Ideal lens for night time parades..

[KristinV02]

Hi everyone! I've searched and searched but finally decided to just ask for myself and see what suggestions I can get.

We are leaving in about 2 and half weeks for Disney. We will be attending the Osborne Lights and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. I am looking for advice on what lens I should use in order to obtain nice quality photos during the Christmas parade and other night time events. A budget friendly lens is idea, but I am not limiting myself and will entertain all suggestions!

I am a Canon Crop Sensor user.. I appreciate any and all advice! Thanks y'all!!

 

[xlxo]

Some thoughts...

• preferably a f/2.8 lens
• 85mm f/1.8 lens would be an affordable alternative
• with a flash... you can use regular zooms like the 18-200mm
• is there a street light nearby? If so, you can stand underneath it and use the light to brighten up the subjects.

 

[mom2rtk]

Which Canon crop sensor camera do you have? What do you consider your highest usable ISO? Do you have anything besides the kit lens now?

I have shot the Christmas parade pretty successfully with a 2.8 lens. I still would struggle a bit though, even at 3200 ISO. Some parts of the parade are better lit than others.

I have also shot the parade with a flash. I don't consider this my preferred method, but for Characters walking the parade route (without any extra lighting) it was really helpful. I prefer the look of the shots without flash, but if that's the difference between getting the shot or not, I would do it. I will add that if you use a flash, use an external flash (not the pop-up) and dial the exposure compensation way down so it doesn't overpower your subject.

Here's a shot done with flash:

mk2partyparademickey by mom2rtk, on Flickr

 

[mom2rtk]

I will add that if you are using a flash, don't be afraid to turn it off for some of your shots that will do better without:

Once Upon a Dream by mom2rtk, on Flickr





For Osborne lights, have you considered bringing a tripod?

 

[Skywise]

The 17-55 f2.8 EFS or the 10-22 EFS have always worked well for me for night shots.

If the 17-55 is out of your price range you might look at the
Tamron 17-50 f2.8

If you've got a large enough memory card I'd also recommend shooting RAW + JPG. That way you'll have the JPGs for quick distribution and viewing but you can also use the RAWs to adjust exposure levels and colors to get more out of the image. I shot RAW before I had Lightroom and when I finally did get Lightroom I was able to enhance some underexposed pics and make them decent (I was also able to enhance some pics I already thought were decent and make me feel like a pro!)

Another tip - if you're shooting the lights and not the people (the castle, main street, etc) I'll shoot in P mode and drop the F stop by one point. The Canon cameras will usually set the exposure for the darker parts so you'll end up with overexposed lights. Dropping one stop, as a rule of thumb, seems to get the lighting at the level I want (I do this for fireworks videoing too). (Again shooting RAW here and post processing with a tool like Lightroom helps this greatly too)

 

[mom2rtk]

Another tip - if you're shooting the lights and not the people (the castle, main street, etc) I'll shoot in P mode and drop the F stop by one point. The Canon cameras will usually set the exposure for the darker parts so you'll end up with overexposed lights. Dropping one stop, as a rule of thumb, seems to get the lighting at the level I want (I do this for fireworks videoing too). (Again shooting RAW here and post processing with a tool like Lightroom helps this greatly too)

You can accomplish the same thing by dialing down (or up) the exposure compensation.

And I absolutely agree with shooting these challenging settings in RAW and using LR to help maximize your results.

 

[KristinV02]

Thank you all SO much for your advice! mom2rtk, your photos are beautiful! I have the Canon SL1, I went with the smaller body this time around so that it would be a bit lighter to take along. I've had a DSLR since around 2011, but have just recently really gotten into growing in my photography skills.

I suppose I have narrowed it down to the following:

Sigma 30mm f 1.4 EX DC HSM
Canon 17-55mm f 2.8 IS USM
Canon 24-70 f 2.8

Out of these 3 which would y'all lean more towards? Through all my search, I read a lot about the 30mm for indoor ride shots, and while that would be an added bonus, dark indoor ride shots are not where I am aiming. Therefore, if one of the other lenses would be better, I'd rather go with them.

Thank you all so much for your time!

 

[mom2rtk]

Thank you all SO much for your advice! mom2rtk, your photos are beautiful! I have the Canon SL1, I went with the smaller body this time around so that it would be a bit lighter to take along. I've had a DSLR since around 2011, but have just recently really gotten into growing in my photography skills.

I suppose I have narrowed it down to the following:

Sigma 30mm f 1.4 EX DC HSM
Canon 17-55mm f 2.8 IS USM
Canon 24-70 f 2.8

Out of these 3 which would y'all lean more towards? Through all my search, I read a lot about the 30mm for indoor ride shots, and while that would be an added bonus, dark indoor ride shots are not where I am aiming. Therefore, if one of the other lenses would be better, I'd rather go with them.

Thank you all so much for your time!

Thanks for the kind words.

Canon 17-55 f/2.8. The aperture won't be wide enough for some of the dark rides, but it is such a stellar lens with such a wide variety of applications, I recommend it hands down.

The Sigma would be the go-to lens for dark rides but I like having a bit of zoom for the night parades. So I'll trade the extra light gathering for the extra versatility of the zoom.

Both of the shots I posted were taken with that Canon lens.