help with exposure for low light & movement

[AprilEye]

Have not been able to figure this out. What is the best setting for shooting indoors, low light at a moving object with no flash? I'm talking about a theatrical performance or a ballet. Thanks!

 

[reznap]

Assuming you'd use your telephoto zoom, being stuck at f/4 is going to force you to use a high ISO, like 1600. You could then underexpose a stop, maybe a little more if you still need a faster shutter speed, and then digitally push the exposure up a bit with your editing software.

 

[tirediron]

^^ What he said; highest possible usable ISO, shutter-priority 1/125 of a second (about as low as you can go and freeze most movement) and hope. There really is no substitute for more light.

 

[sobolik]

^^ What he said; highest possible usable ISO, shutter-priority 1/125 of a second (about as low as you can go and freeze most movement) and hope. There really is no substitute for more light.

Exactly

 

[Destin]

Why would you reccomend shutter priority? Wouldn't it be better to go to aperature priority and set it to his widest aperature, then take the iso up as high as needed until he gets an acceptable shutter speed?

And after that, if you can'r get good results you need one of three things:

1.) a faster lens

2.) a camera with better high iso performance

3.) more light

And possibly, a combination of all three. Low light shooting really does require great camera gear

 

[reznap]

Why would you reccomend shutter priority? Wouldn't it be better to go to aperature priority and set it to his widest aperature, then take the iso up as high as needed until he gets an acceptable shutter speed?

If there isn't enough light, the shutter speed will be picked automatically this way to get a proper exposure, and could be too low. With shutter priority, the camera's minimum shutter speed is set, so there won't be any motion blur. There could, however, be quite a bit of underexposure when doing this, but I'll take noise or underexposure over unwanted blur any day.

 

[tirediron]

Why would you reccomend shutter priority? Wouldn't it be better to go to aperature priority and set it to his widest aperature, then take the iso up as high as needed until he gets an acceptable shutter speed?

If there isn't enough light, the shutter speed will be picked automatically this way to get a proper exposure, and could be too low. With shutter priority, the camera's minimum shutter speed is set, so there won't be any motion blur. There could, however, be quite a bit of underexposure when doing this, but I'll take noise or underexposure over unwanted blur any day.

:thumbup:

 

[Derrel]

Highest ISO you feel comfortable with. Longer prime lenses of f/2.8 would be idea, using those fast lenses from farther away, like 135mm from 15-30 rows back, or the wings, 200mm from the balcony. Keep in mind that under flood and spot lighting with a dark background, actors in the spot/flood/bright light will be terrible OVER-exposed if the camera's light meter is allowed to "see" much of the darker, not-lighted area of the stage or curtains, back set etc.etc. I see you have the normal 2-kit zoom setup, so crank the ISO to 1600 or so most likely.

Your IS lens could be used to get some neat blurred effects, or some panning. The thing is, your lenses lose aperture as they are zoomed, so I would suggest shooting them at the shorter settings, where they admit more light. Use Aperture Priority, not shutter, if you use auto.

This means that in many situations, Automatic exposure will need to have Minus Exposure Compensation dialed in, if the meter is reading large expanses of dark curtains, flood- or spot-lighted performers can easily require a Minus 3.0 stop +/- favtor dialled in to correct for the meter's tendency to over-expose. I cannot imagine having to shoot much of this kind of stuff with a lens that only lets in f/5.6...there will most likely be significant quantities of ruined shots and almost-but-not-quite-sharp-enough type pics, due to subject movement blur.

 

[Destin]

Why would you reccomend shutter priority? Wouldn't it be better to go to aperature priority and set it to his widest aperature, then take the iso up as high as needed until he gets an acceptable shutter speed?

If there isn't enough light, the shutter speed will be picked automatically this way to get a proper exposure, and could be too low. With shutter priority, the camera's minimum shutter speed is set, so there won't be any motion blur. There could, however, be quite a bit of underexposure when doing this, but I'll take noise or underexposure over unwanted blur any day.

:thumbup:

Right. Problem with that though, is that your camera is going to lock up and not take photos alot, because "the image is too dark," or your going to end up with terribly underexposed photos, because your aperature cant open any wider.

the reason I'd use aperature priority is that you know your going to be at your widest aperature the whole time anyway, so you need to set your aperature where its gonna be, your iso to the highest acceptable setting, and then your shutter speed is what it is. There isn't much you can do to get it any faster.

Personally though, I use the above to get a ballpark exposure figure out, and then switch to manual so I know my meter isnt going to act up on me. I usually underexpose by about a stop if need be, then bring it back in post. No more than that though

 

[AprilEye]

You guys ROCK! Thanks much! I am going to print out this post and compile all the info and find some opportunities to practice. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will work out. Thanks again!

 

[LarryD]

If you can, pick yourself up a monopod so that you can get down to 1/80 and pick your poses where there is little movement or it is at it's apex..

Spot meter and single point focus on your subject so your camera knows how much light is actually on the subject and not throughout the theater.. Check your settings before hand, and frequently throughout as stuff changes..

Take lots of photos and don't count on just the ones you wanted to turn out........... If every photo we took was a killer, we wouldn't need to put XXgig cards in our cameras......