Low light Lens or a Good Flash

[TrailSeeker]

Guys.. want to ask something..
what do you prefer?
Low light Lens or a Good Flash..

[chantyeroop]

Originally Posted by TrailSeeker Guys.. want to ask something.. what do you prefer? Low light Lens or a Good Flash..

Low light lens + AS ............

[fengwei]

Originally Posted by TrailSeeker Guys.. want to ask something.. what do you prefer? Low light Lens or a Good Flash..

You need both I guess. A flash is very useful if you shoot alot macros and indoor portraits. A low light lens (like 50/1.4 or 1.7) is good for street photography especially in places like Chinatown and Little India. There are sometimes you can't or don't want to use flash, a fast lens does come in handy

Ds+FA31 @ F2.2, 1/60s, ISO1600 jpg handheld (taken right before mid night w/ indoor dim light):

[mrngbss]

Originally Posted by fengwei You need both I guess. A flash is very useful if you shoot alot macros and indoor portraits. A low light lens (like 50/1.4 or 1.7) is good for street photography especially in places like Chinatown and Little India. There are sometimes you can't or don't want to use flash, a fast lens does come in handy Ds+FA31 @ F2.2, 1/60s, ISO1600 jpg handheld (taken right before mid night w/ indoor dim light):

Which camera did you use? At ISO1600, the grains are almost invisble.

[wind30]

indoor portraits is definately flash lah. No matter how good your ISO, SR, aperture, I feel that flash is still MUCH better.

Just see all the wedding dinner photographers, ALL of them have BIG heavy flash right?

Outdoor than maybe low-light lens is better.

[fengwei]

Originally Posted by mrngbss Which camera did you use? At ISO1600, the grains are almost invisble.

Ds = Pentax *ist Ds But I did use NeatImage to reduce the noise

[fengwei]

Originally Posted by wind30 indoor portraits is definately flash lah. No matter how good your ISO, SR, aperture, I feel that flash is still MUCH better. Just see all the wedding dinner photographers, ALL of them have BIG heavy flash right? Outdoor than maybe low-light lens is better.

Sometimes you can't use a flash, or a flash isn't allowed (in a church, club, concert hall, or shooting little babies ...), a faster lens w/ SR/IR/IS (or whatever it's called) would be very useful. That's why those wedding dinner photographers always use fast f2.8 (or even faster) lenses

[kzone]

Lets say the indoor location has dim yellow light. Wont flash spoil the atmosphere created by the yellow light?

[fengwei]

Originally Posted by kzone Lets say the indoor location has dim yellow light. Wont flash spoil the atmosphere created by the yellow light?

Yeah, you are right about this



Ds+FA31 @ F2.8 1/50s ISO800 RAW convertered.

[airconvent]

Hi Feng Wei
wow...the picture of yor daughter (I assumed!) is really sharp!
And it looks so bright. I used the 50 f/1.4 in a room with fluorescent lamp and it did not appear as bright. worse the image was not very focussed even with AS on.

I know the low noise was courtesy of neat image but how did you manage to keep the focus good? If you had used "auto Pict" or "P" mode, would it had been as sharp?

also, for your last photo of 3 people, this kind of no-flash natural warm glow I like but not many of my friends appreciate it. I try to set my wb to "tungsten" and let the image balance become "normal" white again...

[kzone]

Originally Posted by airconvent also, for your last photo of 3 people, this kind of no-flash natural warm glow I like but not many of my friends appreciate it. I try to set my wb to "tungsten" and let the image balance become "normal" white again...

Its so tough to get this kind of effect on my prosumer.. dats one of the reason I wanna move on to DSLRs. I thot using a faster lens will do but it seems even an 50 f/1.4 cant manage it well... so what do actually need ah?

[fengwei]

Originally Posted by airconvent Hi Feng Wei wow...the picture of yor daughter (I assumed!) is really sharp! And it looks so bright. I used the 50 f/1.4 in a room with fluorescent lamp and it did not appear as bright. worse the image was not very focussed even with AS on. I know the low noise was courtesy of neat image but how did you manage to keep the focus good? If you had used "auto Pict" or "P" mode, would it had been as sharp? also, for your last photo of 3 people, this kind of no-flash natural warm glow I like but not many of my friends appreciate it. I try to set my wb to "tungsten" and let the image balance become "normal" white again...

Thanks I used AF and the FA31 lens works pretty well under low light condition. I only use either Av or M mode, never used P mode...

As the the 3 photo of the 3 people, if I used flash, I can't capture the environment as well, and I like the natural warm tone

[fengwei]

Originally Posted by kzone Its so tough to get this kind of effect on my prosumer.. dats one of the reason I wanna move on to DSLRs. I thot using a faster lens will do but it seems even an 50 f/1.4 cant manage it well... so what do actually need ah?

I guess you need one of these lenses lah




Just kidding ... I think shooting in RAW is the cure here. Make sure you shoot in RAW under such tricky light condition, then do whatever you like in software.

Cheers,

[airconvent]

Originally Posted by kzone Its so tough to get this kind of effect on my prosumer.. dats one of the reason I wanna move on to DSLRs. I thot using a faster lens will do but it seems even an 50 f/1.4 cant manage it well... so what do actually need ah?

Its not that the 50 f/1.4 can't manage it well. I am saying if I took some shots without flash and default wb, then you will get the effect as shown by the 3 person photo.
Mind you, this effect cannot be achieved by my P&S camera although my Fujifilm V10 does come close to it!
But I think some people do not appreciate the "warm" feeling. They prefer a brightly lit image obtained from a flash....
I took some of my relative with this warm effect but when they saw the photos, they commented why the picture so "orange" or so "dim"....sigh...

[mrngbss]

Originally Posted by fengwei Ds = Pentax *ist Ds But I did use NeatImage to reduce the noise

Haha!! Thanks for the clarification! and tip(neatimage).

[wind30]

I think fengwei's flash shot is way too harsh, not sure if it is the positioning of the subjects. With a proper diffusor and bounce flash, the picture are really quite natural even under wam lighting. There are plenty of examples of this around.

A fast lens is also tough to use. Even if you have a f1.4 lens it is REALLY HARD use the F1.4 due to the DOF issue. Focus a little bit off, your subject becomes soft. This is my personal experience lah, maybe other people skill is much better can focus easily at f1.4.

Just my newbie 2 cents.

[airconvent]

Originally Posted by wind30 I think fengwei's flash shot is way too harsh, not sure if it is the positioning of the subjects. With a proper diffusor and bounce flash, the picture are really quite natural even under wam lighting. There are plenty of examples of this around. A fast lens is also tough to use. Even if you have a f1.4 lens it is REALLY HARD use the F1.4 due to the DOF issue. Focus a little bit off, your subject becomes soft. This is my personal experience lah, maybe other people skill is much better can focus easily at f1.4. Just my newbie 2 cents.

which ones are you talking about? The ones here did not use flash...that was the point of the discussion. As for focus, maybe you're right about the focus sensitivity.
I used auto focus with AS and yet some of the shots came out slightl off focussed.

[ExplorerZ]

Originally Posted by airconvent Its not that the 50 f/1.4 can't manage it well. I am saying if I took some shots without flash and default wb, then you will get the effect as shown by the 3 person photo. Mind you, this effect cannot be achieved by my P&S camera although my Fujifilm V10 does come close to it! But I think some people do not appreciate the "warm" feeling. They prefer a brightly lit image obtained from a flash.... I took some of my relative with this warm effect but when they saw the photos, they commented why the picture so "orange" or so "dim"....sigh...

If under such condition, your PnS output ain't as orangy as ur pentax, your PnS is real or at least better than your Pentax when it comes to WB auto adjustment..
(Im talking about non-flash photography + AWB)

[alvinsclee]

Originally Posted by airconvent ... But I think some people do not appreciate the "warm" feeling. They prefer a brightly lit image obtained from a flash.... I took some of my relative with this warm effect but when they saw the photos, they commented why the picture so "orange" or so "dim"....sigh...

Yes, it's all a matter of artistic preference. I tend to favour natural lighting because it gives the ambience a true "as is" feel. Flash is usually used as fill-in to lessen the effects of harsh shadows.

[fengwei]

Originally Posted by wind30 I think fengwei's flash shot is way too harsh, not sure if it is the positioning of the subjects. With a proper diffusor and bounce flash, the picture are really quite natural even under wam lighting. There are plenty of examples of this around. ... Just my newbie 2 cents.

Just like airconvent said above, I didn't use flash on either photo I guess you meant the second one (w/ three people) was abit harsh. I agree, but that's the best I could do to keep all three people as evenly lit as possible BTW, I'm not that good at using flash, that's why I don't use flash as much as I can ...