire faster and track better in low light than my 5d3 (center point also).
After sending the 5d3 in to get it checked (and so they could charge me $175+), I got a nice copy of the page saying that the camera focus in low light is blah blah etc. etc. use AF assist (which I had noted I did) and the overall feeling was that they were very condescending and disregarding of my equipment issue. To me, a $3500 camera should perform better than a camera that is now worth ~$1300...and so the 5d3 performs arguably better in GOOD light, simply because it has more focus points to choose from which are generally pretty accurate - in GOOD light. However, it performs worse in reception light. Wedding photographers will understand what I mean by reception light.
My 5d2 AI servo is not useless during receptions, but my 5d3 AI servo struggles more in the same reception lighting. My 5d2 one-shot locks quickly and pretty accurately during receptions, while my 5d3 takes significantly longer in one-shot to lock, and sometimes it gives me pretty wild misses, during receptions. Always using AF assist with 580EX, and btw the 5d3 firmware is the latest version (1.2.3 at this time). The camera simply focuses slower during receptions than my 5d2s, and AI servo misses more.
I also don't like that AF points don't light up before focusing, but this is less important to me than a fast, responsive AF system for wedding receptions. I have had to put away the 5d3 on multiple occasions and bring out a second 5d2 for wedding receptions just so I can get good dancing photos, good speech/toasting photos, etc., before all the key moments went by and ohhhh too late, my focus system didn't lock in time...
I have been having this issue with 5d3 performance since I bought it close to a year ago. I do wedding photography primarily, and I have quite a bit of experience shooting weddings and dealing with the various demands of weddings.
Most of my AF experience is with single point, with only a few experiences using the expansion settings. I have never had trouble locking or tracking with single point with my 5d2s as long as there was enough light to do it, and being used to that I expected the 5d3 to be able to perform at LEAST comparably. It does not.
At this point, this critical functional limitation of the 5d3 has left me very dissatisfied with the camera. I thought upgrades were supposed to do everything just as well or better than the previous version, but this newest camera has shown me that more AF points definitely does NOT mean a better (or even comparable) AF system in every situation. Clearly something was traded off when they added a ton of cross-type points, like low light acquisition speed and being able to see your AF points illuminate when you start AF.
I've been playing around with Nikon equipment for a while and am beginning to think that is my forced alternative. I don't like the things I hear about Nikon customer support, and I don't really like the direction they are going with some of their releases or how they handled function issues (focus issues with off-center focus points, oil on sensors, etc.) but Canon isn't innocent of that stuff either. And if I use an all-Nikon setup then I will have excellent dynamic range at low ISOs as well. Too bad Nikon doesn't have the glass I like best (35L, 85L, etc.)...but compromises must be made in some direction, and I'm intensely frustrated with Canon's latest cameras' focusing systems in low light.
It's very specific, mind you: Low light performance is inferior to my 5d2s. In good light, my 5d3 has better AF flexibility for tracking with outer points, and the one-shot focus acquisition is comparable to my 5d2s.

This singular issue of the 5d3 has ensured that I will never buy another one (unless they fix that, which they won't). Unlike what I did with the 5d2 (upgraded to 5d2s towards the end of their product cycle), the 5d3 is too impaired for low light photography for me to be able to replace my 5d2s with 5d3s. I can only hope the next generation will NOT have the same low light focus delays...otherwise I might have to buy a few 6Ds just to keep up with more current tech (since my 5d2s will wear out eventually). I've heard they don't have the same doublechecking delay, but they also have other limits that I dislike (1/4000 ss, 1/180 flash sync, no pc sync port, SD memory only) and will have to work around.

Redrawing a logo for LOW resolution

Greeting, can someone send me some tutorials about how can I redraw or how should I think if I'm making a logo design for low resoltuion use, or for small dimensions. ex: for spoons, small badges, etc

trialboj,
There will rarely be any reason to redraw for low resolution, unless you wish to make sure that the individual artwork objects/parts are confined to whole pixels in connexion with web/other screen use, in which case you may work with a pixel grid and with Align to Pixel Grid ticked, but that may not be very nice to look at.
For small scale use, you can still use vector artwork, especially for print tasks where you may use PDF or AI, or you can set the pixel x pixel size in connexion with Save for Web (and Devices) or the resolution in connexion with Export to raster formats; in connexion with the latter, you may also just leave it at a higher resolution than strictly necessary.
But if possible, it is always best to keep the artwork as vector and let the outputting device make the best of it (literally).

Is LED flash used for taking pictures at low light?

I recently bought 4s iphone, currently when i take pics in the night or low light the image is not clear due to LED flash light. Does LED flash is used only for notification /alerts or is it mainly used for creating better pictures in low light?
Thanks
Ravi

or is it mainly used for creating better pictures in low light?
That is correct.
* Double check if there is a plastic film covering the camera and the flash.
** In my personal opinion, pictures using the flash in iPhone are of poor quality anyway.
Message was edited by: impious-rocker

Tips for avoiding "noisy" images in low-light

Hi all,
I noticed that there are a lot of users here who are complaining of noisy images especially in low-light. I'm not a professional photographer or anything but I have been playing a lot with the camera of my Xperia Z1 and I did have noisy images also at first.
Here is my tip: Use these settings:
Go to Manual Mode.
Shoot in either 8MP 4:3 or 16:9 (don't worry about not making use of the 20MP, because its still doing oversampling to improve the quality of the 8MP image by making use of the whole 20MP sensor).
Set Stabilizer to off
ISO to Auto (if you prefer more detailed images, set ISO to a lower value but take note of the exposure of the image and that there is a chance of motion blur due to the longer shutter speed necessary to capture low light at low ISO)
WB Auto (or your preference).
With the setting I use above, I've seen improvements on low-light capability (indoors, artificial lighting, or night outdoor scene for example) and quality of my camera pictures. Note though that this will not be applicable for extreme low-light. Its very normal to capture really noisy images when shooting in extreme low-light (even my dedicated compact camera has troubles too).
Here is my theory why its taking noisy images by default. In Superior Auto, I analyzed the EXIF data of the pictures I've shot. It seems that Superior Auto is really excessive in bumping up the ISO (thus resulting in more noisy images) to compensate for having a faster shutter speed (reduced motion blur). Thus what you get is a noisy image that is bright and freezes the motion. For example, test it out that in Superior Auto, even minute movements of the phone will trigger the Sports Mode (running man icon near the button) prioritizing a faster shutter speed at the cost of a higher ISO.
Another reason I have for turning off the Stabilizer in Manual Mode is the same. In contrast to Steady Shot used in recording movies (sensor based shift to compensate for handshake movements), I think the Stabilizer option basically just bumps up the ISO also to compensate for handshake movements. I"m not entirely 100% sure but so far, I've been satisfied with taking images with the Stabilizer Off.
Please feel free to test it out and report the results if there have been improvements. I'm still testing it out too! One of the things I wish for Sony to put in the Camera App are just these 3 things:
1.) Holding Shutter Key will open the Camera app with the LAST CONFIGURED SETTINGS
2.) Maximum ISO can be set in Manual Mode
3.) Scene AUTO mode for Manual Mode (I know it might be redundant but it would be nice to have Auto mode for 4:3 orientation images).
Again, hope to hear from others what are their settings or if they notice any improvements in images captured.
Thanks!

Hi, there is a FAQ related to this topic.
http://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/FAQ/Capture-better-photos-in-low-light-conditions/m-p/395397#U395397
Don't forget to mark correct answer as Accepted Solution.
If you find the post helpful, press Kudos.

Correcting for low lighting using FCP

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