No flash, low light events - Best approach for newbie?

Last week I tried to cover a low light indoor event. The usual thing with almost no light in the audience and a soft spot on the speaker and a slide show.
I got a EOS XTi, 50mm f/1.4 and a 15-85 mm f3.5-something lenses (image stabilisation). No flash allowed.

The talks were boring - so I had some time to play around and find a good approach to shoot some decent pictures.

* I figured quite rapidly that the automatic mode (P) is quite useless. The XTi does not go automatically above ISO800 in this mode. Does anybody has a good explanation why this is?

* The best results were achieved with setting the speed to 1/30 and the ISO to 1600 (the maximum) and shoot away.

Would anybody recommend an other approach? What would you experts do in such a situation to achieve the best results (except from buying faster glass and a new camera:lol.

I think you have covered the three variables
- ISO (you can use 3200 or even 6400 on newer sensors)
- Speed (as long as the people stay still you should be able to go down even further if you have something to lean the kamera to)
- Lens (if you would go with a 50/1.8 that would give you 2 more steps)

If you go high ISO, Canons Digital Photoshop Professional software will be able to reduce the noise even further.

PeO.

Highest ISO you can, your f # should be fairly low to help gather as much light as possible, and then find the highest shutter speed that works for the settings.

It's very tricky to get the hang of low light events, but a non-moving speaker shouldn't be too difficult. Concerts or sports in low light are much harder because of the movement.

That's the simplest solution.
If I could have used a tripod, maybe try some lower ISO & shutter speeds, & wait for the speaker to pause & hold still.

How about being ABLE to shoot ISO3200 with your XTi ?

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=742806

Also I'd add to your list to shoot in RAW, you will be better able to deal with noise when pushing your camera to the limit, JPG will limit how much you can do.

Highest ISO that you are happy to use before noise becomes a problem, widest aperture lens is capable of, providing resulting narrow dof doesn't cause problems. Keep your fingers crossed that the subsequent shutter speed is fast enough to prevent motion blur.

I assume you were using your 50 f/1.4, which should be a fantastic low light lens. What aperture were you shooting at?

I'd start at ISO 1600, and try Av at f/1.4 and see what kind of shutter speed you get and take it from there. Don't wait 'till your next actual event, though, turn the lights "low on" at home in the night and do some tests.

The P mode is simply using a max of ISO 800 because it's safe, as in less risk of horrible noise. But if you can get a good exposure at 1600 (avoid trying to boost shadows in pp) then you might be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.

someone mentioned a tripod if possible, but if not a monopod can help quite a bit with some practice. basically anything that will reduce shaking or allow your shutter to speed up.

Thanks a lot for all these interesting replies.

tonylong wrote in post #10856854
Don't wait 'till your next actual event, though, turn the lights "low on" at home in the night and do some tests.

This is probably the main lesson I learned. However, this was one of the moments where I took my camera along to do some practice shots and to see how to deal with these kind of situations. And then it turns out that I am the only one with a decent camera and the organizer is asking me to take some pictures.

tonylong wrote in post #10856854
I assume you were using your 50 f/1.4, which should be a fantastic low light lens. What aperture were you shooting at?

Actually, I used both lenses and both with the widest aperture (1.4 and 3.5). With the 50 mm lens I got some decent pictures, after quite some post processing (I am still working on the best way to do that). However, I really like the somewhat underexposed pictures of the 3.5 aperture. Not much post processing (not much light to work with) but they capture the atmosphere of the evening quite accurately (see example below).

The tripod idea is good - need to add that to my wish list.

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drmaxx wrote in post #10857655
Actually, I used both lenses and both with the widest aperture (1.4 and 3.5). With the 50 mm lens I got some decent pictures, after quite some post processing (I am still working on the best way to do that). However, I really like the somewhat underexposed pictures of the 3.5 aperture. Not much post processing (not much light to work with) but they capture the atmosphere of the evening quite accurately (see example below).

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with having some shadow areas, but rather than switch to the slower lens, I would use that leeway in ways that will enhance your image qualities. For instance, your 50mm f/1.4 will sharpen up a bit at, say, f/1.8 or f/2. And, if you increase your shutter speed a bit that will help to get over motion blur a bit. And, if you can still stand a bit less exposed, lowering your ISO will tend to lower your image noise.

So, rather than just using your slower lens to get some underexposure, try utilizing your other functions to actually improve the output as you lower the exposure a tad.

Just my humble advice...!

A tripod is good if you can manage one in the venue -- have one around or in the car, and if conditions allow, sure! Or, someone mentioned a monopod -- some conditions are too busy/crowded to manage a tripod, some managers will frown upon them for liability considerations (understandable in a crowded club with "imbibing" patrons, but a monopod can be less "out there"!