Best settings for indoor shooting Very pleased with the camera. Even in IA mode, indoor footage shot in low light is quite good. Any recommendations on manual settings to improve video quality in low light? Best settings for indoor shooting Very pleased with the camera. Even in IA mode, indoor footage shot in low light is quite good. Any recommendations on manual settings to improve video quality in... » Read More Best settings for indoor shooting Very pleased with the camera. Even in IA mode, indoor footage shot in low light is quite good. Any recommendations on manual settings to improve video quality in low light? « Show Less
294463
Read Ray's review, AND his replies. One of the most helpful and acknowledged guys out there.... Well done Ray - you ARE the best !!
860031
Aww, shucks Tim you're going to embarrass me, but thanks for your kind words.
1590026
Barry/Richard,I'm still having a heck of a time trying to get a decent snapshot of my dog indoors with typical family room lighting ( not dark but not bright either ) with the S8000. If he so much as wiggles his tail, all is a blur. With higher ISOs I don't expect much sharpness. Faster shutter leads to very dark pics. What am I missing? Do I have to use flash - a tripod is out since he won't sit still that long.Thanks guys,Tony
319447
There's a lot of misunderstanding about this mode. In good light, it gives you a different curve, or look, to the colors and highlights, shadows, etc. Some people like this look, and it gives you another tool to work with. For indoor, or darker situations, the less talked about feature is the spotlight setting. This setting zeros the gain, so in low light you get terrific video with no graininess--up to a point. You need to use it with 24p. The camera has lots of settings, so you really can't lose. For events--concerts, indoors, school plays, etc, the spotlight setting is a real pro feature.
1760741
I'm really surprised at how well the camera does at low lighted events. I usually take both flash pics and no flash pics but find many times the pics taken with available light are better than with the flash. Hope that helps.
928845
I have used my camera for a bit of indoor shooting (filming industrial equipment for mechanical disgnosis), and the camera seems to work fine with normal indoor lighting. Based on my experience with the GoPro, the image quality is as good or better.
2156789
Any indoor video is relatively poor unless ample window light is present. I would say it is sufficient for capturing family moments but not for quality video. Personally I like the little camera.
56151
I have done low-light shooting of youths dancing to Soca/Calypso and Dancehall music while using a Canon hot shoe flash unit on my Rebel T4i with great results. There is almost no blur once you set the camera to function at night setting hand-held...no tripod. I also get good results in low light using the night settings 'with tripod'. The camera's lenses have built-in anti shake systems and I have no complaints with it's operation in any condition so far. Skill to handle such situations guarantee an even better result. This camera is good as any and better than many...I have no regrets.
982269
So far I have taken two videos, one in a relatively dark room with couple of people dancing on a fast beat music and the other in day time but inside the house. Both videos are very good quality. I am overall pleased with the camera.
1551375
Kitchen at night should be OK. Probably won't have that sharp HD look though.In your second example just make sure your subject is not silhouetted against the window and you should be all right. The camera is quite good at coping with most shooting conditions automatically.However, in my first week of using the HF100, in a darkened restaurant, I made the mistake of not turning the on-board video light on.I had read it is not very good and eats up the battery, but I should have used it. The video came out very grainy.Across a table for two is probably the best time to use it. I didn't shoot much anyway, so it wouldn't have used much battery.Oh well, I'll try it next time. Kitchen at night should be OK. Probably won't have that sharp HD look though.In your second example just make sure your subject is not silhouetted against the window and you should be all right. The camera is quite good at coping with most shooting conditions automatically.However, in my first week of using the HF100, in a darkened restaurant, I made the mistake of not turning the on-board video light on.I had read it is not very good and eats up the battery, but I should have used it. The video came out very grainy.Across a table for two is probably the... » Read More Kitchen at night should be OK. Probably won't have that sharp HD look though.In your second example just make sure your subject is not silhouetted against the window and you should be all right. The camera is quite good at coping with most shooting conditions automatically.However, in my first week of using the HF100, in a darkened restaurant, I made the mistake of not turning the on-board video light on.I had read it is not very good and eats up the battery, but I should have used it. The video came out very grainy.Across a table for two is probably the best time to use it. I didn't shoot much anyway, so it wouldn't have used much battery.Oh well, I'll try it next time. « Show Less
111693
Due to how you can't manually select the shutter speed sometimes it gets a little bit tricky to shoot in low light. You'll have to play with the iso and the exposure settings for a while before you get a nice result. The hand-held starlight mode doesn't always work. The night scene mode works fine but you'll need a tripod and ISO is auto so sometimes pics come out grainy. HD VIDEO mode works perfect in low light; I've been going to local band shows and the videos come out great. At the beggining I was a bit frustrated for not being allowed to manipulate shutter speed but after playing with the camera for a month or so now I get some really great results in low light. Due to how you can't manually select the shutter speed sometimes it gets a little bit tricky to shoot in low light. You'll have to play with the iso and the exposure settings for a while before you get a nice result. The hand-held starlight mode doesn't always work. The night scene mode works fine but you'll need a tripod and ISO is auto so sometimes pics come out grainy. HD VIDEO mode works perfect in low light; I've been going to local band shows and the videos come out great. At the beggining I was a bit frustrated for not being allowed to manipulate shutter speed but after playing with... » Read More Due to how you can't manually select the shutter speed sometimes it gets a little bit tricky to shoot in low light. You'll have to play with the iso and the exposure settings for a while before you get a nice result. The hand-held starlight mode doesn't always work. The night scene mode works fine but you'll need a tripod and ISO is auto so sometimes pics come out grainy. HD VIDEO mode works perfect in low light; I've been going to local band shows and the videos come out great. At the beggining I was a bit frustrated for not being allowed to manipulate shutter speed but after playing with the camera for a month or so now I get some really great results in low light. « Show Less
646123
Hello, On EXR and Auto mode I've found my images in low light to be sub par without using the flash - which then can unfortunately cause it's own set of problems. However, as I learn the camera I find adjusting the settings and really depending on the manual as a reference guide, along with youtube tutorial videos that my low and dim light photos are improving. I'm an Amateur at this stage of course but more advanced photographers would have an effortless time taking great shots in low light conditions. If you're shopping around check out the Panasonic FZ200 and the Sony DDSC-HX300 both have won tremendous accolades for low light performance. Hope this helps!
527677
This camera works well if you take some time to experiment with it, and learn how to adjust the settings for what you need. The "indoor" mode works much better for indoor photos than the auto mode. If you are outdoors, using Tv (shutter speed priority) can help solve many of the problems with capturing fast-moving subjects. Switching to aperture priority mode can help in cases of low light. The auto mode works great, if you are outdoors or in a very well-lit location and photographing subjects that don't move very quickly. This camera takes good (but not great) photos as far as IQ is concerned. If that is the main thing you are looking for, you might return this camera and choose one that has a larger sensor, such as the Canon S90 or S95, or even the G11/G12 or a Rebel. If you bought the camera primarily to take photos of fast-moving subjects indoors or in low light, the SX210 is not the best camera for the job. For this type of photography you should look at the Canon S90 or S95, or possibly even the SD4000, assuming you are only interested in a very small camera.
1082491
The more I read about it online, the more it sounds like it's the iA 'algorithm' that is slightly flawed. Many blogs/websites all sight setting adjustments as the easy fix. Not so cool for someone like me that was hoping to rely on the iA for my day-to-day pics, but I guess it's a learning opportunity! Good luck yourself, I will say that other than this one issue I love every aspect of the camera. Will play with settings tonight to see if I can crack it.. ~Rich
1576070
I rarely, if ever, have to use the flash since there are so many options for using ambient light indoors and out. however the flash can be used as a last resort. I find that with lights on in interior shots, using the right options, even using manual settings, I get a better result than using artificial lighting from a flash. Take several shots using several settings using AUTO, MANUAL settings, SCENES and see what type of effect best meets your requirements. Great, flexible camera.
86102
Hi. I have been playing with this camera a good deal the last couple of weeks but mostly on how well it does bracketing and comparing the exposure control settings vs a true representation of the scene at low light. I will keep a hold of the question and test out the GPS this weekend and let you know. Hope that helps. (Great little camera by the way).
310550
i used mine this past weekend in a low light indoor situation, I wasn't happy at all with the results. I find this camera very hard to get crisp clear pictures. Not happy with my purchase, its very sensitive to blurring.
1184895
Hi Dennis, Low-light scenarios is a general issue with personal video cameras. Simply put, you can not expect the same video quality for low light conditions as for sunshine day recordings. I have Canons HF11 and am actually quite impressed how good the quality of the low light sensitivity became nowadays (I am recording fireworks). Under which conditions are you taking a video, whats the object ?