Monday, February 16, 2009

SI-2K: Low Light Performance Test



Here we have another video clip from the survey files of the Silicon Imaging SI-2K, the camera most famous for being Danny Boyle's choice of recording medium for Slumdog Millionaire.

In this instance, Louis Silverstein has set up the SI-2K with only a 75W bulb (bounced off a wall) as the light source. This provides a makeshift test of the camera's low light performance. The additional camera settings for this test were ISO:400 and 2k@24P.


Low Light SI-2k from Louis Silverstein on Vimeo.

2 comments:

Louis Silverstein said...

Howdy, I am the poster of that test and I would like to comment on the SI-2k. I have found that it works amazingly well in many lighting situations. It does tend to get a bit grainy the lower the less light you supply it, but the grain feels more natural like film grain than most grain i have seen with video. In addition, using the traditional method of gaining up to add more light when there is limited lighting is not as simple as increasing the gain. To do it right with this camera I have found you need to use a combination of the speedgrade cc system built in and the gain. The chip has much more fidelity than you see on the preview and to see what you are really getting you need to use every element of the camera properly. Also, i have found that using my light meter to light is much more reliable than the monitor. Like shooting film the monitor is there as a guide but not the end all be all. If anyone has any questions I would be glad to try to answer them.

-Louis

Jack Cabbage said...

Hi Louis, thanks for the insight, for stopping by and for making yourself available to others who want to learn!