completly lost!

[ajaned32]

i am in desperate need to find a good camera or lens that will work great for an indoor cheerleading competition.

i have a canon rebel xs. i rented a canon 100mm f2. lens to test with. i have heard and read reviews that this lens would work great. i took a couple of photos in my house with low lighting all with different iso and f speads and the pix are grainy. WHY?
is it because my camera can only go up to 1600 iso? im lost.
i am now thinking of buyng the canon t2i. does anybody know if the lens i rented would work well with the t2i?

 

[Robin Usagani]

It wont get any better with t2i. So you shot it at f2 at 1600ISO? What shutter speed?

 

[Christie Photo]

It's because you are working in low light. It's likely your photos are underexposed.

Higher ISO will only exacerbate the problem.

It's not the camera or the lens. It's insufficient lighting.

-Pete

 

[ajaned32]

shutter speed 1/4000 i tryed at 1/200 also. but im a beginner so i dont know exactly what im doing

 

[ajaned32]

ok
is there anything i can do to make photos in low lighting look better? when my rental of the lens s over i would like to purchase a good lens that will work at an indoor cheerleading completion. (low lighting and fast movement)

WOW thanx everyone for your fast reply! AWESME

 

[white]

Try shooting at 1/100 shutter, or slightly below, lower your iso to 800, and f/2.

See where that gets you.

Probably should read your manual. I've heard they're useful.

 

[ajaned32]

i read the manual but i just got a new lens and am not sure how to use it...the lens im renting doesn't come with a manual

 

[Christie Photo]

...i would like to purchase a good lens that will work at an indoor cheerleading completion. (low lighting and fast movement)

Again... it's not the lens. You need lighting. Think "flash."

-Pete

 

[Robin Usagani]

1/4000 LOL

 

[ajaned32]

HAHHA DONT MAKE FUN OF ME! i have no clue what im doing! please help me LOL
i used flash! omg help me!

 

[white]

1/4000 LOL

I think that might have been a typo. Probably meant 1/400.

God I hope so.

 

[New Hampshire]

As the others have suggested, open up your lens wide to f2. Try shooting in aperture priority (again, at f2) and let the camera do the work on the shutter speed. Even then your going to have to use prety slow shutter speeds. You may want to consider, if not a tripod (best), then a monopod (not best but useable) to help you stabilize the camera and reduce blurry photos.

Brian

 

[Overread36]

I strongly recommend that you try to get hold of and read a copy of Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson - you might also benefit from reading The Digital Photography Book 1 by Scot Kelby as well (this makes a good book to read before Bryan's).

These should help fill in a lot of gaps with your understanding over exposure and how to control the exposure as well as how to get an understanding of what settings to use for various events.

I'll also encourage you to post example shots online so that we can see (with the shooting settings data) what kind of results you are getting and give more specific advice toward the problems you are having

 

[ajaned32]

if i use low shutter seed would the action photos im taking turn out blurry?

 

[Overread36]

if i use low shutter seed would the action photos im taking turn out blurry?

Yes - for action you'll be wanting 1/400sec or faster at least in order to freeze the motion. A shutter speed you likely won't get indoors easily. That is why people are suggesting flash (not the popup - something like a 430EX which has far more power and control) which will help boost the local lighting levels to freeze the motion.

Though using a flash you are limited to 1/200sec as the fastest shutter speed on the camera (some also do 1/250sec). However the fact that the flashlight itself is so fast and is contributing most of the light for the exposure means that even with a slower shutter speed you'll only get light from that split second of flash light on the subject - thus frozen motion.