Brother is graduating; I'm doing the shooting. Suggestions!

[epp_b]

My brother is graduating from high school today and I'm in charge of taking his photos at the ceremony. I'll be using my Nikon D40 with the 18-55mm kit lens.

The ceremony is in a well, albeit, strategically lit hockey arena. I will be right close the stage when I take the pictures.

Any suggestions for settings?

[BerserkerCatSplat]

That's going to be tough, arenas usually have crap lighting. You'll generally need an f/2.8 or faster aperture + ISO 800 if you want to avoid using flash. You could look into renting a 70-200 f/2.8VR for the day if there's any local shops that rent gear. If you don't need the long zoom, the 24-70 f/2.8 should do the trick.

As an aside, your main issue is going to be hand-shake and subject motion blur. A tripod will get rid of hand-shake but not give you the shutter speed to freeze even the relatively slow movement of people. That's why the larger aperture is so important.

[TopGearDog]

Shoot in RAW because White Balance can be tricky in that kind of lighting. That way you can easily adjust it in post processing in case the camera struggles with it.

To get enough shutter speed so that your images wont be blurry (dont know if that kit lens has VR), you might need to increase your ISO to 400 or even 800 depending on what shutter the camera gives you at widest aperture.

I'd suggest show up early and do some test shots. Try using A mode (Aperture Priority, camera adjusts shutter speed) and set the camera to the lowest f/ number at ISO 100 or 200 and see what shutter it gives you. It doesnt need to be high, as it's not sports, so maybe around 100 should be plenty. If you shutter exceeds 100 by a bit, like in the 2-300's, then close the aperture to get more area in focus.

When it comes down to it though, just experiment by trial and error. As long as the images arent blurred by camera shake, youll be fine.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally Posted by TopGearDog

When it comes down to it though, just experiment by trial and error. As long as the images arent blurred by camera shake, youll be fine.

And if he has to use a 1/5s shutter speed to expose correctly and every little bit of subject movement is blurred, what then?

Trial and error works if you're shooting art. If you're shooting events, you get one shot and trial/error doesn't cut it anymore.

[TopGearDog]

Originally Posted by BerserkerCatSplat

And if he has to use a 1/5s shutter speed to expose correctly and every little bit of subject movement is blurred, what then?

Trial and error works if you're shooting art. If you're shooting events, you get one shot and trial/error doesn't cut it anymore.

Thats why i suggested to him to show up early, to practise before the event starts. If it's well enough lit up he can manage with the gear he's got because i doubt he will buy a $1,700 lens for that event.

Of course it would be ideal to have a f/2.8 or better lens, but those cost a alot and since he has a D40 with a kit lens, i assumed he was on a budget. The D40 has decent high ISO capability and a hockey stadium is usually lit well enough to get usable shutter speeds for non sports at f/3.5

Here's an example, (crappy subject i know) this is take inside a horse riding school, with seriously crappy lighting and it's shot with a D70 @ f/3.5 1/100sec @ ISO 400.....



As you can see, it's not too dark, or blurry, with a shutter speed of 1/100 at only ISO 400, i could have gone higher ISO but 800+ ISO on a D70 is less then desireable. The high ISO on a D40 is better i believe.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally Posted by TopGearDog

Thats why i suggested to him to show up early, to practise before the event starts. If it's well enough lit up he can manage with the gear he's got because i doubt he will buy a $1,700 lens for that event.

Of course it would be ideal to have a f/2.8 or better lens, but those cost a alot and since he has a D40 with a kit lens, i assumed he was on a budget.

First, showing up days in advance to check the lighting is a good idea, because if the lighting is poor and his gear can't compensate, then he's got time to make arrangements. If he shows up an hour early and the lighting is poor, no amount of "trial and error" is going to fix that his gear isn't set up for indoor low-light events.

Second, never did I mention or suggest buying the lens. I recommended renting it, as you can get them for very reasonable rates, usually $30-$50/day depending on how exotic the lens is.

The D40 has decent high ISO capability and a hockey stadium is usually lit well enough to get usable shutter speeds for non sports at f/3.5

Usually, possibly, maybe. That leaves a margin for error that I'm not a fan of accepting. If I make a commitment to get the shot, I make damned certain I've got everything I need to. The only reason I'm being so hard about this is that he's got precisely one chance to get the shot he needs to take. If you're out shooting for fun, you can use whatever. If you've got a specific capture you need to make, you need to make sure you can do it. If I were in his position, I'd probably rent the gear if for no other reason than to give myself that margin of error. PPPPPP.

Here's an example, (crappy subject i know) this is take inside a horse riding school, with seriously crappy lighting and it's shot with a D70 @ f/3.5 1/100sec @ ISO 400.....



As you can see, it's not too dark, or blurry, with a shutter speed of 1/100 at only ISO 400, i could have gone higher ISO but 800+ ISO on a D70 is less then desireable. The high ISO on a D40 is better i believe.

First: Even at that resolution I can see slight motion blur from the horses and people.

Second: You shot that at a wide angle, presumably 18mm. That minimizes the appearance of motion blur and gives you the largest aperture the lens offers, f/3.5.

Third: At a grad ceremony, he's not going to be shooting the grad portion at 18mm, more like 40-55mm, where the aperture is a small f/5.6, so there goes 2 full stops of light. 1/125 now becomes 1/30/s, and now both motion blur and camera shake are a problem. You're both shooting slower than the inverse focal length rule (by a factor of 2) and since the subject fills the frame, all motion is magnified.

If he wants to avoid using flash, he needs to have fast shutter speeds, end of story.

[epp_b]

Well, I'm back. I got one decent shot. I have to admit, I was lucky to get it, I was dicking around a little too much before-hand.

I shot using ISO 400 with flash in auto; shutter was 1/60, aperture was probably adjusted to F5.6 (I can't remember). I mucked it up a bit by forgetting to turn the noise filter and continuous/AF-servo mode off, but I still got the shot.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Ah, that was more of an immediate question than I expected, haha.

[TopGearDog]

Sorry, i missed the word "rent" from your first reply.

You are absoloutely are right, he needs shutter speed. I just wanted to share that in my experience, shooting in locations with not so hot lighting, it can be done, although more risk of non keepers. Of course i would use my 18-50 f/2.8, 50mm f/1.8 or 180mm f/2.8 in a situation like that, but i have managed with less.

It also occured to me that alot of parents will be there so i'd expect alot of point and shoot cameras all using flash, so maybe flash photography isnt out of the question?

Edit:

Oh damn, done already.......hehehe

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally Posted by TopGearDog

It also occured to me that alot of parents will be there so i'd expect alot of point and shoot cameras all using flash, so maybe flash photography isnt out of the question?

Yeah, that's totally true. I really hate on-camera flash, so I try to avoid it at all costs. Flash is a last-ditch resort for me. I guess he ended up using flash anyway.

[nomix]

There's a much cheaper way of getting the right aperture, without going through with lenses like the 70-200 or the 24-70. The Sigma 50/1.4 HSM. It's not a properly cheap lens, and it's not tack sharp from what I've been able to gather. But for this sort of use, it could do the trick.

If renting is possible, that should do the trick, though.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally Posted by nomix

There's a much cheaper way of getting the right aperture, without going through with lenses like the 70-200 or the 24-70. The Sigma 50/1.4 HSM. It's not a properly cheap lens, and it's not tack sharp from what I've been able to gather. But for this sort of use, it could do the trick.

If renting is possible, that should do the trick, though.

I'm 99.9% certain that lens is only available in Canon mount at the moment. It's also a solid $500.

Full disclosure: I'm waiting to see performance samples, I have the 30mm f/1.4 and love it.

[nomix]

I haven't viewed any samples yet, but I've spoken to Nikon users who've found it quite lacking compared to the Nikkor 50/1.4.

The only reason Sigma can price it the way they do is because there's a lot of D40/x/60 users out there.

Only my view of the situation, though.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally Posted by nomix

I haven't viewed any samples yet, but I've spoken to Nikon users who've found it quite lacking compared to the Nikkor 50/1.4.

Who do you know that gets prerelease hardware? It doesn't ship until July 10th.

[nomix]

A guy at a .no testsite.

Got to jump in and edit this from work. I was wrong. He'd talked about what he expected - not what he knew. I'm a dork for not reading what he wrote carefully enough, but I have been working for the last 14 hours, so I'll take some solistice from that. And the fact that I never care too much about release dates than I keep track.

But unless the Sigma is so sharp you can cut glass with it, I can see few other uses for it than giving D40/x/D60 users a neat portrait lens with AF.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Damnit, there I was really hoping you'd have an inside line on that lens, haha! I'm really interested in it because the Nikkor 1.4 could be improved optically (Why they used the Series E formula I'll never know) and the HSM focusing is much smoother than the screwdiver. That being said, there's the perpetual rumours that Nikon will release an updated 50/1.4, etc etc.

[nomix]

Originally Posted by BerserkerCatSplat

Damnit, there I was really hoping you'd have an inside line on that lens, haha! I'm really interested in it because the Nikkor 1.4 could be improved optically (Why they used the Series E formula I'll never know) and the HSM focusing is much smoother than the screwdiver. That being said, there's the perpetual rumours that Nikon will release an updated 50/1.4, etc etc.

That would be nice. But at the moment, I think there's a lot of professionals who'd rather they put out a new version of the 70-200/2.8 VR.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Rumour has it that the big release with the D700 will be a six-item release, so 1/2 cameras and 4/5 lenses. 2 of the lenses may be the two remaining PC lenses, so that leaves room for a 70-200II. Well, assuming the rumours are true, haha!

[nomix]

The only rumors I take seriously in the camera world is those that come from a fourthirds-site I frequent. They've got a good relationship with Oly, so they always know it first. Other than that, generally, rumors are rumors..

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Yeah, the Nikon community generally relies on Thom Hogan for early confirmation, he's one of the Nikon product testers and knows everything ahead of time. I'm sure Nikon doesn't mind him building up a little hype, either.