Shutter speed suggestions for different situations

Hi,

Today i was shooting some people in a dance studio, actually to test my fifty nifty, for the first time. Most of the images are not blurred but not sharp at all. I shot them in ISO400, f2.2 and 1/60s however they are not sharp as i wanted. Because ppl in the studio are moving most of the time (dancing) you guys think 1/60s shutter speed is not enough? When i increase the shutter speed, to find the right exposure i need to increase the ISO as well which brings noise to my pictures.

What is the right shutter speed to capture dancers in a studio? And to shoot landscape and portraits in day light, what min. shutter speed i need to capture sharp images because i dont use tripod, only handheld and my hand sometimes shaky

Thanks, i can show samples from the shooting if anyone wants

As for the dance studio, thats why they invented flash. When you run up against the need to freeze motion at acceptable IS0 and apertures flash is your friend. Because the flash duration is shorter (1/500 or so) it will freeze action even with slower shutter speeds.

The rule of thumb on handholding without IS on a lens is 1/focal length. That means a 200mm lens would require 1/200 of a second to be used handheld. Keep in mind that your camera is a crop bod so you probably need a slightly faster speed than the rule of thumb to compenate for the extra reach. Say 1/250 on a 200mm. etc. Some poeple have less shake and better technique so you probably need to find your own limits.

So i had to shoot 1/100 at least with my 50mm f1.8 ? or something between 1/50 and 1/100 ?

I dont have a flash now, external one and my friend was shooting with a canon 5d mark II + 24-70mm without a flash but he told me he was using higher ISOs. This sunday we will meet again to shoot and will check his %100 crops.

gonzogolf wrote in post #10138304
As for the dance studio, thats why they invented flash. When you run up against the need to freeze motion at acceptable IS0 and apertures flash is your friend. Because the flash duration is shorter (1/500 or so) it will freeze action even with slower shutter speeds.
.....

No it won't. If you want to freeze the action you need high shutter speed with flash to stop the action. If you have slow shutter speed you will still have enough ambient to show the movement.

matonanjin wrote in post #10138370
No it won't. If you want to freeze the action you need high shutter speed with flash to stop the action. If you have slow shutter speed you will still have enough ambient to show the movement.

Not true, if your flash is 3 stops brighter than the ambient, you can freeze motion without blur.

burak.82 wrote in post #10138367
So i had to shoot 1/100 at least with my 50mm f1.8 ? or something between 1/50 and 1/100 ?

I dont have a flash now, external one and my friend was shooting with a canon 5d mark II + 24-70mm without a flash but he told me he was using higher ISOs. This sunday we will meet again to shoot and will check his %100 crops.

1/50 - 1/100 is not going to be nearly fast enough to stop action. You are going to have to have at least 1/250th, preferably higher, to stop action.

The easy answer is to ask your friend what settings he is using and duplicate those. Granted your camera is not going to handle noise as well as a 5D MkII. But you are better off having a little noise than a blurry shot.

Shooting indoor sports I almost always go to ISO 1600-3200, 1/500th and F/2.

gonzogolf wrote in post #10138385
Not true, if your flash is 3 stops brighter than the ambient, you can freeze motion without blur.

And that isn't true. It depends on whether the ambient exposure remains relevant or not. As you told the OP just adding flash would stop action. If the OP remained at 1/60 f 2.2 the ambient exposure would still be seen and add blur to the image. It doesn't matter what the ratio is of flash to ambient is. It can be 5 times. If the ambient is still recorded then you will have motion blur.

If you are saying to add enough flash to where you can stop down enough and make the ambient exposure irrelevant, then yes. Or up the shutter speed to sync and stop down for your flash exposure and there won't be any question.

If your flash is 3 stops brighter than the ambient, and you didnt adjust to stop down you would considerably overexpose your photos and it would become pretty obvious.

burak.82 wrote in post #10138272
Hi,

Today i was shooting some people in a dance studio, actually to test my fifty nifty, for the first time. Most of the images are not blurred but not sharp at all. I shot them in ISO400, f2.2 and 1/60s however they are not sharp as i wanted. Because ppl in the studio are moving most of the time (dancing) you guys think 1/60s shutter speed is not enough? When i increase the shutter speed, to find the right exposure i need to increase the ISO as well which brings noise to my pictures.

What is the right shutter speed to capture dancers in a studio? And to shoot landscape and portraits in day light, what min. shutter speed i need to capture sharp images because i dont use tripod, only handheld and my hand sometimes shaky

Thanks, i can show samples from the shooting if anyone wants

Apperently (as you just learned), faster than 1/60s. As for getting more noise, that's the tradeoff we ALWAYS face. Photography is all about balancing tradeoffs.

I'll add a noisier picture is usually "better" than a blurry picture

egordon99 wrote in post #10138971
I'll add a noisier picture is usually "better" than a blurry picture

At least noise can be addressed in the computer if desired. Motion blur, not so much.

I would not hesitate to shoot ISO1600 to get a shutter speed of 1/250. That's the magic number I use for drag racing (car frozen, wheels blurred) it should be fine for dancing.

What is the problem with ISO1600 or even higher? Noisy shot will still be lot better than blurry one. Sorry to be rude but you should take some ISO1600 shots at proper exposure and print them say 11x14 or so without any NR and then judge how good or bad the noise performance is.

ISO 1600 properly exposed is better than ISO 100 underexposed. Raise the ISO. You won't see the noise anyway unless you post full-size images on the web or make large prints. Most people don't do either.

gonzogolf wrote in post #10138590
If your flash is 3 stops brighter than the ambient, and you didnt adjust to stop down you would considerably overexpose your photos and it would become pretty obvious.

Er, not necessarily so.
Shoot in the dark and your flash could be 5 stops difference or more.
The trick is, find a shutter speed that will match the background with the f-stop, then use the flash to stop the action.
If your flash is on automatic, it should expose the dancer properly.