i have 2 HD camcorders, a sony and a canon. i shot some slime and pie scenes. When i downloaded the clips to my computer, the videos looked grainy, almost like it was shot in VHS. Not knowing much about camcorders, i assumed that i probably didn't shoot them in HD quality, or maybe my memory card wasn't good quality. So i shot some more scenes, this time making sure that they were set at HD quality and i bought some quality memory cards. Damn it...they still came out grainy...
questions...
Is it just that i didn't have enough lighting? I used a few lamps. Do i need to buy a lighting kit with umbrellas and everything? When i look at other clips, i almost never see the lighting umbrellas.
Is there a software that can make the videos more vivid?
The grain is almost certainly because of lack of lighting. Shooting indoors a couple of lamps will never be enough. The grain happens because of signal amplification. First your camera will drop shutter speed to try and compensate and if it cannot it will apply gain which leads to noise in the signal. For shooting video I recommend softboxes more than in umbrellas
You could possibly do this setup (minus a backlight) with some lamps and reflectors. Or....tin foil on cardboard? The principle is the same though. Light is your friend.
MessyHot and Rynash's answers are textbook. Cameras of all kinds love light. Modern video cameras have immense low-light capability to attract consumers, but the payoff is resolution, definition - and colour (why do you think those night vision camera images are green and black?). When I learnt to use film and video cameras at college 30 years ago you'd get virtual blackout without daylight or proper lights. These techniques will still get the best out of modern low-end consumer cameras.
You can get an excellent set of 3 powerful softbox lights for around $150 these days. Well worth it.
Love you, too
