Low-light indoor moving ride pics

[GrumpyOne]

The area I think I had the greatest trouble was taking pics indoors on rides that moved and had little light. For instance, PotC, HM, Splash. of course, since it was a family trip, I didn't have the option of snapping, chimping and getting right back on the ride again for another try.

What sort of shutter speeds are sort of the limit for these in-the-dark rides? Is it safe enough to largely drop down to 1/60?

 

[Todd_H]

I think it will depend on how fast of a lens you're using. Assuming you're using a fast 50mm or 30mm prime lens that's good for use on dark rides (f/1.8 or f/1.4) and crank up your ISO, it's been my (limited) experience that you can go down to 1/30 sec and still avoid blur on a moving ride reasonably well. If you can hold the camera steady enough, you can go slower than that (check out some of Gdad's dark ride pix, they're awesome and I think I've seen some of his exposures at 1/15 or even 1/4 sec). I personally don't have much luck going slower than 1/30 sec when I'm using my 50mm f/1.8 and an ISO of 3200. However, if you're lucky enough to be in a doom buggy that stops in the graveyard of the HM ... I'm hoping that will happen to me on our next trip!

 

[handicap18]

Todd hit it pretty good.

I think the only time you can safely drop below 1/60th is when the ride stops. Some of the indoor rides are just about impossible to get good pics on (ie: Peter Pan). Pirates and GMR are not to bad if you have a fast lens (ie: one that goes at least to f/1.8) and have a good performer at ISO1600 or above. At HM you can get a few decent shots at ISO1600 and f/1.4, but you really need at least ISO3200. Jeff (formerly known as Gdad) uses the D700 and has great high ISO performance. Even up and over ISO6400 it is real nice.

 

[annnewjerz]

Jeff (formerly known as Gdad)

Currently known as Gdad---the username made a recent return to the boards. I happened to be PMing Jeff about the new 35mm 1.8 and asked why he changed back and was told that his daughter told him JeffFilmore was "SOOOO BORING!"

 

[GrumpyOne]

It looks like my question wasn't that clear, my fault.

My question was specific to shutter speed to counter ride motion. I'm familiar with the basic principals of exposure. For simplicities sake, and discarding the variable desires of DoF, assuming that I have a 30mm f/1.4 lens available and assuming ISO of 25600...

I did get an answer and thank you for that. I forgot to consider both distance and subject position relative to the path of travel.

it's been my (limited) experience that you can go down to 1/30 sec and still avoid blur on a moving ride reasonably well. If you can hold the camera steady enough, you can go slower than that (check out some of Gdad's dark ride pix, they're awesome and I think I've seen some of his exposures at 1/15 or even 1/4 sec). I personally don't have much luck going slower than 1/30 sec when I'm using my 50mm f/1.8 and an ISO of 3200.

That's more of the info I was looking for, thank you. I've just recently returned to the boards so I haven't had an opportunity to reacquaint myself with everyone's galleries. Will be sure to take a look at the ones you recommended.

At the moment, I'm strongly considering moving to FF and am waiting to see what the next couple of months (and PMA) bring out. I'm not heavily invested in a system currently so I'm watching to see what Nikon does with regards to the D700 and a possible D700x. If Nikon just had a few more sub f/2.8 primes ...

 

[caniswolfie]

I think also it depends on the ride in question. Some of the rides with boats you may have more to deal with the bobbing boat motion in addition to the forward progress of the ride.

Others may be a little smoother ride and you may have an easier time. I haven't tried enough to get shots from the rides since I don't want to drag my wife on a ride time and again trying to get shots. I usually try while we are on the ride for that trip and try again the next time I'm down.

 

[Groucho]

I think you can get away with 1/60th and maybe 1/50th or even slightly slower depending on the ride.

If you're "lucky" the ride will have to stop for some reason and you can drop the shutter speed down farther and still get a sharp photo, especially with IS. (Unfortunately the C/N folks have extremely few options in this regard, in terms of combining a fast prime with IS.)

Here's a Pirates shot at 1/30th of a second, to give you an idea. Not the sharpest ever, but not too bad IMHO for a manually-focused shot with a 30+ year old lens at 1/30th and ISO 6400. I'm pretty sure the aperture was F1.8.

A couple even slower examples using a newer 50mm F1.4 lens. 1/25th, ISO 4000, F2.0. This is one that looks sharper at full size, but I tend to not sharpen my web photos very much.

If you want really slow... 1/13th, ISO 1250, F1.4. Again, not the sharpest in the world, but some of that is due to the tiny aperture on a photos where the main object is positioned in a way that the depth of field will only have a very small part of it in focus.

 

[Gdad]

Whats wrong with using a flash?