Vixia RF700 Settings (worse than iphone??)

[Madrona]

I have an iPhone 6S Plus, and a Canon RF700.  Yesterday I took videos of my daugher's dress rehearsal with my iphone, and today I took them with the RF700 for the acutal performance.  The iPhone videos look BETTER than the Canon videos.  Clearly, this should not be, right?  The iphone videos were clearer, less grainy, and more focused.  The faces on the dancers on the camcorder video look like white blobs.  I obviously had some settings wrong on the camcorder? 

I would like to know what settings to use next time in a dark theater with stage lighting, so that I am not sad and disappointed like I am right now.  I feel like we just missed a huge memory.  😞

Thank you.

[Richard]

Hi Madrona,

Thank you for posting.

For the type of lighting you encountered, I recommend using your camcorder's "Low Light" or "Night Scene" modes.  Here's the information for accessing these modes:

Recording in a very bright ski resort or capturing the full colors of a sunset or a fireworks display becomes as easy as selecting a Special Scene mode.

1. Turn on the camcorder.

2. Touch the [Shooting Mode] button.

*[AUTO] has been selected in the image below.

3. Drag your finger up/down to bring [ ] to the center, and then touch [OK].

4. Drag your finger up/down to bring one of the Special Scene modes to the center, and the touch [OK].

Options

Special Scene Recording Program	Contents
Portrait	The camcorder uses a large aperture to achieve a sharp focus on the subject while blurring the background.
Sports	To record scenes with lots of movement, such as sport events and dance scenes.
Night Scene	To record nightscapes with lower noise.
Snow	To record in bright ski resorts without the subject being underexposed.
Beach	To record on a sunny beach without the subject being underexposed.
Sunset	To record sunsets in vibrant colors.
Low Light	To record in low-light situations.
Spotlight	To record spotlit scenes.
Fireworks	To record fireworks.

5. The [Special Scene mode] you selected will be displayed.

NOTE

• [ SCN: Portrait]/[ SCN: Sports]/[ SCN: Snow]/[ SCN: Beach]: The picture may not appear smooth during playback.
• [ SCN: Portrait]: The blur effect of the background increases the more you zoom in (T).
• [ SCN: Snow]/[ SCN: Beach]: The subject may become overexposed on cloudy days or in shaded places. Check the image on the screen.
• [ SCN: Low Light]:

- Moving subjects may leave a trailing afterimage.

- Picture quality may not be as good as in other modes.

- White points may appear on the screen.

- Autofocus may not work as well as in other modes. In such case, adjust the focus manually.

• [ SCN: Fireworks]:

- To avoid camera blur (blur due to the camcorder moving) we recommend using a tripod.