Help with a new lens and low light shots

[deestapleton]

I have an EOS 5D and love it! I am a very frustrated amateur photographer and it is my first SLR camera. I'm slowly working my way through the manual to learn as much as I can, but I need some help with getting to grips with the functions.... especially for taking low light photos

I have the 25-105 L IS lens that I bought with the camera, and just bought a 70-200 F/4 L lens today.

Can anyone offer advice on taking shots in low light?

Dee x

[Keiffer]

Well foirst of all what are you trying to shoot in low light? Sports? or landscapes? The reason I ask if it's sports, you need faster glass, ie 2.8. If landscapes, get a tripod and reduce shutter speed.

[beano]

I've yet to find a reliable metering technique for low light shots, it's all a bit trial and error for me at the moment... That said, i highly recommend trial and error. :D

[deestapleton]

Well foirst of all what are you trying to shoot in low light? Sports? or landscapes? The reason I ask if it's sports, you need faster glass, ie 2.8. If landscapes, get a tripod and reduce shutter speed.

Landscapes in low light .... I have a tripod so thats not a problem ... so if I mount on the tripod and reduce the shutter speed it should work better for me?

I am very new to the whole SLR thing ... but want to learn!

Dee xx

[Dan-o]

I'm new also so I've been shooting raw+jpeg. It is a big file but at least that way I can set the exposure and other parameters for the jpeg and still be able to edit the raw if it is exposed wrong or white balance is off.

[sannesley]

When slowing down the shutter speed for landscape shots you run the risk of blowing any remaining highlights in the scene in trying to capture detail in the darker areas of the image. If the main bright area in your landscape shots is the sky then it might be worth investing in an ND grad filter such as the type manufactured by Cokin or Kood. It'll always come in handy for daytime landscape shots as well.

You could also shoot in RAW mode. This will give you more latitude in altering the image afterwards for underexposed or overexposed images. A great piece of software to try is RawShooter Essentials which can be downloaded for free from the Pixmantec website

[deestapleton]

When slowing down the shutter speed for landscape shots you run the risk of blowing any remaining highlights in the scene in trying to capture detail in the darker areas of the image. If the main bright area in your landscape shots is the sky then it might be worth investing in an ND grad filter such as the type manufactured by Cokin or Kood. It'll always come in handy for daytime landscape shots as well.

You could also shoot in RAW mode. This will give you more latitude in altering the image afterwards for underexposed or overexposed images. A great piece of software to try is RawShooter Essentials which can be downloaded for free from the Pixmantec website

Ohh I have so much to learn ..... you may as well be speaking Russian! I understand a little about RAW mode --- I do tend to shoot in jpg but have just changed that on the camera now so it will be RAW from now on!

So for example if I was on the beach shooting pics of the waves coming in ... the highlights I might lose would be the white foam on the wave?

Dee x

[deestapleton]

I so need more memory cards to shoot in RAW! This is scary! Prolly the reason why I'd stuck to shooting in JPG in the past!

[AeroSmith]

Crank up the ISO. The 5D rocks at 1600. And I'd think about getting a fast prime like the EF 35 f/1.4L, the EF 50 f/1.4 or either of the EF 85s. f/1.4 will give you several additional stops to work with. As far as I'm concerned, zooms just aren't low light lenses.

[sannesley]

you may as well be speaking Russian! I understand a little about RAW mode --- I do tend to shoot in jpg but have just changed that on the camera now so it will be RAW from now on!
Check out this months copy of Digital Photo (http://www.photographymags.co.uk/nav?page=photography.contentspage&view_resource=3399878)for an excellent introduction to getting started with RAW

[Jim_T]

You might want to check out the 'Talk about photography" forum.. There are several good threads discussing night shooting and some good info in some of the sticky subjects with links to tutorials on night shooting. You may even see other subjects of interest to you.. It's a good resource.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=13

[benca1]

I have an EOS 5D and love it! I am a very frustrated amateur photographer and it is my first SLR camera. I'm slowly working my way through the manual to learn as much as I can, but I need some help with getting to grips with the functions.... especially for taking low light photos

I have the 25-105 L IS lens that I bought with the camera, and just bought a 70-200 F/4 L lens today.

Can anyone offer advice on taking shots in low light?

Dee x

This is why I always recommend to people to not buy more then one lens at a time when starting out. Now you have two very fine pieces of glass, but both are at F4. By starting with one lens and taking a lot of pictures during just one day, you'll get a very good idea of what you need just to get by. F4 is too slow for most indoor work after the sun goes down, and think of all of the pictures for special events that happen indoors at night! The IS isn't going to help you one bit shooting people who are moving.

There are some outstanding books that address lighting and metering exclusively, I would look on amazon and read the user reviews of the book.

The 5D does not come with a flash... if you want low light pictures, there are times when a flash is indispensible. Even turning the flash all the way down in power will allow you to get low light shots at just the right shutter speed without making it look like a flash was used (by bouncing).

Finally, I would sell the 24-105, you can sell it here for more then you paid for it (probably, and I'm serious!). Get the 24-70L at F2.8. Then you won't have any focal overlap like you do now AND you'll have low light performance...

fwiw