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Reducing Noise At Night

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Ankilla
Posts: 506 - Karma: 2,377
Alright, well for starters, I'm using a nikon d5300 with a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8. I usually film at 24fps with a shutter speed of 1/50 on a flat profile (so i can color correct easier in post-production).

Whenever I attempt to film at night, I always end up getting really noisy footage. I understand that lighting is crucial. From the research that I have done, I know that it's best to keep as low of a f-stop as possible and that your iso shouldn't go above 1000ish. When I do film, I tend to get ok footage of the foreground but my background (that is comprised mostly of the night sky) is really noisy. How do i fix this? is it just my sensor on the camera?

Also, I run into the problem of riders going out of focus as they ride since I am shooting at a low aperture. If i let less light into the camera and raise my aperture to something like an f/11, how do I keep it so they stay in focus.
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Dec 25 2014 1:30PM
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Blake.P
Posts: 9894 - Karma: 3,585
Better lighting is crucial to filming at night. Using a using a large aperture helps with getting more light, but you run into the issue of a small dof so it might not be worth the trade off unless you compose your shots perfectly. Also your shutter is probably too slow (not that this helps with night filming, but for moving subjects 1/50 is too slow of a shutter). Honestly, unless you get a camera that does great in low light, you either have to invest in some flood lights to get the lighting you need or increase the ISO and accept that there is going to be some noise in your shots (which you might be able to correct in post production)
Dec 25 2014 3:19PM
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dan_swagner
Posts: 351 - Karma: 680
Buy the neat video noise reduction plugin. It helps reduce noise in low light footage but I would also try to avoid it by shooting with more light or a better camera
Dec 25 2014 5:31PM
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nutz.
Posts: 3150 - Karma: 6,712
Blake.PBetter lighting is crucial to filming at night. Using a using a large aperture helps with getting more light, but you run into the issue of a small dof so it might not be worth the trade off unless you compose your shots perfectly. Also your shutter is probably too slow (not that this helps with night filming, but for moving subjects 1/50 is too slow of a shutter). Honestly, unless you get a camera that does great in low light, you either have to invest in some flood lights to get the lighting you need or increase the ISO and accept that there is going to be some noise in your shots (which you might be able to correct in post production)


I've been wondering this, do you have a good recommendation for a floodlight/generator? (prefereably wouldn't need a generator, but maybe a light one would be cool)
Dec 25 2014 6:00PM
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Ankilla
Posts: 506 - Karma: 2,377
Blake.PBetter lighting is crucial to filming at night. Using a using a large aperture helps with getting more light, but you run into the issue of a small dof so it might not be worth the trade off unless you compose your shots perfectly. Also your shutter is probably too slow (not that this helps with night filming, but for moving subjects 1/50 is too slow of a shutter). Honestly, unless you get a camera that does great in low light, you either have to invest in some flood lights to get the lighting you need or increase the ISO and accept that there is going to be some noise in your shots (which you might be able to correct in post production)



So if the 180 degree rule doesn't apply to high speed shots, what do you usually shoot at if you're filming at 24fps
Dec 25 2014 9:24PM
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dan_swagner
Posts: 351 - Karma: 680
your shutter speed/shutter angle was correct. for natural film like motion blur you would shoot with a shutter angle of 180 degrees or a shutter speed that is twice the frame rate. 24p = 1/48 or 1/50 depending on the camera.

the 180 rule however deals with where the camera is set in the scene to allow for the same screen direction and eyelines for characters.
Dec 26 2014 12:26AM
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blatt
Posts: 5584 - Karma: 3,097
The cheapest solution is flood lights. Think you can get a new kit of em on B&H for like 100 bones. The another option is a better camera, but that's not too feasible. Prime lenses would help, but I don't think them alone would save the day since you're already at f/2.8.

Flat profiles are absolutes garbage on DSLRs (too low of bitrate; results in noise once grade is applied). I'd suggest getting rid of that shit.
Dec 28 2014 12:05PM
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Holte
Posts: 10740 - Karma: 7,816
On the subject of noise, I'll leave this here.
http://www.neatvideo.com/download.html

Under no circumstances do I suggest relying on removing noise in post, but if push comes to shove and you end up with great footage that is too noisy, Neat Video is an AE/Premiere/FCPX plugin that can work miracles to pull noise out of your footage, and can be learned in about 10 minutes.
Dec 29 2014 6:48AM
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LukasSchroeder
Posts: 1460 - Karma: 2,683
HolteOn the subject of noise, I'll leave this here.
http://www.neatvideo.com/download.html

Under no circumstances do I suggest relying on removing noise in post, but if push comes to shove and you end up with great footage that is too noisy, Neat Video is an AE/Premiere/FCPX plugin that can work miracles to pull noise out of your footage, and can be learned in about 10 minutes.


DUDE thats shits life changing. just got it. i'll post up a comparison (before/after) later
Dec 30 2014 12:21AM
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LukasSchroeder
Posts: 1460 - Karma: 2,683
Here the link to the comparison i made. Hopefully the embed works (on mobile)
Link: http://youtu.be/Xzl8p5-td1c
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/745593/NeatVideo-test
Dec 30 2014 1:23AM
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Holte
Posts: 10740 - Karma: 7,816
^Looks a ton cleaner man.
Dec 31 2014 3:58AM
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