XTI, Low Light, No Flash = Good Picture

Hello,

Can someone help me out. Sorry if this question has been asked.

My daughter is having her dance residal next month on stage and I am going to take some pictures with my Canon Rebel XTI and 75-300mm lens. How do I take a good clear picture in very low light and NO flash.

I took pictures last year and they all came out blurry and not good at all. I’m new to all this and still learning.

My question is what setting should I use to get a good shot?

Jason

your not gonna get good results with that lens..its pretty slow lens and low light would be so hard
i would maybe suggest getting the 50mm 1.8 for 80bucks. that should be able to get you some good shots and plenty shutter speed to be able to stop the action. you might have to move closer though.

If you want to do it on the cheap, pick up a 50mm f1.8 and try to get a bit closer to the stage. If you shoot at about f2.2 or so, you should be able to get useable shutter speeds if you bump up your ISO setting. You may have to go all the way to ISO 1600 to get the shutter speed fast enough.

Jcramos, the issue is the light-gathering ability of the lens on your camera. Your lens' aperture is rated f/4-6.5 (which is a ratio formula I won't go in to right now). Basically, the lower the number, the more light-gathering ability a lens has, and the lower-light conditions it can function in successfully. The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 (the "Nifty Fifty") is a very fast lens with the bonus of having excellent imaging ability. It's known for producing very sharp images. At around $80 new it's one of the best value for dollar lenses anywhere. It's not a zoom lens--it's focal length is set--which is a big reason for its low cost, as zooms are much more complicated mechanically and therefore much more expensive (for quality zooms, at any rate).

Your best bet is to get a 50, set your ISO to 1600 (the equivalent of "fast film"), switch off the flash and have at it. If you have a chance, practice in low-light conditions first to get a feel for what the lens and yourself are capable of. You'll have a much higher chance of getting decent pics with that setup than you will with your zoom.

You do have one other option I hadn't thought of. You can try to use your camera and current lens with a tripod. The blur in your images from last year came from camera shake--at the slow shutter speeds the camera needs to gather enough light with that lens to make an image, you're not physically able to hold the camera still enough, and blur results. If you set the camera up with a tripod, you may be able to eliminate enough shake to get good results. The trouble is, tripods take up a significant amount of space, which may not be available at the recital. Also, cheap tripods aren't as stable and by the time you get a decent consumer-level on, you are pretty close to spending as much as you would have on a 50mm lens.

If you do choose to go this route, again, I recommend you simulate shooting in low-light conditions so you can get a feel for what you and your camera are capable of.

There's a couple things at play here and it's all related to how much available light you have to work with.

There are 2 things to worry about

1. Using fast enough shutter speed to prevent handshake from affecting your pics. For your XTi + 75-300 combo you want shutter speeds at least 1/120 @75mm and 1/480 @300mm. (Assuming this is not an I.S. lens)
   
2. In addition, using fast enough shutter speed to stop the dance action. This really varies depending on how fast the action is. You can certainly try 1/120, but you would probably get better results at 1/250 or faster. You need to see what works for you and the kind of effects you want. (Freeze the action or capture the motion, etc...)

jcramos wrote in post #5374144
Hello,

Can someone help me out. Sorry if this question has been asked.

My daughter is having her dance residal next month on stage and I am going to take some pictures with my Canon Rebel XTI and 75-300mm lens. How do I take a good clear picture in very low light and NO flash.

I took pictures last year and they all came out blurry and not good at all. I’m new to all this and still learning.

My question is what setting should I use to get a good shot?

Jason