are Ext Flash needed ?

Guys,

i just recently aquired the 24-105mm F/4L Lens ... i've took some pix with the IS on and some of the shots are still a bit blurry.. the shots are all indoors and i had to bump the ISO up to 1600 for bad lighting .. now, since the ISO was bumped up, the pix are quite noisey .. please let me know if the speed light are needed or is there any tech that anyone can share ...

here is a sample .. nothing was done and it was shot in RAW .. had to resize down ..

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please let me know if there's anything that can help me shoot indoors and moving subjects .. thanks in advance ..

I assume u are shooting in aperture priority......there is a custom function which will sync the flash at 250. This should help with the shutter speed and blur. The camera in aperture priority meters as if you do not have a flash- it uses the flash just for fill. Therefore u will still have a long shutterspeed which will cause blur for a moving subject. You could also shoot full manual to avoid this from happening- just keep the shutterspeed between 60 and 250. Hope this helped.

actually .. i was shooting in M mode .. but since the lighting was bad .. i think my shutter speed was set at

Tv( Shutter Speed )
1/30
Av( Aperture Value )
4.0
ISO Speed
1600
Image Size
800x533
Flash
Off
Color Space
Adobe RGB
File Size
145KB

my bad....u could always bump the iso to 3200 and use noise reduction in post processing. U access iso 3200 thru the custom functions. IS is a great feature but it will not produce tack sharp handheld pictures. Once again- hope this helped

One more thing....I know the 24-105 is the new toy but I see u have faster glass available. Try using the f4 lens for shooting still images in low light and the faster glass for potentially moving objects- just a suggestion

thanks WIldWolf .. i tried to stay away from higher ISO as much as possible .. due to noisy pix

What focus points were you using. It looks like focus was on shoes and the DOF just happened to include the boys face. Examine in EOS viewer to see what you were focused on.

i am only using the center focal point .. and its always center of the picture .. should i have use a different focal point ? or should i select different focal points as i shoot ?

That is what it is there for..

Have another try at the same shot using the focal point and nail him straight in the face..(sorry for the term) but you will acheave better results..

An example of mine on dull day.. See how tha lad is in full focus and the older guy is out of focus

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wow .. thanks ..

you guys are the best ! .. im off to try it somemore ! cross your fingers ..hehe

f4 lenses respond best to bright light. Try an external flash and see if it makes a difference. I would think with a slower lens like this a speedlight would be essential.

thanks guys .. i went out and got a speed light ... im gonna get some practice and see how it works out .. thanks again guys ..

Another thing worth looking into if you want to use higher ISO is a product such as NeatImage or NoiseNinja which removes the noise. Some detail is lost in the process, but I find the results are excellent up to ISO 400 and still useable up to ISO 1600. I'm not too keen on ISO 3200 though.

You can improve the results futher by running the noise reduction on a seperate layer and then using a layer mask to control the amount of noise reduction. Low detail areas, where the noise is most noticeable get the maximum, high detail areas get blocked out or only partial transparancy.

This is handy for situations where natural light can be more pleasing that using a flash.

hmmm .. very interesting woodsie .. thanks