On Mon, 18 Feb 2002 09:52:41 GMT, "Adrian M" wrote:

>Low light shooting with this camera seems to be a problem. If I don't want
>to attach a light to the camera then are the "nightshot" and "low lux" modes
>the only ones available to shoot in? If so, I find the low lux mode useless
>for moving objects (such as people in a crowd) and the nightshot mode to be
>great except no colour, just green and black (ok I'm picky - but I don't
>want to buy a light as it would attract too much attention as I need to use
>the camera for covert operations).
>
>What are the best settings to shoot in low light conditions on this camera?

As MR suggests, try slow-shutter, no 1 (1/30th or 1/25th),
or 2 (1/15th or 1/12.5th) - these, with motion that is not
too fast can look OK, though they do reduce the vertical
resolution to 1/2 and increase stairstepping. "Night-shot
mode combined with "B&W" produces a nice black and
white image in lower light (and I think it can be used
with the no 1 and 2 slow-shutter modes, also), giving a
reasonably good image in very low light. In any case,
if you can turn off the stabilizer, the image quality
and low light range improves slightly in low light.
When shooting in color, if you are at +18db gain and
can accept a slightly darker image, using manual exposure
and moving to +15db gain (one notch...) often improves
color noticeably. You can also use an infrared light
(invisible, unless someone looks directly at it from
the front) with night-shot for "no-light" shooting.
BTW, the TRV900, and especially the VX2000 have very
noticeably better low-light shooting ability (but no
IR capability...). See:
www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/camcorder--comparison.htm
for low-light image comparisons.