Low light portraits - pushing iso vs f-stop vs shutter

[Scatterbrained]

I recently moved from d7000 to d600 and mostly shoot with either my 50mm 1.8d or 85 1.8d. Most shots are candid/portraits of a 4 year old at play.

When I have low light I am mostly shooting at f1.8 or f2. What I am having deciding is how lower I should take shutter speed vs cranking iso.

I was often letting the shutter get to 1/80 of a second before more heavly raising iso. But the more I play with the d600 I think I should be pusing higher on iso sooner vs letting shutter speed get that low.

I am interested in where people bottom out there shutter speed and what they feel is a safe iso they can go to. I am currently shooting a d600 with 50mm 1.8 and 85mm 1.8.

Of course in a room where i am shooting candids light chages rapidly. I am wondering more from a work flow standpoint how people make their decisions then actual settings.

This is my decision making process..
In a room with generally low light where i am shooting candids my work flow seems to be
1)set f-stop to 1.8 or 2
2)see what kind of iso I need to support shutter1/80 or 1/125.
3)if light is varies a lot in room I might move iso up to 800 on my old d7000. I considered this my 'safe iso'
4)see if that is enough to keep shutter speed up take the first few shots.
5)push iso beyond safe iso, if needed

Would love to know how others make their decisions when making sacrifices in low light.

Those with D600s do you have a iso that you consider a safe-iso that you quickly go to in low light?

Is 1/80 a second too slow for a 85 mm when taking photos of kids that are sitting and playing?

Do you have a speedlight? A speedlight will really open up doors for you. Bounced flash will give you crisper, cleaner light while allowing slower shutter speeds to help bring in some ambient (I like to keep ambient a stop or two down from the flash). Beyond that, you really shouldn't have an issue with iso 6400.

 

[Scatterbrained]

I have no problems going to 6400 with the D600.

We shoot Nikons, not Canons.

Meanwhile in Canon land we have a super clean iso 12800. . . . .

 

[goodguy]

I have no problems going to 6400 with the D600.

We shoot Nikons, not Canons.

OMG you are gonna be in Sooooooo much trouble if any Canon fan is going to read this

 

[goodguy]

Today when I am using the D750 my approach and attitude toward ISO has changed a lot!!!
I found I like to shoot at manual, setting my Aperture and Shutter speed and leave ISO at auto.
I am not even worried to shoot at 12800ISO (even though mostly it will not go there), these Nikon............Arrrrrr I mean Sony sensors are beasts when it comes to low light performance.
Since I moved from the D7100 to the D750 I found in less then perfect lighting conditions the IQ I am getting in the D750 is much better.

 

[dennybeall]

We sometimes get hung up on the gear and forget the point of the photos. The photos of the kids are to create memories so sharpness is important and getting the shot is important so set a good speed and f-stop you need and let ISO climb to noisy as the devil, you want the kids and a little noise is no big deal. Perhaps slip a much bigger bulb in the lights of the playroom?????
(Having grown up with photojournalism my mantra is ""get the shot however you have to". Not hard to figure....)

 

[Braineack]

I have no problems going to 6400 with the D600.

We shoot Nikons, not Canons.

OMG you are gonna be in Sooooooo much trouble if any Canon fan is going to read this

I'm just kidding around. I only took the jab after seeing a professional canon pusher go nuts over the ability to finally shoot at 1000 Iso with the new 7dmii.

 

[D-B-J]

I have no problems going to 6400 with the D600.

We shoot Nikons, not Canons.

OMG you are gonna be in Sooooooo much trouble if any Canon fan is going to read this

I'm just kidding around. I only took the jab after seeing a professional canon pusher go nuts over the ability to finally shoot at 1000 Iso with the new 7dmii.

Kelby?

 

[goodguy]

I have no problems going to 6400 with the D600.

We shoot Nikons, not Canons.

OMG you are gonna be in Sooooooo much trouble if any Canon fan is going to read this

I'm just kidding around. I only took the jab after seeing a professional canon pusher go nuts over the ability to finally shoot at 1000 Iso with the new 7dmii.

Of course I knew you were joking but I am sure those who want to get offended will get offended no matter what you meant.
Still it was funny!

 

[greybeard]

It all depends on which worse, motion blur or noise. I shoot in manual with auto ISO set to MAX because I can deal with noise better than motion blur.

 

[jaomul]

I left my Olympus em5 do auto iso at a small low light party recently. I caught a shot of my cousins son, iso 25600. It really was very noisy. I applied noise reduction and converted to black and white. Of all the shots that day this was the one my cousin really liked. Technically it was poor, but for a memory it was great.

Sometimes tech quality is utmost, and then gear helps, sometimes the photo just has something, and quality takes a back seat. I do think the latter is often the case when it comes to younger kids running etc.

If still like a high iso beast though

 

[JoeW]

A lot of good responses in this thread. So what I'm going to say is mostly redundant with some of the other posts:

1. Start with the end in mind. What (other than a "good" photo of the kid) are you trying to create? If the emphasis is on portrait, than a wider aperture (and unlike Braineac, I do not fear to tread in the f1.8 ground when shooting portraits...those his point is well taken. At f1.8 you're going to have eyes and nose in focus but some hair will start to blur).

2. The above point made, I would almost never shoot a young child playing at f1.8. It would be like shooting a dog that's playing at f1.8...I'd get nothing in focus. More likely my minimal DoF would need to be f2.8 (and that's if I'm focusing quickly or have some pre-focus action going on).

3. And given that your child is playing and moving, you need a high shutter speed.

So adjusting the ISO is going to be your go-to solution in most cases (unless the play is stationary).

 

[astroNikon]

FYI
on your D600 and D7000
when you set AUTO ISO you can also set the maximum ISO to your preferred maximum, and also the minimum shutter speed if you want the camera to take a bit more control and give you a little more flexibility dependent upon the movement situation. And of course, there's still your popup (or add-on TTL) flash to throw into the equation.

 

[Iloper]

I follow a simple rule:
Speed equal to lens as a minimum possible:
85mm lens 1/85 for example

 

[owlxxx]

I just shot a crossfit competition at iso 3200 with a nikon d600. the shots are fine. I'd say you need to practice and experiment with your camera so you know it's limits and what it's capable of. You might be surprised.

 

[Solarflare]

I push my D5100 up to 1600. Above that it falls apart, though it depends a lot upon subject.

I push my D600 up to 6400. It can take that surprisingly easily. Interestingly, above this point it falls apart very quickly.

I push my Ricoh GRD4 to whatever since it already has noise at ISO 100 lolz, well up to 400 it doesnt get too bad.

Naturally I would love to have a Sony A7s which apparently can be pushed up to 100,000 and at which point you think its getting too bad depends completely on your personal taste. But other cameras seem to have sharp limits above which they really start to get bad.