Low Light - HQ? MQ? or LQ?

[Siddhu S.]

I just rewatched Justin Phillip's video where he shoots a low light project with his Komodo just after receiving it. He mentions a live stream where Jarred Land states that the HQ setting is the best for low light.

Does anybody know which livestream this is and at what timestamp this is discussed?

I'm going to be doing a series of nightclub/concert low light projects so I'm super interested in optimizing and using the best practices for low light shooting with the Komodo.

If using the HQ setting can even give a 10% to 15% improvement I'm totally down with using HQ even if it means splashing out for 1Tb cards.

 

[Ryan Chernin]

In my experience, lower compression will give you a touch less chroma noise on Komodo in low-exposure settings. Keep in mind though that Red Raw is generally more noisy when the light simply isn’t there, regardless of ISO or compression. But where HQ compression really helps is giving you extra detail, so that when you add noise reduction in post you’re still able to make out the fine details a little better.

I also shoot a lot of live stuff too, and 6K LQ is just fine for a 4K or 1080 delivery. If you’re looking for a little extra detail and don’t mind swapping cards more often, MQ is fantastic. Unless you’re doing VFX or need HEAVY noise reduction, HQ might be a little overkill. Plus, noise reduction can be taxing on your computer. As can be HQ compressed red files. If you’re going to be adding a lot of NR and color nodes, you might want to consider giving your computer a little extra headroom with more compressed raw files.

 

[Patrick Tresch]

High compressed noise tend to be more muddy. If you like the "grain" feel then keep compression low (high data rate)

 

[M Harvey]

I think there's probably general agreement that you'll get a little more detail at HQ settings-- but also that it's frankly not noticeable in many circumstances for many end users. And other things become a factor here, such as your optics. (Sharpness and contrast characteristics, shooting WFO or stopping down a bit, etc.)

So, I hate to say it, but I think you'll be better off doing your own testing. I think you'll want to test at least these two basic scenarios with your intended lenses: HQ/MQ/LQ performance differences in "good" low light (low illumination levels, but decent contrast on subject) and more challenging low light (low contrast low light). Also note that noise may be much more apparent in certain scenarios with monochrome colored light vs. broad spectrum white light-- maybe that's a factor with nightclubs/concerts.

The other reason to test for yourself is that when you're shooting live performances, there's almost definitely going to be a time when you are running low on media space, even if you buy a bunch of cards. (Your AC/DIT will have stepped away, or your delivery hard drive is full.) You'll need to know if you're ok with the results you'll get at MQ or LQ in that situation.

 

[Phil Holland]

We're at a point where HQ, MQ, and LQ are not "highly compressed" anymore.

Based on my own tests, and rigorous ones at that, DSMC3 is different from DSMC2. There's a very small difference between the three encoding strengths of HQ, MQ, and LQ. Dynamic Range is the same. It's a very subtle difference overall. HQ will always be better than MQ, MQ always better than LQ. But I need to underline this isn't exactly the difference between 5:1 and 12:1 or higher. Too much has changed with the new demosaic as well. There's potential for more energetic noise in LQ, but I haven't seen anything crazy.

I personally think the whole design of DSMC3 is to keep things far more consistent than before when it comes to encoding strengths. But like I said, even the logic and rules we had prior to the last debayer release (late last year) are moderately at the window now.

 

[Siddhu S.]

Thanks everybody for your posts. I'll do a test at the venue using the different codecs to establish what works best given the lenses, lighting, and the look I'm going for. I'm kind of going for a more cinematic "Boileroom" style so texture and grain is fine as it's live electronic music performances.. I love the crushed blacks of late 70s & 80s films like Christian F & Warriors so I don't really need detail in the blacks.