Ishinc

I'm pretty new at this and i'm having some trouble with low light shots. I'm using a Canon XT with a 28-105 lens. Right now my basic setting for day time is F11 ISO 100 on AV setting. It looks okay during the day.

What setting should I try for a non-tripod and non-flash night shot? It seems like everything I try is very blurry (hand shake) or very dark. Should I invest in a flash? Less caffeine? haha

NFRs2000NYC

Well, you need a good fast lens for starters. 2.8 at the least, but in the 1.X for even more light. We are talking about no tripod here. You will also need to crank up the ISO to high heaven. Hope you are good at post processing noise.

k3vin

ISO 800 or 1600

Lay off the caffeine

Poindexter

More caffeine, but put the camera on a tripod and use a remote

If that doesn't work, use this rule: for your focal length, put a 1/ in front of it and use that as your shutter speed.

If you're using a 200mm focal length, then your shutter speed should be 1/200th of a second or faster for handheld shooting. Use higher ISO to help you get to the faster shutter speeds.

wills2k106

ISO 1600 is pretty noisy on the Rebels, 800 isn't bad. Get a faster lens, the 50 f1.8 is really cheap, or a tripod and remote.

In a pinch I have used low shutter speed, 800 iso, f(minimum), auto focus on servo, and shoot in bursts. They definitely won't all come out but you may get a few. Of course this requires shooting in manual mode.

Ishinc

Thanks for all the replies. I will give them a try and report back how my shots went.

Any more advice is welcomed!

nfty

Tripod and remote FTMFW. BTW, use your 18-55mm kit lens if you've got it, not as nice as the 28-135mm IS but it's much wider.

F11, ISO100, and a shutter time in the seconds.

Stop using the lazyman modes, I have no idea what any of the "modes" do, my camera is permanently set to "M"

zzziippyyy

You should invest in a quality cheap fast lens, and than practice good proper technique.

Here is my recommendation


buy a canon 50mm 1.8 approx $75

put your camera in manual f1.8-f2.8 range shutter at 1/60th for a start iso at 800

snap


here is a sample of low light with this method



shot by candlelight

Penforhire

You can also get one to two full stops of noise reduction with good noise reduction software (Neat Image or Noise Ninja). I swear, after a little learning curve NN is like magic.

Ishinc

I feel like a super photographer using M mode! hahah

zzippy - That 50mm was actually the first lens I bought but never really played with it! I'm going to try it out.

Penforhire - good tip! i'll look into that.

Any more tips are welcomed!

Thanks to all so far....

Let me tell you, its quite frustrating when 98% of your pictures turn out as crap.