low light situation

[simonydes]

hello everyone I was wondering if anyone could help me with my question. Whenever I shoot in low light lets say at a friends party at a club there is too much noise. Is there any way to prevent the noise? Would a shoe flash prevent that?

 

[simonydes]

anyone any ideas?

 

[dxqcanada]

Lower your ISO.
Of course when you lower your ISO the light level drops ... thus your shutter speed will drop ... and then you encounter camera shake.

Lower ISO + fast lens
A faster lens will allow more light to enter the camera.

Camera with lower noise at high ISO.

Flash
A flash will provide the required light to expose the subject.

 

[simonydes]

thank you dxqcanada =)

 

[thingsIsee]

if your at night clubs and such you should be able to use ISO 400 and the on camera flash, but you will have to be close to your subject. if you can use a higher power hot shoe flash that would be better, though I would still stick to ISO 400 or so.

 

[RockstarPhotography]

fast glass and fill flash

 

[djacobox372]

Noise is caused by high iso levels.

There are only three ways to avoid high iso levels:

1) Slower shutter speed (try to steady the camera against a wall/corner, or use a tripod)
2) Lower aperture number (wider aperture). Set your lens for the lowest it will go, f2 will allow you to use an iso four times lower then f4.
3) Use a flash

Keep in mind that low-light photography is one of the most popular reasons people buy $2000 lenses and $3000 cameras--most inexpensive cameras and lenses do not perform as well in low light.

 

[blazerj]

Buy a great low light P&S Camera for clubs, you don't want an SLR or external flash at a party in the club.

 

[PhillyPhoton]

Buy a great low light P&S Camera for clubs, you don't want an SLR or external flash at a party in the club.

Why? You can always bounce the flash

 

[KmH]

... Whenever I shoot in low light lets say at a friends party at a club there is too much noise. Is there any way to prevent the noise? Would a shoe flash prevent that?

Yes, strobed light (flash) would allow you to lower the ISO setting on the camera to it's lowest native value.

Unfortunately, having the strobe light on the camera hot shoe doesn't provide very nice lighting. The optimal setup is to get the strobed light off the camera.

When you use strobed light, exposure is controlled differently.
Shutter speed controls the ambient light exposure, and lens aperture controls the strobed light exposure.
The short duration of the flash of strobed light stops motion, not the shutter speed.

 

[Drake]

Or you can try the cheapest solution - try some noise reduction software until you get better lens/body/flash.

 

[dallasimagery]

What camera are you using? There is a huge difference in ISO performance among bodies.

Or you can try the cheapest solution - try some noise reduction software until you get better lens/body/flash.

That sacrifices detail and image quality.

 

[Drake]

What camera are you using? There is a huge difference in ISO performance among bodies.

Or you can try the cheapest solution - try some noise reduction software until you get better lens/body/flash.

That sacrifices detail and image quality.

Well, it all depends how much effort you put into it.

 

[dallasimagery]

What camera are you using? There is a huge difference in ISO performance among bodies.

Or you can try the cheapest solution - try some noise reduction software until you get better lens/body/flash.

That sacrifices detail and image quality.

Well, it all depends how much effort you put into it.

All things being equal, having noise and removing it WILL degrade image quality.

 

[KmH]

Noise reduction is just one side of a coin. The other side of that coin is called sharpening.

How effectively an image can be de-noised depends on the image data file type, type of noise needing to be delt with be it amplifier noise, shot noise, or quantization noise.