Shooting People in Hospital Florescent Light

[filmcutter53]

I have to shoot some stills for a video project I am doing...so I just picked up a Rebel Xsi.

I am at the stage where I am just learning to turn the thing on but now I have to go shoot a ton of stills in a hospital emergency room setting with lots of bright florescent light.

I know visually I don't want to use the auto mode which seems to default to flash.

My question is... can somebody help me with what might be the optimal settings/technique for my camera for this situation.

I can shoot video confidently in this situation (primarily because I know what I can do to make it look good in post) but shooting stills has me a little unsure. Blurring/color tint/etc are my biggest concerns.

I am particularly concerned about the potential for blurring since I have to shoot people moving, arguing, etc and I am really worried about blurring using practical/available light.

Thanks for any advice

[710 Studio]

FILMCUTTER53 - Very difficult conditions, indeed. The first thing I would do with those conditions would be to shoot at a higher ISO... play with the ISO, a bit, but I would imagine between 400-800. The next thing is, try to shoot with a lens that would allow for a very wide aperture setting (the nifty fifty, 50mm f/1.8, would be a good and inexpensive lens for this). A wide aperture would allow you to shoot at a faster shutter speed. And speaking of shutter speed, I would combine the first two considerations to make sure you are shooting at about 1/200 sec or faster. This should be fast enough to where you can catch motion and stop it with minimal (if any) blur.

I hope this helps!

[poloman]

If you shoot at faster than 1/60 of a second you will run into the blinking of the flourescent lights being on or off while your shutter closes. I would shoot this with flash if possible to aid in the WB problems and to freeze the action. Another way is to stay just below 1/60th and try to catch pauses in the action. A little motion blur can actually be a good thing if you are trying to action.

[gjl711]

...make sure you are shooting at about 1/200 sec or faster. This should be fast enough to where you can catch motion and stop it with minimal (if any) blur....

If you shoot at faster than 1/60 of a second you will run into the blinking of the flourescent lights being on or off while your shutter closes.....The florescent are whats going to kill you. If you shoot faster than line frequency, your going to get big yellow lines in your pics unless you use some form of supplementary lighting, unless they are running high frequency florecents. You might be able to go 1/2 cycle though, maybe 1/120 but depending on the bulbs threshhold voltage.

[710 Studio]

Bwahaha... I guess I missed a key component of the question, didn't I? Florescent... right... Thanks for covering my tail! :)

[Daniel Browning]

Lots of white stuff in a Hospital. Use bounce flash.