Taking Photos in Low Light Situations

[Aryajaide]

Hi, could someone help me with this noob question, please.

I have children which are in primary school and often, they have a 'recital' or an 'item' as we call it here in the land of Oz.

Often, the hall they are in is not very bright - there is only one door open with hardly any natural light coming in.....and plenty of light bulbs at the front of the stage and mostly fluorescent lighting spread about.

The closest I could get to the stage to take my shots is approx 20-25 meters.

I use a 18-70mm lens (i know its a kit but that's all I can afford at the moment...), and 55-200 and sometimes 100-300mm (waiting for my 17-50mm Tammy). I shoot at a really hight ISO, and lowest aperture the lens will allow.

If I shoot at low shutters speed, my shots are blurry (of course!) and at high speed, I just can't get the right light on my camera screen.

I was thinking of bringing in a monopod, but it may be a bit too much.

Sorry for the long, winded explanation.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Rooz]

nothing you can really do except to buy a faster lens or use a flash. a monopod wont help cos it wont stop the childs motion anyway. 17-50 is far too short imo.

[Peekayoh]

As far as camera setting, you're already doing all you can. High ISO and widest aperture.
At that distance from the stage I'd say you need the FoV (Field of View) of your 100-300mm lens.
In which case a monopod will surely help to stabilise the camera.
It won't help in stabilising the kids, so wait until they are stood still before tripping the shutter.
How about going early and bagging a better seat?

[dr4gon]

As previously said, not much you can do. You need a 70-200mm F/2.8, here's the best budget one.

[joenmell]

As previously said, not much you can do. You need a 70-200mm F/2.8, here's the best budget one.:

Not MY BUDGET! It becomes more than just a casual hobby when the lens costs twice what the camera does! If I could just figure out a way to make a living doing this, then the lens would be a write off.... Until then...eBay and Quantaray

[dr4gon]

Well after you get over the sticker shock (takes a little while), you'll see that glass is far more important than the body which is nearly my cheapest item (relatively speaking).

[Elisha]

Joe....if you have reached the ISO limit and the biggest aperture, try this.....set the camera to continuous mode and only start depressing the button when you notice the SSS bars stabilize.
of course this is not gonna freeze the movement but it should give you less blurry images on the somewhat stationary kids.

is flash photography allowed inside the hall?

[Aryajaide]

is flash photography allowed inside the hall?

As far as i know, it is....as I seen some people using flash on their p&s cameras.

I did use the built-in flash but got the weird eyes happening, even if I turn on the red-eye reduction tool.

Can't get a close enough seating, as the seatings are set. Would using a fast lens.....say a 50mm f/1.7......then crop it later in Photoshop.....maybe

[DonSchap]

The flash has to be above the level of the lens ... by about 5-8 inches, or you stand a good chance of getting "red eye."

You can also try to use "wireless" flash, which separates the flash from the camera entirely. You can have the flash located closer to the subject and trigger it with the camera. This is a great idea when you have the separation you speak of.

A fast lens still NEEDS light. If you starve the lens, you get noise in your image and then you are left wrestling with that, also. The best idea is to get a longer, brighter lens. If people could get away with "LESS", I have no doubt they would. No one likes to spend more money than they have to.

The biggest problem is that your Depth of Field tightens up enormously with a longer lens that it opened up for light.

For example:

Subject distance is 30-feet away
You are using a nifty 135mm f/1.8 low-light gobbler.

Here is kind of how it lays out:



You have only one foot of clear focus (six-inches either way, front to back, from the center of focus) to work with. That's going to be rough if there is a group.

If you use a 50mm f/1.7 lens wide-open (f/1.7), your subject will be about 60% smaller, but the DOF deepens to 7.5 feet, which mean you can get a larger group ... but again, smaller and with less pixels to describe them.

You need to understand this change in size, so click on this TAMRON link and you will have an actual online lens comparison, with which you can select the focal length of the lens and compare them.

[SONYNUT]

I USE THE SIGMA APO 70-200mm F/2.8 EX

TOOK THOUSANDS OF BASKETBALL PICS OF MY KIDS GAMES WITH IT..
GOT IF FOR 700