Hi Serena,

I guess you missed the part where I said or am I missing something. Apparently I was.
I use my shutter, I use my white balance. In the times I toyed around with my iris, I didn't really notice anything too much different then what I was seeing already. However, I didn't use it in conjunction with the other manual features. Today I did as you and others suggested and I did find great control over the areas I thought I had none. I guess in my reading the manual I didn't fully understand how to achieve this. Thank you for your time and input, I appreciate the knowledge that this forum allows people to share.

Glad to help.

Hey Serena,

I just wanted to let you know I used full manual features on the fx1 this weekend for the wedding I shot.
Um wow... I was pretty much a dumb ass for not doing it this way before. Had this post been a year ago....
Very nice control, thank you once again for your insight.

Just wondering if you have any suggestions on low light conditions.
I do use an onboard light, that goes from 20/40 watts, but I find on wider shots where the light doesn't cast as far, there is little I can do. Any suggestions? I've found by putting the shutter to 1/30 gives me a light boost but now makes faster moving things understandably jittery, but that seems to be my only tweek I know of.

Just finished putting in my tax return, so now nice to relax with questions I understand.

On-camera lights aren't great for lighting or clients, but have to be used when that's the only technique remaining. Are you using 18dB gain? Usually people say that results in too much video noise, but I've used that quite often in low light conditions with good results. Works best when the scene is high key and wedding clients don't notice (object) to some noise when the shot is good. I've dragged up badly under-lit shots using curves and your can use compositing to suppress noise in darker areas. Of course that all takes time.
Arranging extra room/church lighting is the nicest solution, but often not practical within budget or time or permission.
Maybe some more details of your shooting situations?

Hey Serena,
Ya, I've got to do my taxes... due in 5 days.

I'd say for most of the day, lighting isn't a problem. The area that usually becomes sketchy is the dancing part of the evening.
Often the halls turn the lights really low, most DJ don't like you setting up lights. So, that's why I turn to the onboard, as I tend to take shots from different angles around the dance floor. I don't like using it because it takes the intamacy and spontinaity out of it when people now know they are on camera.
The gain is set to 18db, iris(depends on weather I'm zooming in or not). shutter like I said, mostly 1/60 but do flip it to 1/30 in some situations.
So, this is why I'm maybe looking to upgrading the camera to one of the newer ones capable of 1.5 lux. Or am I being silly in thinking it will make a big difference? I do love my FX1's but I want to be able to face any situation.
Can you explain the compositing? Is this something done in Vegas.

The dreaded "dancing in the dark". Two suggestions: (1) use a DV consumer camera using the so-called 0 lux facility (B&W); (2) experiment using the FX1 on very slow shutter (1/3 sec). Slow shutter gives lots of motion blur and can look great in dance sequences -- nice sparkle/light trails too. As you say, the on-camera light intrudes and I wouldn't use it (but that's just my style). By the time guests are dancing proceedings have become very informal and the shooting style can be adapted to that.

Compositing involves combining two or more video tracks; certainly in Vegas. The particular application I was suggesting is to copy a clip to another track and by using bezier masks you can isolate portions of the image. So you might separate the bridal couple while giving the rest of the image different treatment (such as heavy noise reduction or blurring). If you haven't done this then you might find the book "Vegas Pro 8 Editing Workshop" (Douglas Spotted Eagle) very valuable. There are DVDs that include compositing examples to be had on the VASST website.

Thank you very much for your help Serena. I have done some shooting with a very low shutter (when the night is wrapping up and I've got sufficient footage) I like the look it gives but keep that to a minimum.
The compositing... sounds really cool. I have yet to venture into that yet. I have done some masking and colour issolation but the compositing was a little over my head. I should invest in the VASST demos, I have seen bits and pieces of them and they are very helpfull.
Again, thanks for your insight.
I think I read before you have the ex1.
How do you like the "G" lense and the cmos?

I use the "0 lux" on my old Sony DV camcorder for exactly this situation. It gives sort of a greenish-blue video, which I convert to pure B&W in Vegas. The quality even in light that is tough to see in, can be quite remarkable. And then, if you REALLY have a problem, you can go to the extra gain, slow shutter speed, 0 lux setting. I have made watchable video shot with nothing but the light from a modestly burning fireplace on the other side of the room. Of course it was only a few frames per second, but it was definitely watchable.

I totally agree with Serana: if you are an event videographer -- wedding or otherwise -- you should have an old Sony DV camcorder in your bag so you are covered when this situation pops up.