Night video settings

[opus99x]

Can anyone tell me what my settings need to be to get good clear video at night. The area has a good bit of light ( street lights, store lights, cars etc.). I just want to get the best video I can from the area. Thanks.

[ItsMeLenny]

The higher your ISO is, the more grainy your video will become.
Better cameras have less grain with higher ISOs.
Shoot with the lowest possible ISO by:
- Using as much light as possible
- Opening the aperture as wide as possible (which may result in difficulty focusing)
- Keep the shutter open for as long as possible (if shooting at 24fps try 1/24, but this will result in more motion blur)

[opus99x]

Thanks, I have a canon 60d, I am having trouble with the focus when I am making night shots. I had the ISO at 1600, 2.5 aperture I think. The video was good except for the focus.

[ItsMeLenny]

You should still be able to actually focus, it just has a much more shallow depth of field.

[drapeama]

I've shot some decent scenes with my 550D, in available/low-light exteriors even with the 18-55mm kit lens at f/3.5. Best option is to get a faster lens, f/2.8 and f/1.8 are easily better choices.

Technicolor Picture Style helps a bit to "get" the maximum information in the "washed" blacks. Not ideal, but helps a bit to process in post after.

Also, make sure to use the "Exp. Override" option and set the shutter speed to 1/24 when shooting 23.976fps. Helps a bit. Everything is (of course) a bit more blurry in movements, but less grainy.

With a minimum work in post using Levels:


...and a good Noise Reduction plugin (NeatVideo comes to my mind), you can get the best, out of a somehow limited camera for low-light shooting. Not the best example, but shows pretty much the power of that plugin:

Hope it helps!

And here's two videos I've done with low-light scenes, shot with the 550D and processed with NeatVideo: