what's the point of fast lenses (small DOF) indoors?

Riff Raff wrote in post #6555950
I primarily shoot low-light action indoors at a theatre. Fast lenses are absolutely required in order to not be using flash for everything. Here's a good example. This was shot at ISO 1600, 1/125, f/2.0 with a 50mm lens. I'm fine with the small depth of field. I wouldn't have been fine with blowing out the existing lighting with my own flash.

Did you have a 50mm f/1.8 prior to the 50mm 1.4? I had the 1.8 and it SUCKED for focusing in low light (it wasn't a bad copy or anything either). I'm thinking of getting either a 50 1.4 or 85 1.8 for my next lens, a nice prime would be good to have.

timrocks311 wrote in post #6386231
I'm a relative newbie so forgive me...

I was just thinking...people make such a big deal about f/2.8 zooms or faster primes because it allows them to shoot in low light, indoors and stuff. .

To me the simple answer is soft natural light found indoors is usually far more natural and flattering than artificial lighting, particularly when photographing people.

kiwichris wrote in post #6561754
To me the simple answer is soft natural light found indoors is usually far more natural and flattering than artificial lighting, particularly when photographing people.

And often for wedding photographers, flash is not allowed in churches, so you MUST use available light, which means fast aperture and high ISO.

kiwichris wrote in post #6561754
To me the simple answer is soft natural light found indoors is usually far more natural and flattering than artificial lighting, particularly when photographing people.

True, but for many esp. in more Northern locations indoors is often when it's dark and lit by household or event location lighting. Well done bounced flash is often much more flattering than available mixed household lighting.

lungdoc wrote in post #6565105
True, but for many esp. in more Northern locations indoors is often when it's dark and lit by household or event location lighting. Well done bounced flash is often much more flattering than available mixed household lighting.

Also true

Just goes to show how much the photographer has to interpret the situation they are in, and make the needed adjustments.

I realize now I should have said more "Poleward", "non-Equatorial" or perhaps just "at higher latitude" locations....isn't only us Northerners who can have dark nights - didn't pay attention to the username or location . At least your days are getting longer now!

While aperture has an impact on DOF, this impact is often overrated. Switching from F/2 to F/4 only doubles your DOF, unless you go towards hyperfocal distances, which is highly unlikely indoors with portrait capable lenses.

Basically, whatever you shoot indoor, DOF will be limited and should be accounted for, fast lenses give you the option to sacrifice yet a bit more DOF for shutter speed.

While you may never reach hyperfocal indoors I don't think you can really dismiss the DOF advantages of going from say f /1.8 to f/ 4 or /5.6 - at 10 feet with a 30mm lens you have 2.3 feet DOF with f/1.8, 5.45 feet at f/4 and 8.28 feet at f/5.6. This can make a big difference in typical indoor subjects of say a couple standing slightly offset, or people sitting at a table; or just the focus errors we see from many lenses/cameras/situati​ons.

This past Saturday, I did group shots (~10 people across, two rows) with my 30mm at f/2 and at that distance, both rows of people were sufficiently sharp (although I did use flash), so as long as you're far enough away, DOF should not be too much of a problem.

lungdoc wrote in post #6566579
I realize now I should have said more "Poleward", "non-Equatorial" or perhaps just "at higher latitude" locations....isn't only us Northerners who can have dark nights - didn't pay attention to the username or location . At least your days are getting longer now!

And warmer too, thankfully We may get a rap on the knuckles for this off topic? We had snow here a couple of days ago, now 24 deg C, so the weather is somewhat changeable. I would say am close to diametrically opposed to you, I know about loooooong dark black nights, in a small town an hours drive away from the bottom of the South Island, on the west side. Halfway between Dunedin and Invercargill.