: : Hmmmm.... You are correct: "There are ways of controlling your picture. The broadcast style and the amateur style." The original poster said, "Just got a new vx 2000 but i'm not familiar with camera settings. I want to shoot video under low light conditions out doors but don't know what settings are best for low light. thanks for any help." Which advice do you think is more appropriate - advising him to follow "pro" procedure and to forget that, under low light conditions outdoors, he needs every bit of help he can get to get a decent image, and advising him that he should immediately ignore the advantages of the VX-2000 in giving a relatively high-quality image at +12(+) db gain, thus reducing sensitivity by a very important few stops (and advising that he should instead use shutter speeds that halve the vertical resolution, while checking all this on a 'scope)??? Or follow common sense and use the available gain (and other means if necessary) to get an image... Advising essentially locking a VX-2000 at 0 (or even -3!) db gain for low light work is just plain silly! Makes me wonder about "pros"...;-) Anyway, enough of this - the readers can come to their own conclusions about the most practical way to go (just try both ways...! ;-).

: Nobody said to lock the camera at 0 db. You seem you are not reading correctly. Alan and I said that the gain should set be as close as possible to 0 db. Not locked to 0 db. And again I insist that the proper way to do it is to minimize the gain as much as possible. What seems plain silly to me is your advice about customizing the image to your liking by "increasing the color 1 or 2 notches". It seems to me that your field is not really industrial video but still photography. Please, provide proper technical advice to others. Broadcast proven techniques will never go away. And they apply to all cameras.

Hmmm.... (this is my last post on this...;-).
"The gain should set be as close as possible to 0 db" is near enough to my, "essentially locking a VX-2000 at 0 (or even -3!) db gain", I think... And, I did not suggest "increasing the color 1 or 2 notches". Where did you get that? Seems it is you who have not read carefully..! ;-) "Broadcast proven techniques will never go away. And they apply to all cameras" is quite correct, but they should not (and cannot) be applied in all situations. The original poster indicated he had just bought a VX-2000, and was asking how to best set the camera for low-light exterior shooting. If we were to follow your advice to use "broadcast proven techniques", everyone with a camcorder should set a proper stage, including at least three (manned, of course) boom mics and the appropriate number of stationary and wireless mics, perhaps 30-40 overhead lights, including (manned) spots, etc. (providing enough light to get the exterior night landscape illumination level high enough for f8, at least... [at -3db gain, and 1/60th shutter speed - though you do allow for dropping the speed to 1/30th, knocking off half of the vertical resolution by dropping alternate scan lines, making the night lighting job a bit easier...;-]), and you advise checking the video output on a 'scope to see if it is within broadcast spec and if it is suitable for the highest possible quality VHS transfers (an oxymoron in the making, BTW...;-). Oh, I almost forgot: he should also not take advantage of the facilities offered by the camera to make the camera image quality more to his liking... Hmmm..., I guess, based on your advice, that all amateur and pro location videographers should quit trying to produce video, since they may not have the resources (or the inclination...) to use "broadcast proven techniques" in the process... Heck, give poor Keith (and us) a break! We only want to shoot video simply, without making a big production out of it...! ;-)