Still getting some grain with the A1

I used the A1 this weekend to shoot a wedding. I loaded some of the footage to get an idea of the quality. Most of the footage looked good, but I noticed a lot more grain than I usually get with my FX-1. I had the Iris opened up to 1.6 most of the night. I set the camcorder to Manual (M) and white balanced a couple of times. I'm using a 10 watt light on the camera that is usually more than enough with the FX-1.

Any thoughts?

I used the A1 this weekend to shoot a wedding. I loaded some of the footage to get an idea of the quality. Most of the footage looked good, but I noticed a lot more grain than I usually get with my FX-1. I had the Iris opened up to 1.6 most of the night. I set the camcorder to Manual (M) and white balanced a couple of times. I'm using a 10 watt light on the camera that is usually more than enough with the FX-1.

Any thoughts?

Try increasing the gain and setting NR1 (Noise Reduction 1) to LOW or MIDDLE but for fast moving objects or if you pan too fast you may see a trail be careful.

Look at the settings in this (http://www.joesimonproductions.com/shootout/lowlight.mov) comparison video, maybe it will help you.

I've had an XL-H1 (identical guts) for over a year, I think I know the problem which alot of people run into sooner or later.
It has to do with the gain. I set (and leave) my gain at -3 (low) and NEVER leave it in auto. I have found that even in reasonably lit conditions, the Auto function often makes the wrong choices. Others I have talked too say that they go down to 0, +3, but no lower. Personally, I run my camera in full manual mode all the time as there have been a number of little problems in the camera guessing wrong. When I run in -3 Gain even in low light situations, sometimes if it is too dark, I'll even run a stop or two below optimum and then adjust for it in post. Almost always, the picture comes up very solid and well exposed with little grain.

I just got an XH-A1 last night, I have yet to even record in it, but I like it already if it works as advertised. Good luck.

Giria

I've had an XL-H1 (identical guts) for over a year, I think I know the problem which alot of people run into sooner or later.
It has to do with the gain. I set (and leave) my gain at -3 (low) and NEVER leave it in auto. I have found that even in reasonably lit conditions, the Auto function often makes the wrong choices. Others I have talked too say that they go down to 0, +3, but no lower. Personally, I run my camera in full manual mode all the time as there have been a number of little problems in the camera guessing wrong. When I run in -3 Gain even in low light situations, sometimes if it is too dark, I'll even run a stop or two below optimum and then adjust for it in post. Almost always, the picture comes up very solid and well exposed with little grain.

I just got an XH-A1 last night, I have yet to even record in it, but I like it already if it works as advertised. Good luck.

Giria

The Automatic gain switch (labelled "AGC") is beside the Automatic white balance switch (labelled "AWB"), at the bottom left of the function dial (or whatever it's called!?)... If you were wondering.
You want it set to off.