 Oscar |
How to Shoot in a Low Light Situation I took some inside pictures from a party that has limited lighting. I set my Nikon N80 on "P" hoping the camera would do all the settings. I've noticed that the aperture was 4.8 and the shutter was at 5. I knew that if I didn't brace it, it would come out blurry... which some or a lot of them did. I couldn't quite use my tripod at that time... would have been nice though. My question is, if I went ahead and set it on "M" (Manual Priority) and set my aperture on 4.8 and my shutter at 60 or 90, would my pictures come out all right? I'm going to another party this weekend and I also plan to use a Lumiquest Ultrasoft with my flash. I'm new in the field and would really appreciate any inputs. Thanks!
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John A. Lind |
Oscar, Using available light (no flash) you would have grossly underexposed the photographs doing this . . . and this is a Bad Thing with negative films. If you want to do this without flash, you need to increase film speed. I have done quite a bit of shooting in low light indoors using high speed film, but with the benefit of faster lenses that can be opened up as wide as f/2 (about 2-1/2 stops faster). The downside is working with a very narrow depth of field, sometimes a little as six inches depending on lens and subject distance. What film speed were you using? In color negative, Fuji makes Press 1600 and Superia 1600. Essentially the same film with different packaging. It will be noticeably grainier compared to ISO 100 and 200 films but it's still pretty good for a film that speed and IMO better than a couple of consumer ISO 800 films. It's a "true" ISO 1600 film and can be developed by a consumer lab. If that's not fast enough, you can try a couple of B&W films: Kodak TMax P3200 or Ilford Delta 3200. Both of these have a nominal speed rating of about ISO 800, but they were designed to be pushed by two stops. This is why Kodak has a "P" in the film name. This is also their "downside" for non-professional use. If used at any speed faster than ISO 800 they must be push processed which requires developing by a pro lab and there will be a nominal fee added for doing this. Consumer labs cannot do push (and pull) processing. At EI 1600, they require push-1; EI 3200 = push-2; EI 6400 = push-3. The DX coding on the film cartridge for the Kodak film is for EI 3200. Use it at a different speed and you must override this. Don't know about the Ilford (my cameras don't read the DX codes). I don't recommend running either at 6400 although some people do and they are not nearly as "hostile" to it as some other films are. At 6400 their latitude narrows, contrast noticeably increases and grain becomes quite prominent. If none of these will get you fast enough, you may be forced to use the flash. However, using on-camera flash gives up the direction and qualities of the ambient lighting. The Lumiquest will soften things a little, especially at closer distances (12 feet or less) but light direction will still be quite different. -- John
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Oscar |
I was using Fuji Press 400 and a Kodak Supra 400. I sure will try all your suggestions. Thanks so much John for all your inputs. This is truly a big help.
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