Iris Control, Gain = better quality video?

Question

Hi everyone, the reason for my odd question is because I was told that if I fix the "Iris" manually on my camera and not let the "gain" kick in, I can get a cleaner video with less noise.

Is that true? ... if so, exactly how does that process work because I've lowered the Iris, but the picture gets darker, what about the gain?

I'm a newbie when it comes to this stuff.


In advance Thanks for any tips.

Answer 1

What you heard is exactly right. To get the best video picture, you need a lot of light. If there is not enough light, the camera will compensate by increasing the electrical amplification, but this significantly reduces the picture quality. It is the equivalent to using a higher ISO film setting in a digital still camera.

However, closing the iris does not improve the picture by itself. The smaller iris setting has to be compensated by using MORE LIGHT!! Indoors, that means using lighting fixtures. outdoors you should consider reflectors especially when shooting in deep shade. Otherwise all you get is just a darker picture, as you already noticed.

So manual settings on the iris is not the secret, but rather making the extra effort to be sure the scene is well lit. Pros use manual setting on iris only to keep it from changing during the shot, especially if the camera is panned.