 TRACY WILLIAMS |
Shooting Action in Low Light Indoors I'm looking for equipment suggestions for my Nikon D70. I'd like to shoot some dog agility at local indoor fairgrounds buildings. Lighting is terrible, and flash not permitted. I've tried w/a 80-200 f2.8, but the pics were still too noisy w/shutter speed set high enough to stop the action. Tried adjusting ISO lots, but still not satisfied. Anyone else doing this? Thanks, Tracy.
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Doug Elliott |
Tracy, If you can't use flash, can you use hot lights? If you can, why not set up a set of lights that will allow you to add light and allow you to get the shots you like? The club might enjoy having extra lighting. If you can put them up high so they shine down, you can get great shots without any noticeable shadows. I would suggest 500 to 1,000 watt halogen units. Hope this idea is helpful. Doug
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Terry L. Woods |
Maybe try to look for a higher-end camera store that you could rent a Canon 1D setup with their big glass telephoto 300 or 400 mm lens w/an opening of 2.8. Or see what's available in a Nikon lens to rent vs. putting out a chunk of $ first. ( Sorry I am not that familiar with Nikon equip.), all I know is, for sports Canon is what most pros use to shoot indoors with for lower ISO's and clarity. Terry
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Thomas C. Rowe |
I have the same problems shooting indoor horse shows during the winter months. Low light, flash not allowed, fast action. I own a 80-200 2.8 Nikon AF in conjunction with a D70 and it does well outdoors or with a flash. Indoors with a high shutter speed the light is not sufficient even with very high ISO's. I was going to rent a 300mm 2.8 Nikon (around 65 dollars for the weekend) but have not tried it yet. The bigger 2.8 lenses (600, 1000)are "prohibitively" expensive. What do pro photographers use in this situation???????? Also, cannot use hot lights.
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TRACY WILLIAMS |
Was wondering if a 1.4 teleconverter on the 80-200 2.8 might make a difference? Thanks for the suggestions. Tracy
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Doug Elliott |
Tracy, Great picture! I like the action and the moment you caught the dog in the air. I would like to follow up on the suggestion about hot lights. Were you able to get permission to use hot light to help your lighting situation? I use some halogen units that put out a 1,000 watt for photographing the exterior of homes at dusk. I have a pair of work lights from Home Depot. I have removed the safety cages that are on the front of the heads so I don’t get any unwanted shadows. A pair of 500 watts halogen lights should cost you about $60.00. Are you using PhotoShop CS? If you shoot in raw you can gain about one to two full f/stops from your picture. Good shooting Doug
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Mikki Cowles |
Hi Tracy, I think the image's main subject is soft, but if you look under it's chest area at the jump itself, you will see that it is quite sharp. I just think that in shooting you could have brought the focus forward. With a lense like this remember you are going to have a narrower DoF, so you have less room for error which is a challenge with moving subjects...
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TRACY WILLIAMS |
Hey Doug, I didn't get a chance to look into the lights for this event but will do so for future. This arena has windows up high and does have big lights in the ceiling but I'm not sure of their wattage. I'm going to do some further investigating on this with the local clubs. Thanks for all comments and ideas! Some days I'm really "on" the action and some days I don't have my rhythm but its always a challenge! Tracy
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Charles Cooper |
"Was wondering if a 1.4 teleconverter on the 80-200 2.8 might make a difference?" Yes, it will make a difference, but not "in a good way". The speed of the lens will be 1 f-stop slower, so your nice 80-200 F2.8 becomes an 80-200 F4. This will only make the arena "seem darker", which is not what you are trying to do. If you don't mind a fixed focal length, adding the teleconverter to the 85mm F1.8 lens would give you a bit of reach (the 80 "becomes" a 128), but you still lose the f-stop, pusing the effective speed of your 1.8 to a 2.8. Of course, a 128mm F2.8 might do the trick. A side question - when you quote the lens lengths, are you referring to the numbers on the lens, or the "crop factor numbers" based on the fact that you are using a digital rather than a film SLR? Good luck.
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JAMK Photography |
Tracy, Have you tried using Neat Image to reduce the noise when using a high ISO? I also have a Nikon D70 with a 70-200mm 2.8 VR lens. I haven't really used it indoors but I have shot it at 800+ ISO with decent results using Neat Image. Steve
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Dara R. Purves |
I am an honest beginner, and I was wondering, how can I set a high shutter speed indoors without underexposing my film? I have a Nikon FM10, fully manual, and I want to be able to photograph my dance rehersals while my friends are dancing. So far, Ive had either a blurry photo or underexposed. I dont know where my "priority" setting is (if there is one). I mainly use 125 ISO, very rarely I use 400. But if you have figured out your situation or if anyone else on here could that would be awesome. By the way your pictures are awesome! My theme is horses and I love the curiosity and depth in the eyes of animals, and you really captured that in your photos! Thanks, DP
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W. |
"how can I set a high shutter speed indoors without underexposing my film?" With (much) more light, Dara.
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Doug Elliott |
Dara, You can set your ASA manually. You need to buy film that has a high ASA 800 or 1600 would work well. Try to get as much light on the dancers as possible. Shoot them as they pass by a window. Borrow your's dad's shop lights. Then yellow or orange one on a bar and turn them on. They are rated at 500 watts per lamp head. Either aim it direclty at the dancers or if you have a short ceiling aim it at the ceiling. You will need to push your film when it is developed. You will have to find a pro lab that can do that. I hope these ideas are helpful. Doug
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