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Beat Dark Pics?
- Thread starter britdaw
- Start date
everestnut
Active Member
Would need a little more info. What kind of lenses? When you say low light, just in general, dark rides?
CP_alum08
Well-Known Member
Low light is one of those special situations where having the right gear can make a huge difference. You will need a high ISO, a lens with a large aperture (like 1.4 or 1.8) and a relatively slow shutter speed. A good rule of thumb for shutter speed is to use 1/focal length. So if you are using a 35mm prime lens, your shutter speed should be around 1/35 of a second.
Shooting in raw will help to. Well, it will help afterwords when/if you decide to process any of them with programs like Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture, etc.
Shooting in raw will help to. Well, it will help afterwords when/if you decide to process any of them with programs like Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture, etc.
ddbowdoin
Well-Known Member
CP_alum08
Well-Known Member
:ROFLOL: yeah, about $17,000 later! For the lens AND body of course!
ddbowdoin
Well-Known Member
:shrug: could always sell your car, or a kidney?
whats 7K for an M9? Totally worth it... (someday if I hit that mega millions)
Just saw the responses to this... LOL Thanks for the tips!! I have two IS lenses, one is a 55-250mm, the other is 18-55mm. Both have an ok f-stop, but not as great as 1.4 as was mentioned...
I shoot in RAW and I know about using the highest possible ISO, so I hope I'm able to get some decent shots. I've been practicing, and getting some good ones, so let's hope for the best! We'll see when I post my trip report.
I shoot in RAW and I know about using the highest possible ISO, so I hope I'm able to get some decent shots. I've been practicing, and getting some good ones, so let's hope for the best! We'll see when I post my trip report.
Deadmanwalking
New Member
Not really that great an option, I've shot with the an f1.2 and the problem you have is the shallow depth of field wide open. Super fast lenses work well in a controlled setting where you have time to carefully focus... but I never had much luck using them on a dark ride, too hard to focus while you are moving... had better luck with a 1.8 than a 1.2... would hate to see my blurry images with a 0.95
ddbowdoin
Well-Known Member
Just saw the responses to this... LOL Thanks for the tips!! I have two IS lenses, one is a 55-250mm, the other is 18-55mm. Both have an ok f-stop, but not as great as 1.4 as was mentioned...
I shoot in RAW and I know about using the highest possible ISO, so I hope I'm able to get some decent shots. I've been practicing, and getting some good ones, so let's hope for the best! We'll see when I post my trip report.
breathing techniques too... learning to shoot in between breaths, sounds crazy but works!
PirateFrank
Well-Known Member
Just saw the responses to this... LOL Thanks for the tips!! I have two IS lenses, one is a 55-250mm, the other is 18-55mm. Both have an ok f-stop, but not as great as 1.4 as was mentioned...
I shoot in RAW and I know about using the highest possible ISO, so I hope I'm able to get some decent shots. I've been practicing, and getting some good ones, so let's hope for the best! We'll see when I post my trip report.
If your original question relates to shooting in dark rides in WDW. The above lens will not be fast enough. My last trip down to WDW, I brought 2 lens. The 18-55 IS f/3.5-5.6 kit lens and a 50mm f1.4....I basically only used the 18-55 during the day. At night or when I went into dark rides, I put the 50mm on. Simply put, you can not get enough light into the kit lens to get a shot in that level of darkness when in a dark ride. Also, given the fact that you are moving on a ride, sometimes you just can't slow down the shutter speed enough to avoid camera "or whole body/ride vehicle" shake. I suspect that you can make the 18-55 work outside at night, provided you're in a well lit area, but you're going to have to make use of the IS and perhaps a tripod, to really get good night shots.
What you really need to do, if you're doing dark ride shooting, is to get a very fast prime. I recommend the sigma 30mm f/1.4 or the canon 50mm f/1.4. On your camera, the sigma has a much better focal length for wdw dark rides, but you can make the 50mm work too.
Also, don't let price stop you. While the sigma 30mm f1.4 and the canon 50mm f1.4 run about $475 & $375, respectively. There's always the canon 50mm f1.8. That lens is about $100 bucks compared to the $375 that the canon 50mm f1.4 will cost you...its a great value to get started in primes.
Aww well that is what I was afraid of.
I can't afford to buy a nicer lens right now, unless the lens comes out of the Disney fund as my birthday present (and I'm not sure I want to do that, since that will take away souvenier money), but I have thought about renting or borrowing a lens from a friend... The 18-55 kit lens isn't a horrible lens, but I was afraid it was gonna be crap for getting the dark ride pics. Bluh. Well, I'll look into some other options, but if all else fails I may just have to- GASP!- not take pics during the dark rides and just sit back and enjoy myself.
ddbowdoin
Well-Known Member
Aww well that is what I was afraid of.
Well, I'll look into some other options, but if all else fails I may just have to- GASP!- not take pics during the dark rides and just sit back and enjoy myself.
yeah, unfortunately that is the truth... even a pro grade f2.8 struggles with movement unless you have a D3s. 1.4 is your only hope, and before you go run tests and see how far you can push your ISO before you start seeing dirty grain come in.
PirateFrank
Well-Known Member
Aww well that is what I was afraid of.
Well, I'll look into some other options, but if all else fails I may just have to- GASP!- not take pics during the dark rides and just sit back and enjoy myself.
It's actually a great walkaround daytime lens...but not well suited for lowlight/dark shooting...
NowInc
Well-Known Member
I agree, its a pretty decent "swiss army" piece of glass. BUT If you have the means, a far better (and relatively cheap) all around lens would be the Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR.
Forget the fast lens and just use a tri-pod to get some cool pictures. Have whoever you are with go on a ride by themselves; this will give you time to walk around and get great night shots.
I took my tri-pid and wired timer/plunger and took lots of slow shutter pictures. It's cool if you fire your flash at something moving then keep the shutter open.
Here are my pictures from a recent trip to Disneyland this January.
http://www.gchristopherphotos.com/dlr_night
http://www.gchristopherphotos.com/dland_fireworks
I took my tri-pid and wired timer/plunger and took lots of slow shutter pictures. It's cool if you fire your flash at something moving then keep the shutter open.
Here are my pictures from a recent trip to Disneyland this January.
http://www.gchristopherphotos.com/dlr_night
http://www.gchristopherphotos.com/dland_fireworks