Advice Needed: Shooting Parade in Near Dark

[hulugu]

I'd like to take some shots of the All Souls Procession here on November 9. The parade is a procession that starts at dusk and I'm trying to figure out the best settings for my camera.

I have a Nikon D80 with the 18-55mm kit lens and the Nikon 50mm 1.8.

Thanks for your ideas and thoughts.

 

[Abstract]

Use the 50 mm f/1.8.

ISO 3200, Shutter Priority, set to 1/40 seconds.

or not sure if you have Auto-ISO, but if you do, set the camera to Manual, f/1.8, 1/40 seconds, and let ISO adjust itself.

 

[Nikonut]

I would consider a few things,are any lenses you have VR ? I would take either a monopod or tripod along,possibly bracket shoot.What softwear are you using for post edit?You have a few options,you can shoot in the Raw ,or Raw +jpeg.
Shooting in raw will give you more control in post edit.
If you take alot of shots with sum of the above mentioned,you should have sum keepers for sure.

Steve

 

[hulugu]

....not sure if you have Auto-ISO, but if you do, set the camera to Manual, f/1.8, 1/40 seconds, and let ISO adjust itself.

The D80 has Auto-ISO, I'm just wondering if I should let the camera make the choices or just make a choice.

I would consider a few things,are any lenses you have VR ? I would take either a monopod or tripod along,possibly bracket shoot.What softwear are you using for post edit?You have a few options,you can shoot in the Raw ,or Raw +jpeg.
Shooting in raw will give you more control in post edit.
If you take alot of shots with sum of the above mentioned,you should have sum keepers for sure.

Steve

Unfortunately, there's no money in the piggybank for a VR lens. Maybe next time, so I'm just going to have to make what I've got work.


I'm thinking about a monopod, but the crowd will be moving, slowly but nonetheless a tripod might be more trouble that it's worth.

I'm going to do some bracket shots, especially at the beginning when the sky will be bright orange.

Also, I'm going to shoot in RAW+JPEG.

 

[Phatpat]

I wouldn't even bother bringing the 18-55.

Make good use of the 50mm and bump the iso up as high as you can. I'd do it manually, but it's up to you.

Good luck, post what you get!

 

[Nikonut]

The D80 has Auto-ISO, I'm just wondering if I should let the camera make the choices or just make a choice.




Unfortunately, there's no money in the piggybank for a VR lens. Maybe next time, so I'm just going to have to make what I've got work.


I'm thinking about a monopod, but the crowd will be moving, slowly but nonetheless a tripod might be more trouble that it's worth.

I'm going to do some bracket shots, especially at the beginning when the sky will be bright orange.

Also, I'm going to shoot in RAW+JPEG.

Did your Nikon come with CNX I assume ? if you plan to shoot in NEF then you can adjust iso post edit as well.

Steve

 

[anubis]

I'm also going to photograph the all souls procession...

I don't think image stabilization is going to be of too much help here because at the light levels we're talking about, it's not shaking or vibration that's going to cause blurriness, it's going to be the moving subjects. Even at wide open f/1.8 ISO 3200, I think we're still going to be looking at shutter speeds that are slow enough to cause significant blurring of the people walking by.

The two lenses I'm going to take with my canon XT are the 50mm f/1.8 and 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS. I think my best friend at the parade will be my Manfrotto 190 tripod. I'll probably walk around with it in monopod mode. I'm also going to take my speedlite 430 and use it in curtain flash mode to try to have a good blast of flash to "freeze" the subject and reduce the visual effects of the movement blurring, but this won't increase the shutter speed at all.

In all, it's going to be very challenging, but it will be interesting to see what we come up with.

 

[hulugu]

I'm also going to photograph the all souls procession...

I don't think image stabilization is going to be of too much help here because at the light levels we're talking about, it's not shaking or vibration that's going to cause blurriness, it's going to be the moving subjects. Even at wide open f/1.8 ISO 3200, I think we're still going to be looking at shutter speeds that are slow enough to cause significant blurring of the people walking by.

The two lenses I'm going to take with my canon XT are the 50mm f/1.8 and 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS. I think my best friend at the parade will be my Manfrotto 190 tripod. I'll probably walk around with it in monopod mode. I'm also going to take my speedlite 430 and use it in curtain flash mode to try to have a good blast of flash to "freeze" the subject and reduce the visual effects of the movement blurring, but this won't increase the shutter speed at all.

In all, it's going to be very challenging, but it will be interesting to see what we come up with.

Hey, hope to see you there.

 

[Nikonut]

I'm also going to photograph the all souls procession...

I don't think image stabilization is going to be of too much help here because at the light levels we're talking about, it's not shaking or vibration that's going to cause blurriness, it's going to be the moving subjects. Even at wide open f/1.8 ISO 3200, I think we're still going to be looking at shutter speeds that are slow enough to cause significant blurring of the people walking by.

The two lenses I'm going to take with my canon XT are the 50mm f/1.8 and 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS. I think my best friend at the parade will be my Manfrotto 190 tripod. I'll probably walk around with it in monopod mode. I'm also going to take my speedlite 430 and use it in curtain flash mode to try to have a good blast of flash to "freeze" the subject and reduce the visual effects of the movement blurring, but this won't increase the shutter speed at all.

In all, it's going to be very challenging, but it will be interesting to see what we come up with.

When you had mentioned Dusk on ,I was thinking stabilization in the early going,I was thinking of the overall challenge,I do alot of shooting in low lite whereas there has to be constant adjusting of the camera .
With things moving I think a mono will still help a great deal,at least it will help with camera movement.
The GV2 ballhead I have works so cool on things Iam tracking (like ice hockey) I loosen the gimbal a little where I can follow the movement,it really helps a great deal and is also great Fun!!
Best of luck with your event!

Steve

 

[hulugu]

To get an idea of what the Procession looks like, here's a photo I took last year with a Fujifilm Finepix.

 

[Nikonut]

To get an idea of what the Procession looks like, here's a photo I took last year with a Fujifilm Finepix.

Was this taken with a normal lense ? That is tough when you are right in the croud and its moving.