I guess everyone's different but my gain is usually set about half or just a bit either way, with brighness set around 60 - 75 % until I can see a clear image. Saturation is around 65 - 85%. Auto white balance off until I've finished the other settings then on for 5 sec or so then off again to freeze. Then take the image
The faster the exposure rate with the same fps rate the darker the image I've found. The hardest thing I'm finding now is how best to balance out the fps and the exp rate. It can be a real juggling act. I find I end up taking maybe a dozen or more shots using slightly different settings on each night. The down side is a lot of processing time. Now that I'm back at work I'm glad I found about WcCtrl. I can now save settings now, and weed out the ones that aren't as good.
Hope this has helped.
BTW you are taking your hartman mask off aren't you. I've done that once or twice.