Is it OK to underexpose to get a faster shutter speed, knowing you'll up it later?

[nickzou]

No pro would dream of doing that

Yeah but for the rest of us who don't have 2.8 on all of our lenses we need to be a little more creative.

 

[analog.universe]

No pro would dream of doing that

Yeah but for the rest of us who don't have 2.8 on all of our lenses we need to be a little more creative.

I just like to shoot in the dark... : )

Even with my 1.4 I need to be creative to avoid hideous noise a lot of the time. Tripods were mentioned and they work perfectly when your subject isn't moving, but that's not always the case. If I'm shooting low light handheld, my preference is to shoot 35mm, f/1.4, 1/80sec, and the ISO however high I need it to properly ETTR. I'll then darken the shadows in post, and a good chunk of the noise with them.

 

[xposurepro]

The first choice is to always use the right equipment to complete the task .. switching to a faster lens, tripod or adding more light into the scene with speed lights, strobes, reflectors, etc. However, if that is absolutely not an option. Then #1 is to avoid camera shake. Noise is never good unless your going for some artsy fartsy effect but it's better than the alternative. Some grain can be acceptable but a shaky OOF shot is just a total waste of time.
A rule of thumb is to never let your shutter speed fall below the focal length. So if you're shooting at 200mm don't waste your time trying to handhold 1/60 ... 1/250 should be your minimum. You might be able to brace against a wall, hold your breath and fire off 1/125 and not get any shake at all. You just need to know your limitations and exactly what you can do and what you can't with the equipment you have.
Personally, if I can't get a shot and do it right .. then I simply don't take it. And if I were to keep finding myself in a situation where I needed additional equipment then I will say ok I either need to buy the right tools to complete this task or I need to find something else to do and not waste time putting myself in this situation.

 

[gsgary]

No pro would dream of doing that

Yeah but for the rest of us who don't have 2.8 on all of our lenses we need to be a little more creative.

If it's too dark for the lens the shot is not worth taking, unless it is static and you use low iso and long exposure