External flashes

[WDWFigment]

Not much to critique. I mean it would be nice to get a little fill light in the POTC shots, but that's going to bring out the noise. Maybe go a little cooler with the WB on the POTC shots as well (not much, you came pretty close to nailing it)? Overall, I think you did pretty well given the ISO ceiling you're working with on the D60. Nice job!

 

[mabas9395]

What settings did you use?

 

[kenny]

What settings did you use?

varied slightly from picture to picture but generally:
ISO 1600
Shutter 1/30s or 1/40s
Aperture F/1.8
EV between 0 & +3.0

 

[WDWFigment]

Only thing I'd do differently is go in the opposite direction with the EV. Always can recover a bit of that in post. Can't recover a blurry image that results from too slow of a shutter speed.

 

[photo_chick]

Have you considered different software to process your RAW files? Bibble (bibble labs) tends to do really well with low light shots.

 

[ukcatfan]

Have you considered different software to process your RAW files? Bibble (bibble labs) tends to do really well with low light shots.

Another thumbs up for Bibble I personally do not like the feel of Lightroom.

 

[Coach81]

I just posted a new thread voicing my frustration with some night shots..

When I try to take them.. the camera takes a few seconds to actually take the picture.. I was using a Nikon d5000 camera.. and I had the A set to F-5 or so.. I am just learning..(as I'm sure you can tell), how were you able to get such great shots so quickly???

 

[AbbysFamily]

Coach... As you've seen with your other thread... Look at the differences in settings from your shots... He listed these were at:
ISO 1600
Shutter 1/30s or 1/40s
Aperture F/1.8

The key is high ISO and the much wider aperture of this faster lens. This 1.8 is MUCH faster than the approximately 3.5 that you'll get our of a kit lens.

NICE SHOTS op!!! The last one and the singing statues are great!

 

[Coach81]

Coach... As you've seen with your other thread... Look at the differences in settings from your shots... He listed these were at:
ISO 1600
Shutter 1/30s or 1/40s
Aperture F/1.8

The key is high ISO and the much wider aperture of this faster lens. This 1.8 is MUCH faster than the approximately 3.5 that you'll get our of a kit lens.

NICE SHOTS op!!! The last one and the singing statues are great!

Yes I see that.. lesson has been learned.. higher ISO.. can't do much about the faster lens for now.. lack of funds

Thanks for the advice, Abbysfamily.

Kenny.. Great work.. very impressive.. I am soo jealous!!!

 

[kenny]

Yes I see that.. lesson has been learned.. higher ISO.. can't do much about the faster lens for now.. lack of funds

Thanks for the advice, Abbysfamily.

Kenny.. Great work.. very impressive.. I am soo jealous!!!

Thanks. You definitely need faster the the kit lens that comes with the Nikon. I tried mine 1 ride through and even at 1600 ISO couldn't get the shot. Wish the D60 had in body motor so I could get a better lens then the 1.8 but that'll have to wait until I can upgrade to the D90. Lost any chance of that for now this past trip when we bought more DVC points.

Will have to try bibble. Actually just re-read my post and while I have CS3 I actual used the Nikon Capture software that came with the camera for these. Will have to try CS3 and will look into bibble.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[mom2rtk]

I really don't like the "recovery time" of the built-in flash on my Canon Xsi. I have dealt with this by 1) getting some faster lenses to minimize when I need a flash at all and 2) adding my Speedlite 420EX when I still want a flash with a fast recovery time.

Strangely enough, this is not a problem I had with my Xt, but started having with the Xti. I hoped the Xsi would be better, but it is not (These swaps were done under warranty, so I did not have the opportunity to consider a different camera model that might perform differently in this area).

I AM getting a little tired of dragging that flash all over Disney though. It weighs over 14 ounces (with batteries installed). I like to have a fill flash for my character shots, but that flash just seems so big, especially now that I'm bringing a couple extra lenses along.

Is there a smaller profile flash that might be a good compromise for me? I'd be keeping the 420EX for situations when I want to bounce the flash, but I don't need that for Disney.

What can you guys tell me about flash recovery times? Does it change depending on the situation?

Thanks for all the ongoing help!

 

[VVFF]

Look at the 270ex...a small little flash that can be bounced(but not swiveled). Should be great for what you are looking for.

Anyway, flash recovery time is partially dependent on the batteries used in the flash but mostly dependent on how much of the flash power you use.

If you are in a dark room that would need a 1 second exposure at ISO 800 to expose properly and you want to shoot at 1/200 a second you are going to be using pretty much only your flash for the light source. You'll use all your power in one shot and have to wait for it to recharge(this is the same even with an external flash although they have more power to start).

So picture it this way. You have a bucket of water. You can spill a little water out of the bucket or you can dump it all the way over. Once you do this you have to fill up the bucket from your kitchen spout. So if you dump all the water you have to wait much longer for the bucket to refill than if you just use a little.

So if you are only using your flash as a fill because you are using a F1.4 lens and could expose a shot in 1/60th a second but want to shoot at 1/200th, then you might not have to wait anytime at all for the flash to recharge.

You can also up the iso a bit to drop the amount of flash used.

 

[boBQuincy]

The other option for small Canon flashes is the 220EX, which does not have bounce but recycles slightly faster than 270EX. Recycle time may depend on the batteries we use as well.

 

[freewill]

Hi, I have a new Canon G11 and am enjoying it greatly. Wondering if a a small external flash would be worthwhile, like a 270EX?

Any thoughts on this from fellow G series users?

Thanks

 

[boBQuincy]

The flash on G series (and most SLRs as well) is not very powerful. Worse yet, the built in flashes get their power from the camera battery so they recycle slowly and drain the camera battery.
A small flash like Canon's 270 (or 220) is a big improvement over the built-in flash. This also gets the flash away from the lens for better lighting but the difference is not a lot at anything but close up.

 

[freewill]

Thanks Bob. Think I'll pick up a used 270ex off craigslist and give it a try.

 

[Angel Ariel]

DH and I are heading to Disney in a little less than a week, and we're bringing our Canon Rebel DSLR.

We did get some good dark ride shots last year, but they were pretty much luck--hit and miss. Some good, some blurry. Any recommendations for settings to use?

I have a 1.8 50mm lens, the 18-55mm kit lens, and a 70-300mm lens (can't remember the fstop right now).

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Here is a thread on how to shoot dark rides.

 

[ThurlFan]

Make use of the 50mm prime. I had good luck with that lens (on an XSi) a few months ago using shutter priority set at 1/40 to 1/80 depending on the motion of the ride and the displays. One issue you might run into is it's a bit of a challenge on Spaceship Earth because it's not wide enough to snap the scenes when you're right up on them - and the ride is designed not to show you the scenes until you're right up on them (you might be able to get away with the kit lens at 18mm here, I'm wishing I had tried).

 

[Angel Ariel]

Thank you for the link, Mark! That thread looks very helpful, and I'm eager to check otu the other tutorials as well. I bookmarked it on my phone's browser so I can easily access it at the parks!

Thurl--I don't really know much about shutter priority mode (last time we just used total manual and it was hit and miss)--thanks for the idea. I'll definitely look into it.

We're actually headed to DLR, not WDW...so no Spaceship Earth for pictures. I got some pretty good shots in iasw last year, but it's so light in there it wasn't hard. I got a couple random good shots in Pirates, but there were some scenes I wanted that I couldn't get (like Jack Sparrow popping out of the barrel, or sitting on the gold at the end).

I also had a hard time with the faster moving dark rides..like Alice in Wonderland. I'd love to get a good inside shot there.