Flash-less photography and focussing

I recently purchased the G2. I must say that I'm quite happy with it. I'm pre-amateur at photography, but have been reading the National Geographic Field Guide for some tips. I'm consistently running into problems taking pictures in an indoor-evening setting. I keep getting pictures that are blurred. I was at an indoor party this weekend (during the evening)...and couldn't for the life of me get a good (not blurred) picture without using the flash. But, everytime I used the flash, it would be quite obvious from the picture that I did. Everything would look very unnatural. What are some good techniques to taking pictures of people in an indoor-evening setting if I don't want to use a flash? Thanks in advance...

It appears to me you are suffering from camera shake.

You have a couple of options. You can buy an external Speedlite flash like the 420EX. This gives truly superb and natural results if you bounce the flash off the ceiling. Even full on with the 420 the built in flash is no comparison to the 420EX. Setting the G2 to flash white balance will give you the best results. As a rule do not use the built in flash unless you have to.

However if you really want to use the G2 without any form of flash you need to increase the light source as much as you can by turning on as many lights as possible or increasing the wattage of the bulbs. You'll need to play with the white balance settings too and may need to adjust the ISO speed of your G2 to perhaps 200. But bear in mind you'll suffer from increased noise the higher you go.

There is another factor as well which I covered in a previous thread. If you use the LCD to take pics at low shutter speeds (1/60th or less) as opposed to the viewfinder, you'll find you do not steady the camera as much. When you use the viewfinder the G2 is steadied against your face. When you use the lcd, the cam is away from your body so you have much more dynamic movement of the cam from your very subtle swaying, which is made worse when you press the shutter button. This leads to camera shake and blurred pics.

I would personally opt for the external flash. You will really be amazed at the results and I'm certain others will back me up on this.

The G2 focus is precise once you get accustomed to it, but it will suffer like any other cam in low light situations. Just make sure you aren't blocking the focus assist light with a finger! Because it is a small camera and most people use the LCD to take pics, camera shake is more of a problem. You could try to use the viewfinder instead, as the camera will be more steadier, but you may also need to change other settings as well like ambient light in the room or ISO speed.

My low light pics indoors using the 420 have been truly amzing and I can use shutter speeds from 1/60th to 1/250th of a second.

HTH,

Carl

You know, I was thinking about purchasing an external flash but wasn't quite sure what to get with the G2...do you have any sample low-light indoor shots you took with your setup? I'd love to see the results.

I'd be interested too!

Thanks much for the response and the tips. I try to use the viewfinder...but when you're learning, it's too easy to get spoiled with the LCD!!

Also, should I be using the camera in Continuous Focus mode or Single Focus mode? I've gone through this forum...but I'm getting mixed messages. Also, as the previous responses said, if you have some sample pictures with the 420EX...I'd really appreciate it. I'm trying to determine what effect the external flash will have if I use the bounce effect. Is it best to bounce from the ceiling...or the wall? (This, of course, may depend on what you have available...but I'm looking for something near a rule of thumb)! Again...thank you very much.

If I get time I'll do some example pics on AUTO with the built in flash and then with the 420EX. I'll stick them on my web space without any alteration and post the link, but I can't promise I will do it today.

Carl

My (brief) experience with the G2 is very similar to what others report. LOTS of blurry pictures indoors, with or without the built-in flash.

So I got a 420EX external flash hoping that would help. And it does... I now have many more options for lighting my subjects, and get lots of good pictures. Also, you can grip the camera and steady it better, not to mention the considerable increase in mass which also lends steadiness.

HOWEVER, the propensity for this camera to misfocus on close subjects is still there and still annoying. I take lots of close-ups of little kids at play. At first, three or four out of five such pictures would be blurred. With the 420EX, for whatever combination of reasons, it went down to about two out of five.

My latest attempt is to use "Tv" mode and set a higher shutter speed eg. 1/160 sec. I also (sometimes) have the "Macro" mode on, even for shots two feet away. Together these seem to have helped a lot, so now I get maybe one blurred out of five.

Considering how good the pictures can be when they AREN'T blurry, and the fact that you can take as many as you want (you did buy a big CF card, didn't you?) I'm pretty happy.

==> Bottom line: yes, definitely get the 420EX flash. But don't expect it to solve all your problems.


Arbie

sample 420ex picture

here's an example shot using a 420ex bounced off the ceiling. the only light on was an incandesent table lamp behind me and to the right.

http://www.pbase.com/i​mage/1137054/original

(this isn't the best example but one i just happen to have readily available right now.)

re: focusing problems, it does help usually to pre-focus on your subject's shirt and then recompose the shot...some people report that this is more reliable. carl's advice about camera shake is also particularly relevant (you can test this by using a tripod and seeing how your shots improve!).

re: the question about bouncing off the ceiling vs. the wall, well, it depends... if you have a low to moderate height white ceiling, that works for *most* general situations when you're at least 4 feet away from the subject. white walls work well when you want to "model" someone's face more, like in an informal portrait (in this situation, you have them sit at an angle to the camera toward the wall and you point the flash toward the wall and angled slightly up...this helps get rid of the "mug shot" look and helps faces look thinner).

Here is a shot that I bounced off a wall:

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

With regard to "where to bounce": I've gotten a few really striking shots by bouncing the flash off the floor, too. Can certainly be overdone, but the occasional pic is very nice.

Also, there's another thread going (saw it yesterday) in which someone described affixing a white index card to the top of the 420EX. Depending on head angle this would give a more diffuse or softer light.

Arbie

I stil have a link to one of Todd's pages which you may find useful with external flash. Its here (and thanks again Todd);

http://twalker.d2g.com​/pro90/flashtest/index​.htm

Its a good example and well presented. Todd posted this on rec.photo.digital a few weeks ago and I thought it was so good it needed some more exposure (pun intended) so I posted it on here (its on page 3 I think).

This is the repost . . . Oh and soz but no time to do the example pics

Carl

Bought a 128mb card (for now). Thanks for the advice (thanks to everyone). I'm going to try everything I'm reading!!

I've had my G2 for a couple weeks now and also have the 420ex external flash. I've come to the conclusion that the blurry close in photos are a result of not being in Macro mode. The wide angle lens fools you. 27 inches from front of lens to the subject is the time to switch to macro. Many photos of subjects are often right around this distance. The problem is less apparent with the flash because depth of field and focus are almost always dramaticly increased when using any flash. Run some tests, with and without macro. You'll see what I mean if you use a tripod and take flashless photos in low light.
Perhaps the one flaw of the G2 is that it will take a picture whether or not you have focus lock. I have the beeps turned off, i'm going to turn them on and see if the camera alerts you in some way. the green, orange and yellow alert system can be confusing, but i'm trying to learn and remember it. But its gotta be better than leaving the beeps on.