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Highest Acceptable ISO X-T3


EphraimP
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Some friends who run a tap house are having an event this weekend and they asked to borrow my studio lighting kit (nothing fancy, just a Godox SL-60 and soft-box) so their event photographer can set up a photo booth and take pictures of people dressed up as vikings. Since I'm going to be there, they asked if I wanted to shoot them an event video, including shots of the live music they'll be having. 

The place is crazy dark inside and there won't be any stage lighting as they'll be setting up a makeshift stage. I have two small on camera style video lights that I can swap between for candid shots of people at the bar, getting their faces painted, eating giant turkey legs, etc. I don't think the lights will be of much use trying to films the musicians. 

What's the highest ISO you've gotten away with for professional/semi professional shoots? I think ISO 1600 is great, up to 3200 is doable if you don't underexpose too much, but 6400 starts to get noisy.  Has anyone been able to use 6400 or higher ISOs? Does the X-T3 denoise easily in Premiere? I can either shoot to card in camera or to my Ninja V if higher quality ProRes or DNxHR files will make a difference in post.

Thanks in advance for your input.

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2 hours ago, EphraimP said:

Yeah, the test shots I took really quickly at 6400 were 1.5 to 2 under. I'm sure that's part of why it was getting noisy. Any opinion on whether recording to the Ninja will give me files that are easier to make pretty if I do get some noise?

I don't think the Ninja will do too much for you in that regard. Neatvideo is your best option for that. 

My best workaround for lowlight is a cheap speedbooster (lens turbo) plus some cheap manual lenses(Nikon 50mm 1.8). 

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Haven't played with Neatvideo yet. Sounds like I may put a little bit of the cash from this gig into it if need be. Too late to get a speedbooster and lenses, but I'll probably use my Meike 25mm T2.2 mini-cine prime and do everything in 24p.Definitely no Peter McKinnon-ing at 120p for that extra crispy b-roll.

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Personally, I try not to go above 6400 or 3200 even and with an f1.8, even at some of the darkest stages of my weddings, that's not too hard to do.

I do light stuff as much as I can however such as wedding speeches, 1 or 2 side/slightly angled small LED's on light stands to give the subject a bit more.

LED's...at least the 20 euro one's from Godox I have don't throw out much light or very far unless it's properly dark and this is when they come into their own.

Wish I hadn't sold my Dedo Ledzilla a few years back and will be getting another for next season as it was the perfect bit of kit for what I do :(

Also, in lower light, an even stronger argument for using the baked in Eterna profile rather than faffing with HLG/Flog.

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For the event your doing, I would personally not worry about grain at all as long as the colors look decent.  If the venue is going for that medieval, dark and gloomy look, embrace it and shoot as high of ISO as necessary to properly expose.  Like @thebrothersthre3said, up to 8000 should be fine, I'd even push it further if you need to get someone's face.  Obviously I don't know the exact venue or what the client wants, but if they want to show what their venue really looks like, I would use natural light as much as possible, save for the band. 

Using the X-T3 for a friends wedding I found up to 10,000 still acceptable during the darkened reception and live band scenes.  I'd opt for shooting in 10-bit as much as possible.

Good luck, sounds like something fun to be a part of.

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I'd actually do a couple of test runs to see what works and what doesn't.... obviously the event isn't tonight right?

If it is tonight, then well... can't do any test runs.

But if its in a week from now, I would go back to the tap, see what works and what doesn't work every night till then... I mean.... you don't have to waste your entire night doing it, just bring your XT3 (its small and fairly covert)... do about 30 min. to an hour every night, try different angles, certain places have more light than others, bring external lights if you can. See what works and what doesn't and exploit the hell out of what works on the actual night.

Good luck.

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2 hours ago, mkabi said:

I'd actually do a couple of test runs to see what works and what doesn't.... obviously the event isn't tonight right?

If it is tonight, then well... can't do any test runs.

But if its in a week from now, I would go back to the tap, see what works and what doesn't work every night till then... I mean.... you don't have to waste your entire night doing it, just bring your XT3 (its small and fairly covert)... do about 30 min. to an hour every night, try different angles, certain places have more light than others, bring external lights if you can. See what works and what doesn't and exploit the hell out of what works on the actual night.

Good luck.

If I had time and it was a regular paying gig I'd do that. It's this Saturday and they're only going to give me about $300 (in installments) plus a bar tab and hat for the video. And besides my day job I have a two-video job due before veteran's day that I need to wrap edits for. So I probably won't be able to spend a ton of time testing. 

I'll see what I come up with using a combo of lowest shutter speed (within 180 degree rule) highest T-stop, and using the mini led lights we won't use for the photo booth. Plus maybe trying out Neat Video in post if necessary. It's one of those things where if I don't like the end result I won't charge them anything and will chalk the whole thing up as a learning experience with teh setup.

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24 minutes ago, EphraimP said:

If I had time and it was a regular paying gig I'd do that. It's this Saturday and they're only going to give me about $300 (in installments) plus a bar tab and hat for the video. And besides my day job I have a two-video job due before veteran's day that I need to wrap edits for. So I probably won't be able to spend a ton of time testing. 

I'll see what I come up with using a combo of lowest shutter speed (within 180 degree rule) highest T-stop, and using the mini led lights we won't use for the photo booth. Plus maybe trying out Neat Video in post if necessary. It's one of those things where if I don't like the end result I won't charge them anything and will chalk the whole thing up as a learning experience with teh setup.

I think you'll do fine. 

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15 minutes ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

I think you'll do fine. 

Probably. I like to overthink things. ?

12 minutes ago, androidlad said:

You can use Interframe Noise Reduction, since you're not going to film crazy action shots, it'll be very effective in controlling noise.

I've never played with Interfram Noise Reduction. How does it work in camera and what are the pros and cons?

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