Canon 7d low light video heeeelp !!!

[TR909]

Hey guys, I'm having a huge problem ! I just bought a canon 7d for making after/mini-movies( specially in the dark or low lighted areas).I started with test shoots but my videos look like crap, honestly .The low light resolution is grainy and doesn't look good at all I can't seem to find the setting for this...PLEASE HELP !! thanks

[ceremus]

What lens are you shooting with?
Your video may be grainy because your auto ISO is using higher values to try to compensate for being in a low-light environment. If you have a slower lens it may not be able to gather enough light to shoot at a lower ISO without some additional on-set lighting.

[TR909]

Originally Posted by ceremus

What lens are you shooting with?
Your video may be grainy because your auto ISO is using higher values to try to compensate for being in a low-light environment. If you have a slower lens it may not be able to gather enough light to shoot at a lower ISO without some additional on-set lighting.

I have a canon 7d + sigma 10-20mm lens with 126 led video light on a steadycam 3000,
I've doing some reading and a lot of forums say you have to use for videoshooting in low light a lens like a Canon 50 mm - F/1.4 to get the results i was looking for . . .

This is the result i need to get where i need to be : Noize Suppressor Present Sonar World Tour - Official behind the scenes - Event 6 @ Sydney (AU) - YouTube

thanks for the answer . . i truly hope someone can help me

[bhursey]

Originally Posted by TR909

I have a canon 7d + sigma 10-20mm lens with 126 led video light on a steadycam 3000,
I've doing some reading and a lot of forums say you have to use for videoshooting in low light a lens like a Canon 50 mm - F/1.4 to get the results i was looking for . . .

This is the result i need to get where i need to be : Noize Suppressor Present Sonar World Tour - Official behind the scenes - Event 6 @ Sydney (AU) - YouTube

thanks for the answer . . i truly hope someone can help me

Ya your sigma is f4.0 to f5.6 so zoomed at 20mm its f5.6 and wide at 10mm its f4.0. Not good at all for low light in still or video. That would be good for outside photography. From a still perspective you would need atleast a f2.8 lense like a 24-70f 2.8 lense of prime. 50mm f1.8 or f1.4, or the 85mm f1.8.. I asume this would be the same for film because the sensor is the same and the iso is the same.

[ceremus]

I think there are a couple of different Sigma 10-20mm zooms, a f/4-5.6 and a constant f/3.5? The f/4-5.6 will obviously be slower and very difficult to work with indoor lighting. The f/3.5 will be a bit better, but really for indoor lighting a minimum of an f/2.8 aperture is preferred as bhursey points out.

I would think that LED lamp you're using should help with that kind of thing, but I'm not primarily a videographer and I'm not sure how often you want to be using it in your shots, but at the least it should be able to bump you up to decent exposure levels if you're stuck using smaller apertures.

You can certainly get one of the larger aperture 50mm prime lenses, although of course you lose the versatility of a zoom lens, and a 50mm frames somewhat tightly on an APS-C camera, it would be quite a departure from your ultra-wideangle Sigma.

I hear a lot of videographers using and praising the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. It's fast at a constant f/2.8 aperture, it's nicely sharp wide open, and it's a good value for its price. Another option in the standard-zoom range of lenses is the Canon 17-55mm f/2.8. It's very similar to the Tamron, but has some extra features like image stabilization and ultra fast focusing ring USM with available full-time-manual focusing. The 17-55 is tack sharp wide open, it is Canon L quality glass hiding in an EF-S shell. It's also around $500 more expensive than the Tamron. If you just need the lens for video work and don't need a stabilizer the Tamron should be fine for you. If you want a high quality standard zoom lens for both video and stills, and you have the budget for it, I can heartily recommend the Canon.

Also keep in mind, there are two versions of the Tamron 17-50mm, one has a stabilizer and one does not (their version is called "VC"). From most reports I would avoid the VC version, it performs less impressively than the non-VC version in terms of sharpness.

[ChrisAdval]

Originally Posted by TR909

Hey guys, I'm having a huge problem ! I just bought a canon 7d for making after/mini-movies( specially in the dark or low lighted areas).I started with test shoots but my videos look like crap, honestly .The low light resolution is grainy and doesn't look good at all I can't seem to find the setting for this...PLEASE HELP !! thanks

I had the same issue... get a video light... simple fix and I can easily shoot in 100 ISO with no grain.

[BK553]

A video light (especially the LED panels) are only good out to about 5 feet, and will cast shadows, and will cause a white balance problem if it is daylight-balanced. Get a f1.2 or f1.4 lens to shoot in low light, you'll also get much shallower depth of field. or think about a full-frame 5D mkii, which has better low-light video capabilities.

Focusing will be a b*tch though.