[STORM5.0]

Hi

Hopefully all will know what I am talking about when referring to the changes from light to dark and back again when panning past a bright window from within a room?

This is obviously the camera making adjustments to deliver the most clarity during each stage of the pan.

What manual adjustments can I make to stop the camera changing the light levels as it passes a bright window? I appreciate that using a fixed setting within the room might make the room appear darker but the window normal and vice-versa (i.e. the room perfect but the window very bright), but I need to achieve this level of control and take it from there.

My camera I am about to use is a Canon XM2.

Appreciate any help with this.

Thanks in advance

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by STORM5.0

Hi

Hopefully all will know what I am talking about when referring to the changes from light to dark and back again when panning past a bright window from within a room?

This is obviously the camera making adjustments to deliver the most clarity during each stage of the pan.

What manual adjustments can I make to stop the camera changing the light levels as it passes a bright window? I appreciate that using a fixed setting within the room might make the room appear darker but the window normal and vice-versa (i.e. the room perfect but the window very bright), but I need to achieve this level of control and take it from there.

My camera I am about to use is a Canon XM2.

Appreciate any help with this.

Thanks in advance

there is no way you can manualy adjust the aperture so the room and windows are perfectly exposed,by adjusting the aperture for the room will leave the bright window overexposed while panning passed,if you must pan with the window in view set the aperture so the room is exposed right.

[Mr Cheese]

Then you will need to add more light in the room or cut the light coming into the room from the window. Professionals tend to do a bit of both. You could use ND gel roll on the window to cut the light coming through it.

In this situation I would decide which is more important - the window or the room and then compromise on one of them. Also you could take control of the iris - very easy on the XM2 and gradually alter the iris setting past the window so the auto doesn't step down quickly - as it does in autoiris.

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by Mr Cheese

Then you will need to add more light in the room or cut the light coming into the room from the window. Professionals tend to do a bit of both. You could use ND gel roll on the window to cut the light coming through it.

In this situation I would decide which is more important - the window or the room and then compromise on one of them. Also you could take control of the iris - very easy on the XM2 and gradually alter the iris setting past the window so the auto doesn't step down quickly - as it does in autoiris.

exactly what i said using DIFFERENT words

[Mr Cheese]

Originally Posted by chrishull3

exactly what i said using DIFFERENT words

Chris Hull please just point to the bits in your post where you mention increasing the light in the room or cutting the light coming in through the window to balance out the difference in levels? Or the part where you give your 'advice' about the OP deciding if the outside or the inside subject matter is more important? The members of this forum draw on advice from other members. The more replies then the greater the advice given. Sarcasm is certainly not called for, and has no place here. Just curious about your reply because, even though I've used different words, I believe those words also have different meanings. Unless you know different.

[STORM5.0]

Thank you for your replies - pretty much what I thought but very helpful in case I was missing something.

Practising with the camera on 'manual' settings, I think I can decide upon the right balance of exposure between the room interior and window.

However you could perhaps help me out further if I explain a little about what it is I am trying to achieve.

My filming project involves the coverage of several empty rooms in a house. This means I will be setting up on tripod in each room, manually setting the camera, and then making a series of pans and tilts throughout to give as much coverage as possible to these interiors.

So while it would be nice to avoid getting bright windows in shot altogether, you can see it is a necessary part of this project in order to display all the important aspects within the room (including windows).

Okay, so I will manually adjust the camera settings on the XM2 - my next question is: should I set the shutter speed, aperture and gain individually until it looks 'best', or simply adjust 'exposure' (which I understand is essentially all 3 together) and not worry about them individually?

My concern is that I do not currently have a lot of experience with shutter speeds and F-stops - I understand their concept and basic function, but do not know how they should work best together, for this particular project.

If I do choose to set these 3 individually, just so I'm armed with this info could you give an idea of the average/ideal shutter speed for shooting inside a room in good daylight ('normal' for PAL is 1/50?), and F-stop on the aperture (the camera seems to default at around 2.0 in its auto settings)?

Note I will be using a .5x wide angle lens, and I know focusing could be an issue - my absolute main priority is to sweep a room with as much as possible in focus, and maintain good lighting throughout (overbrightness of windows during passing excepted). Coverage must be impeccably smooth so I could not allow any side-effects to creep in through wrongly setting the exposure.

Thank you for any further help!

[Mr Cheese]

To keep as much in focus as possible, as you require, I would avoid using any fast shutter speed over the normal 1/50th. By doing so you would need more light entering the lens for a correct exposure. This, in turn would require a larger aperture setting, which decreases the depth of field. Adding a small amount of gain, say 3db, means you can step down the aperture, therefore increasing the depth of field. You really need to experiment a little. Increasing gain by any amount will add electronically produced noise on the recorded image. So it's really a trade off.

If you want to minimise the difference between the windows and the rest of the interior have you thought about the time of day, i.e. shooting at dawn or dusk. You could wait for a really dull day when there is less natural light coming through the window. Or how about shooting the westerly facing windows in the morning and the easterly facing windows in the evening therefore avoiding direct sunlight?

[STORM5.0]

Yes I have thought about these possibilities, and I will - when it is possible - try and choose days and times with the most accomodating light!

Thanks for your very helpful answer regarding exposure, it all makes more sense now and I am sure these considerations will become second nature soon enough.



Edit: By the way when I select MANUAL on the XM2 it seems to hand over user control from its last AUTO setting - I have noticed this is usually around F-Stop 2.0 in a sunny room. Is there any guide as to what such an environment should be as an ideal aperture setting? Does 2.0 sound about right (it looks ok)?