December 14, 2009

What are helpful tips for photography in a dark area?

Jaymulls asked:


I’m going to be taking shots of a Band in a low light bar and I need some tips on what type of film to use and any other tips that could help. I am using a Nikon N 80 with a 28-80 mm lens and 35mm film.

Andy

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Comments on What are helpful tips for photography in a dark area?

December 14, 2009

φωτογράφος @ 11:35 pm

Yuridia

use the fastest film you can tollerate the grain of, a 800iso maybe

December 16, 2009

Inigo @ 9:03 am

Lawrence

I’ve had really good luck getting Fuji 800 color print film and pushing it to 1600. Make sure there’s a place around you that can handle pushed film before you do that. Of course if you can scrounge up some 1600 film that would be easier. ;-) Again, Fuji makes an excellent color 1600. If that’s the lens I think it is, it’s not very fast so you need to make up for it with your film.

December 19, 2009

Edwin @ 2:18 am

Skyla

You are seriously handicapped by your lens. An f3.5-5.6 lens is just too slow for low-light, non-flash photography. A far better choice would be a Nikkor 50mm f1.4 lens. At 2-2/3 stops faster than an f3.5 lens and 4 stops faster than f5.6 the f1.4 lens will allow you to use a lower ISO film and that means better prints.

So what exactly does 2-2/3 stops and 4 stops mean? Look at this hypothetical chart.

ISO 400
f1.4 @ 1/60 sec.
f2 @ 1/30 sec. - 1 stop
f2.8 @ 1/15 sec. - 2 stops
f3.5 @ 1/10 sec. - 2-2/3 stops = your lens at 28mm
f4 @ 1/8 sec. - 3 stops
f5.6 @ 1/4 sec. - 4 stops = your lens at 80mm

ISO 800
f1.4 @ 1/125 sec.
f2 @ 1/60 sec.
f2.8 @ 1/30 sec.
f3.5 @ 1/20 sec. Your lens at 28mm
f4 @ 1/15 sec.
f5.6 @ 1/8 sec. Your lens at 80mm

ISO 1600
f1.4 @ 1/250 sec.
f2 @ 1/125 sec.
f2.8 @ 1/60 sec.
f3.5 @ 1/40 sec. Your lens at 28mm
f4 @ 1/30 sec.
f5.6 @ 1/14 sec. Your lens at 80mm

ISO 3200
f1.4 @ 1/500 sec.
f2 @ 1/250 sec.
f2.8 @ 1/125 sec.
f3.5 @ 1/80 sec. Your lens at 28mm
f4 @ 1/60 sec.
f5.6 @ 1/30 sec. Your lens at 80mm

So buy a 50mm f1.4 lens. ISO 800 should be sufficient.