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Low light shooting in a theater setting
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 11:50 am    Post subject: Low light shooting in a theater setting Reply with quote
I just attended my sons school musical...so I thought I would test out my Auto Rikenon 1.4/55 and Pentax K200D and not use the in built flash...damn it is hard to get focus in that sort of lighting Sad
I have a few questions...Did I select the right lens for the light? I have limited lenses to select from.
I was disappointed by missed focus and blur....any tips on what to do next time.
Was I right in keeping the lens wide open ( F1.4) all the time or should I have set it differently?The lighting changed from half light to full light a lot.
Here is a few of the chairs inside..it is an old art deco building...I don't have the lenses to capture the great features of this building...anyway here they are no flash!
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 1:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
great results, focus is right
this lens produce a nice bokeh so you can use it always wide open if you like
even the last one who is out focus is still pleasing


PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 1:16 pm    Post subject: Re: Low light shooting in a theater setting Reply with quote
mo wrote:
I was disappointed by missed focus and blur....any tips on what to do next time.


To avoid motion blur, you would have to use faster shutter speeds... which pretty much means opening up the lens all the way and using higher ISOs....

For focus, you could try a couple things. One is to estimate the distance, and focus using the scale on the lens (ie: not focusing through the viewfinder). Another option is to pre-focus on a few spots when the lighting is brighter (such as before the performance, or during a well-lit portion) and take notes of the distance scale on the lens so that you can re-focus to those areas at later times. A third focusing option would be to bracket your focus, by taking each shot multiple times at a range of focus points, hoping that one of the shots will be in focus. Note that while bracketing can be effective, this technique might not be so great in a theater setting as it can be quite annoying to those seated around you. Wink A fourth option would be to stop the lens down to increase the DOF (making accurate focusing less critical), and compensate for the loss of light by cranking up the ISO.
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