Camera settings for dark rides/restaurants

[Elk Grove Chris]

If you're looking for photos of people, that's going to be really tough.

I took this one at Blue Bayou but it was just one person, and she had some illumination from the table light. I shot it at ISO 3200 f/2.8. That required a shutter speed of 1/13.




Lunch at Blue Bayou by mom2rtk, on Flickr

This is an exceptional shot! Blue Bayou is darkkkkkkkkk. Dark rides are where equipment makes the most difference (night shots, in general, as well). Mom2RTK has a nice DLSR and an exceptional lens, and knows how to use both, you see the result above.

She is also right about the level of darkness. I can shoot It's a Small World with a wide angle lens, 10-20mm f/4 and-1600 ISO and it will be crystal clear. For Haunted Mansion/POC, I will only use a 50mm f/1.4 prime and will generally pump ISO from 3200-6400 and only a third of the shots are any good. Peter Pan is the holy grail of dark rides, you need exceptional equipment and knowledge to get any decent shots at all in there. I think I have maybe 2-3 shots of Peter Pan that I consider good out of 100 shots.

 

[mom2rtk]

This is an exceptional shot! Blue Bayou is darkkkkkkkkk. Dark rides are where equipment makes the most difference (night shots, in general, as well). Mom2RTK has a nice DLSR and an exceptional lens, and knows how to use both, you see the result above.

She is also right about the level of darkness. I can shoot It's a Small World with a wide angle lens, 10-20mm f/4 and-1600 ISO and it will be crystal clear. For Haunted Mansion/POC, I will only use a 50mm f/1.4 prime and will generally pump ISO from 3200-6400 and only a third of the shots are any good. Peter Pan is the holy grail of dark rides, you need exceptional equipment and knowledge to get any decent shots at all in there. I think I have maybe 2-3 shots of Peter Pan that I consider good out of 100 shots.

Thanks so much Chris. I absolutely agree with it being darkkkkkkk in there.

I have a number of shots on HM through the years that I am very happy with. I still don't have a single shot in PP that I'm happy with. Yet I keep trying. I think I'd do better with manual focus, but just haven't had the guts to try.

 

[whoever]

Thanks so much Chris. I absolutely agree with it being darkkkkkkk in there.

I have a number of shots on HM through the years that I am very happy with. I still don't have a single shot in PP that I'm happy with. Yet I keep trying. I think I'd do better with manual focus, but just haven't had the guts to try.

That's the issue with dark rides, you have to go manual focus on most. There's just not enough ambient light for the camera to meter the AF correctly without AF illumination (a light shining off of the front of the body), which would disturb the experience of the other guests. The body/lens will just hunt for a focal point, and not fire the shutter.

The other issue is shooting at a 1.4 aperture. Your DOF is typically razor thin, so trying to manual focus a shot with a TIGHT DOF, in the dark, = spray and pray.

 

[mom2rtk]

That's the issue with dark rides, you have to go manual focus on most. There's just not enough ambient light for the camera to meter the AF correctly without AF illumination (a light shining off of the front of the body), which would disturb the experience of the other guests. The body/lens will just hunt for a focal point, and not fire the shutter.

The other issue is shooting at a 1.4 aperture. Your DOF is typically razor thin, so trying to manual focus a shot with a TIGHT DOF, in the dark, = spray and pray.

I need to start practicing my manual focus on day to day shooting around the house so I won't be so hesitant to use it on dark rides. I know I would do better, but never want to try it out on my one trip through PP.

 

[whoever]

I need to start practicing my manual focus on day to day shooting around the house so I won't be so hesitant to use it on dark rides. I know I would do better, but never want to try it out on my one trip through PP.

A trick I've found will work hit/miss is to let AF find what it thinks is the spot, flip the AF/MF selector to MF, and FIRE. Sometimes it will work, sometimes it won't. Diopter adjustment for your eye, and AF tuning of lens (on higher-end bodies) can all help. Lastly.... just take LOTS of pics... Something will turn out even if its just dumb luck. My May trip, I came away with something on the order of 120GB of raw images. Thank heavens that technology has come so far that I've got 128GB of memory in my body.

 

[mom2rtk]

A trick I've found will work hit/miss is to let AF find what it thinks is the spot, flip the AF/MF selector to MF, and FIRE. Sometimes it will work, sometimes it won't. Diopter adjustment for your eye, and AF tuning of lens (on higher-end bodies) can all help. Lastly.... just take LOTS of pics... Something will turn out even if its just dumb luck. My May trip, I came away with something on the order of 120GB of raw images. Thank heavens that technology has come so far that I've got 128GB of memory in my body.

That's worth a try. And I usually have the camera on continuous shooting anyway. I have very unsteady hands and tend to do better shooting several in a row.

Like you, I'm so glad memory is cheap these days. I remember when I got my first DSLR and a 1 GB card cost me close to $100. I shoot in RAW and don't bring a computer on vacation, so keep enough cards to just keep shooting.

 

[whoever]

I bring a 1TB USB HD and my laptop, and copy the pics every night. I'd hate to somehow have one or the other stolen/damaged and lose the pics from the trip, so redundancy is the name of the game. Also do the same with the P&S pics.

 

[jenpace]

Cameras on dark rides is my pet peeve, even without the flash. I find the viewing screen very distracting and have trouble enjoying the ride if someone is taking pictures. Plus those low light picture so rarely turn out.

Having someone sitting in front of you on a dark ride, taking pictures with their view screen blasting bright light everywhere is really bad.

I don't understand the people who do this...are they entirely clueless and have no self awareness or are they entirely selfish and have absolutely no manners?

 

[mom2rtk]

Having someone sitting in front of you on a dark ride, taking pictures with their view screen blasting bright light everywhere is really bad.

I don't understand the people who do this...are they entirely clueless and have no self awareness or are they entirely selfish and have absolutely no manners?

I turn my view screen off in dark rides. No need to review what you are taking when there is no time to adjust anyway.

It's not hard to do. I wish more people would do the same.

 

[jenpace]

I turn my view screen off in dark rides. No need to review what you are taking when there is no time to adjust anyway.

It's not hard to do. I wish more people would do the same.

*like*

 

[blackjackdelta]

Whowever, I sure would appreciate the EXIF info on your collection of photo's from a bit above.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[whoever]

I turn my view screen off in dark rides. No need to review what you are taking when there is no time to adjust anyway.

It's not hard to do. I wish more people would do the same.

This. You should have all possible illumination turned off on dark rides.

 

[whoever]

Whowever, I sure would appreciate the EXIF info on your collection of photo's from a bit above.

Thanks,

Jack

The shots are open. Just use an EXIF viewer. There are plugins for every browser.

 

[mom2rtk]

This. You should have all possible illumination turned off on dark rides.

I also do not use the AF assist light.

 

[blackjackdelta]

The shots are open. Just use an EXIF viewer. There are plugins for every browser.

Thanks, I never use an illuminator on anything and I will look at the photo's with my exif viewer, have a good one.

Jack

 

[anthony2k7]

If you're looking for photos of people, that's going to be really tough.

I took this one at Blue Bayou but it was just one person, and she had some illumination from the table light. I shot it at ISO 3200 f/2.8. That required a shutter speed of 1/13.




Lunch at Blue Bayou by mom2rtk, on Flickr

Did you use a tripod for this? There's no way I could hold a 1/13 shot that steady without a tripod!

 

[Carolynleanne]

Hey

So this is the basics .

ISO - Need to set this higher. The higher the setting the more noise you will see especially in really dark areas. It will look like grain. Usually anything above 6400 with be very noisy depending on the camera. The new sony RX range are fantastic in low light.

Apeture - This is the number that tells the camera how big of a hole to open when you press the button. The lower the number the larger the hole so more light is let in which is good in low light. Depending on the camera and lens you may have options of f1.2 - unto f64 sometimes higher.

Here is a little issue. The lower the number will allow you to shoot in darker situations BUT the lower numbers also create a shallow depth of field. What this means is in distance you will have a limited amount of focus. Remember this photos where a person is in focus but the background is all blurry. This is created by having a lower aperture (f-stop ) like say f1.2-f2.8 . The higher the f-number say f11 will allow more of the image to stay in focus so both foreground and background are in focus at the same time.

Shutter Speed - Again the lower the shutter speed means more light is let in the camera which is great for low light. BUT if is is too slow the camera will need to be on a tripod otherwise the camera movement in your hand will make the image all blurry.


So basically
ISO - Higher number but too high and it will be noisy
Apeture - lower better but too low and not everything will be in focus
Shutter Speed - lower is better but too low and it will be blurry.

Perfect. Thank you! And HI fellow Vancouverite

 

[mom2rtk]

Did you use a tripod for this? There's no way I could hold a 1/13 shot that steady without a tripod!

No tripod. And I have terribly unsteady hands. And no IS in the lens (I used my Tokina 11-16 f/2.8). I had the camera set to burst mode, held my breath and took a series of shots. This was the 1 out of about 10 that came out.

 

[anthony2k7]

No tripod. And I have terribly unsteady hands. And no IS in the lens (I used my Tokina 11-16 f/2.8). I had the camera set to burst mode, held my breath and took a series of shots. This was the 1 out of about 10 that came out.

haha kinda lucky then! I'd never thought of using burst mode in this kind of scenario. Good tip thanks!

 

[chirurgeon]

I do want to try for some shots on dark rides. I will be using my 50mm f1.4 and pushing the ISO up, setting the shutter speed as low as I think I can handle it. And I won't be using the screen (it eats up the battery.)