Newbie- Canon S2 IS shooting in low light? Help

[lightngsvt]

Hello everyone, Im a newb here and this is my first post. I recently upgraded from a Minolta Dimage S404 to a Canon S2 Is and LOVE the camera! The pictures and features are awesome, I find the stitch feature very useful in the absence of a wide angle lens. But Im still kind of a newb to digital camera and all the manual settings.

My big question is this, Im going to the NAIAS (Detroit Auto Show) this week and will be taking pictures. This is obviously indoors under low light conditions (probably flourescent and Metal Halide I believe). If I set the camera over ISO200 the pics are noticeably grainy and that ruins the shots. What settings should I use to get the best indoor pics of these new cars? What other advice can the experts here offer? Id rather not carry a tripod if I dont absolutely have to, thanks!

[JTL]

Hello everyone, Im a newb here and this is my first post. I recently upgraded from a Minolta Dimage S404 to a Canon S2 Is and LOVE the camera! The pictures and features are awesome, I find the stitch feature very useful in the absence of a wide angle lens. But Im still kind of a newb to digital camera and all the manual settings.

My big question is this, Im going to the NAIAS (Detroit Auto Show) this week and will be taking pictures. This is obviously indoors under low light conditions (probably flourescent and Metal Halide I believe). If I set the camera over ISO200 the pics are noticeably grainy and that ruins the shots. What settings should I use to get the best indoor pics of these new cars? What other advice can the experts here offer? Id rather not carry a tripod if I dont absolutely have to, thanks!

1. Tripod
2. Flash (possibly additional suplemental flash)
3. Noise reduction software
4. Editing software
These items are your freinds...know them well..

5. Practice/test shoot - know the camera. No one can give you real/practical advice as to what settings to use because every lighting situation and room size is different. You may get some general tips, but when you go to shoot, those tips will barely be a starting point. You have to know what settings to use based on your knowledge of the camera.
6. Leave yourself enough time...twice as much time as you think you need. Since you're new to the camera, you won't be able to follow the advice in the above statement...so...you will have to shoot with a lot of different exposure settings.
7. Treat this whole event as a test shoot and don't set unreasonable expectations...as stated above...do a lot of shots at different settings. Carefully review the shots later. Review the EXIF data for each. Learn what worked and what didn't so that next time you know. Unfortunately, the S2 does not record the ISO setting in the EXIF data, so make notes...as long as the pictures are still on the camera, the ISO info is displayed on the histogram screen when you press the DISP button.
8. If you're not entirely satisfied with your shots, miracles can be accomplised in post processing...within reason...

And, if you use a tripod, turn off the IS...

[lightngsvt]

Thank you,, I appreciate the reply. I would still like some guidlines if possible to use as I will only be able to attend one day, so playing with the settings and going back wont help (but I see where it will in the long run). If it helps any the venue is about 750,000' sq with roughly 20-30' ceilings with flourescent and metal halide type lighting, generaly kind of dim for pictures. Could anyone offer any tips on things say ISO setting vs F/stop, etc? Or general rules for indoor pic's in this type of setting?

[Dawoofo]

With a tripod (on manual mode) you could set the aperture to wide open (smallest number) on ISO 50 and expose the picture for maybe 6 seconds or less for a good clean picture (without flash) as long as the cars weren't moving. Depending on the amount of light, it might take less exposure time than that—just review the pictures in the viewfinder to judge how long the exposure should be.

If you can get within flash range of the cars that changes everything and would give you better-looking pictures.

[Edited because I misread and thought it was a car race lol.]

[JTL]

With a tripod (on manual mode) you could set the aperture to wide open (smallest number) I'm reasonably sure that wide open, he will not have enough DOF. He will most likely have to shoot above f/5, have to use flash and possibly a tripod as well. There's no way on Earth he can know ahead of time what the appropriate ISO setting should be...unless he's shot in a similar circumstance with the same camera.

Here's my step-by-step advice to determine what ISO to set:

Get to the event early so you have plenty of time. Put the camera in "P" mode. Aim at a subject. Start at ISO 50. Half-press the shutter button and see what the camera meters. Not a good exposure combo (aperture/shutter speed)? Change to ISO 100. Check again. Still not good? Change to ISO 200. Check again. This is the quick way to find out. Once you've figured out the proper ISO setting, that's half the battle and you can now switch into Manual Mode with confidence...

[Dawoofo]

I'm reasonably sure that wide open, he will not have enough DOF. He will most likely have to shoot above f/5, have to use flash and possibly a tripod as well. There's no way on Earth he can know ahead of time what the appropriate ISO setting should be...unless he's shot in a similar circumstance with the same camera.



Good point about the DOF. I haven't taken any car pictures yet. :)

As far as ISO—as qualified in my above post—as long as they aren't moving and you can get a clean shot from a tripod for a few seconds, you can use ISO 50, 100, 200, or 400 depending on your preference. ISO 50 will produce less noise and result in a better picture IMHO, though the exposure will take longer.

[lightngsvt]

thanks, great advice and I will take a bit from each post and try it.

The frist reply mention some noise reduction software. Does anyone know where I can download some free or shareware tools for cleaning grainy pics?

[JTL]

thanks, great advice and I will take a bit from each post and try it.

The frist reply mention some noise reduction software. Does anyone know where I can download some free or shareware tools for cleaning grainy pics?Here is the link for Neat Image "demo" freeware...very good noise reduction for free...:)

http://www.neatimage.com/download.html

[mkrzych]

Here is the link for Neat Image "demo" freeware...very good noise reduction for free...:)

http://www.neatimage.com/download.html

Hi,
Regarding noise reduction I'd like to advice you that GIMP (www.gimp.org) have many very good quality plugins for that. Esepcially from guy with nickname Eq - ISO noise reduction. Generally GIMP is a great program for photo editing and it's free!

Cheers,
Krzysztof Maj