filming...lighting problems

[pepper]

I filmed a couple of bands last night...hayseed dixie and their support act.I have watched the shows back and the lighting leaves band members looking like white objects( no real detail) when i zoom out,is this oversaturation or whatever it is called??.Also filming in low light causes the picture to look grainy,not awful and unwatchable,but a grainy appearance.Is there anyway to reduce either of these problems,any tips will be greatly appreciated.

[firmdragon]

you are over exposing.  which means you're letting in too much light.  have a look at your manual and look into "manual exposure" or setting your exposure manually.  to get rid of the grain in the picture you lower the exposure until the grain disappears.  however this also means you have a darker picture.  trade offs abound!

[pepper]

Ok thanks for the info,what do you mean trade off abound??

[firmdragon]

the brighter the picture is, the more grain you will introduce

[pepper]

I now know how to change the exposure on my cam,so hopefully il have better results next time.

[guitard]

I now know how to change the exposure on my cam,so hopefully il have better results next time.

Over-exposure is a really big problem with boot vids.  If you have a cam that allows for easy exposure adjustment, you can really film some nice vids.  What's even better is a cam that allows you to adjust the exposure with a roller wheel on the outside of the cam (a lot of Sony's have this) or a cam where you can adjust the exposure with a touch screen function on the LED window.

The key is that the lighting changes throughout the show - so if you adjust the exposure accordingly throughout the show - you can really get some nice results - even with an average quality consumer cam.

[Sabkisscrue]

Turn down the exposure.