Settings Suggestions (Low Light Performance)

For about a month once I year I do some photography work, primarily portrait type photos, (at a local amusement park for their halloween event) so everything is done typically at dusk and after dark under a lot of special effects lighting. For the last couple years I used my Canon Rebel T3 with a Canon 50mm 1.8 lens, recently I aquired the 1.4 version. After getting the 1.4 I'm considering using my Canon 50D as well for this years run. I'm just seeking advice on how to achieve less noise perhaps? For both bodies? Rebel seems noisy in low light sometimes, I've managed some nice results last year with the help of a external flash on it but I don't like blinding my coworkers working the event... so there's a bit of work going into my photos post production sort to speak before sharing the images. I never been to sure as to what settings to use, I primarily just shoot in either TV or AV mode. It would be an all new experience for my 50D as I usually take it to my local zoos to take pics because I use my 28-300mm lens on it, so any advice is appreciated!
I am considering buying a 6D, or a Nikon in the future but for now I'm just settling with what I got.

If money were no object, a 1Dx and a Canon EF 50mm f1. But seriously buying a 6D, or a brand-N, is not going to help.
At least not much more than what you already have. BTW, the 50mm f1.4 you did aquire is only 1/2 stop faster than the 50mm f1.8 you already had. Not a deal maker!
I love shooting at night and at dusk. You can get some truely interesting photographs. My best advice is shoot. Yes, shoot a lot. Because experience is the best teacher. No body here can tell you what settings to use. They have not seen the venue!
Sometimes Tv will work and sometimes Av will. Even P will at times. I would avise you to stay away from the 'fully automatic' choices, however. The best advise is learn your equipment. Go to the Mall and shoot. Go to a park. Try the Zoo after dark. Any place to get the experience. But shoot!
EOS 1Ds Mk III, EOS 1D Mk IV EF 50mm f1.2 L, EF 24-70mm f2.8 L,
EF 70-200mm f2.8 L IS II, Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 EX APO
Photoshop CS6, ACR 8.7, Lightroom 5.7

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Lumia 920 "Unbeatable low-light performance" - is ...

I’ve tried to reproduce photos advertised by Nokia and …. Failed!!!
I’ve tried different settings (pretty much all that exist on 920) and my pictures were not even close to Nokia’s.
Is that a hoax? “low-light” pictures was one of the biggest (that and these floating lenses) reason I picked Lumia over HTC 8x.
What am I missing? What is your experience?
P.S.
on Nokia's picture, it says that the shot was taken by a protorype device....i wonder if that prototype has a better camera than end product.
Nokia's advertized low-ligh picture:
http://i.nokia.com/image/view/-/1824230/medRes/5/-/ApolloPureView-image2.jpg

@AlexOdin
I've attached a couple of stills comparing the N8's night mode and Lumia 920's night mode both without using flash. Both shots were taken with seconds of each other under the same low light conditions.
I'm quite impressed with the results of the 920.
Cheers.
Ray.
Attachments:
N8 without flash.jpg ‏202 KB
Lumia 920 without flash.jpg ‏217 KB

HOW DO I RESET MY LOW LIGHT SETTINGS

How do I reset my I Pad back to regular settings from low-light settings (everything is low light)

Are you talking about display brightness? If so, double press the Home button (or use the multitouch gesture) to lift the Dock and then swipe right. The slider that appears in the revealed controls is for display brightness.
Otherwise there is also an Auto-brightness setting that you can turn off or on found in Settings/Brightness & Wallpaper.

5d mark III focusing slowly/etc. in low light wedding receptions

I've been using 5d2s for a long time because I am simply not rich enough (and I don't want the huge body either) to buy 1d-series cameras for work. I've shot about 20 weddings with the 5d3 since I bought it, and I finally sent it in to Canon the other day for an autofocus checkup.
My #1 issue is reception autofocus. My 5d2s beat my 5d3 at reception focusing (with 580EX AF assist always used). They are more reliable for AI servo and faster for one-shot.
My 5d3 struggles to acquire in one-shot, taking probably close to 2 real seconds (it feels like forever) to establish and confirm a lock on a static subject during wedding receptions with lenses like 24L II, 35L, 50L. In contrast, in the exact same lighting conditions and with the same lenses and flash AF assist, my 5d2s all snap right to focus and I click the shutter within about 1 second or less, getting an in-focus image about 90-95% of the time.
With AI servo, the 5d3 is just inferior to my 5d2s in low light. I was hoping, one day, to get a camera that would give me the ability to track subjects well during processionals/grand entrances/reception dances using the outer points, because I'm pretty tired of being stuck with center-point framing for these situations. I thought the 5d3 was supposed to solve that problem, but in fact it took a step backward in low light AI servo accuracy and locking. My 5d2s (center point) both acquire faster and track better in low light than my 5d3 (center point also).
After sending the 5d3 in to get it checked (and so they could charge me $175+), I got a nice copy of the page saying that the camera focus in low light is blah blah etc. etc. use AF assist (which I had noted I did) and the overall feeling was that they were very condescending and disregarding of my equipment issue. To me, a $3500 camera should perform better than a camera that is now worth ~$1300...and so the 5d3 performs arguably better in GOOD light, simply because it has more focus points to choose from which are generally pretty accurate - in GOOD light. However, it performs worse in reception light. Wedding photographers will understand what I mean by reception light.
My 5d2 AI servo is not useless during receptions, but my 5d3 AI servo struggles more in the same reception lighting. My 5d2 one-shot locks quickly and pretty accurately during receptions, while my 5d3 takes significantly longer in one-shot to lock, and sometimes it gives me pretty wild misses, during receptions. Always using AF assist with 580EX, and btw the 5d3 firmware is the latest version (1.2.3 at this time). The camera simply focuses slower during receptions than my 5d2s, and AI servo misses more.
I also don't like that AF points don't light up before focusing, but this is less important to me than a fast, responsive AF system for wedding receptions. I have had to put away the 5d3 on multiple occasions and bring out a second 5d2 for wedding receptions just so I can get good dancing photos, good speech/toasting photos, etc., before all the key moments went by and ohhhh too late, my focus system didn't lock in time...
I have been having this issue with 5d3 performance since I bought it close to a year ago. I do wedding photography primarily, and I have quite a bit of experience shooting weddings and dealing with the various demands of weddings.
Most of my AF experience is with single point, with only a few experiences using the expansion settings. I have never had trouble locking or tracking with single point with my 5d2s as long as there was enough light to do it, and being used to that I expected the 5d3 to be able to perform at LEAST comparably. It does not.
At this point, this critical functional limitation of the 5d3 has left me very dissatisfied with the camera. I thought upgrades were supposed to do everything just as well or better than the previous version, but this newest camera has shown me that more AF points definitely does NOT mean a better (or even comparable) AF system in every situation. Clearly something was traded off when they added a ton of cross-type points, like low light acquisition speed and being able to see your AF points illuminate when you start AF.
I've been playing around with Nikon equipment for a while and am beginning to think that is my forced alternative. I don't like the things I hear about Nikon customer support, and I don't really like the direction they are going with some of their releases or how they handled function issues (focus issues with off-center focus points, oil on sensors, etc.) but Canon isn't innocent of that stuff either. And if I use an all-Nikon setup then I will have excellent dynamic range at low ISOs as well. Too bad Nikon doesn't have the glass I like best (35L, 85L, etc.)...but compromises must be made in some direction, and I'm intensely frustrated with Canon's latest cameras' focusing systems in low light.
It's very specific, mind you: Low light performance is inferior to my 5d2s. In good light, my 5d3 has better AF flexibility for tracking with outer points, and the one-shot focus acquisition is comparable to my 5d2s.

This singular issue of the 5d3 has ensured that I will never buy another one (unless they fix that, which they won't). Unlike what I did with the 5d2 (upgraded to 5d2s towards the end of their product cycle), the 5d3 is too impaired for low light photography for me to be able to replace my 5d2s with 5d3s. I can only hope the next generation will NOT have the same low light focus delays...otherwise I might have to buy a few 6Ds just to keep up with more current tech (since my 5d2s will wear out eventually). I've heard they don't have the same doublechecking delay, but they also have other limits that I dislike (1/4000 ss, 1/180 flash sync, no pc sync port, SD memory only) and will have to work around.

Best camera for low light and sports

have the sx200is
looking for a newer camera for sports and low light shots

The challenge with sports is that you are REALLY pushing the camera gear to it's limits. Fast action requires fast shutter speeds. But fast shutter speeds demand a lot of light and only outdoor games played during the daytime have that. Indoor games or games played under field lighting at night generally do not have the kind of lighting needed to shoot with fast shutter speeds -- not the kind of shutter speeds needed to freeze action. So this ends up demanding a camera with excellent ISO performance and lenses with very low focal ratios so they can collect a LOT more light when the shutter is open. This gear is expensive.
You will want to consider a reasonable budget depending on what you can afford and the needs of the specific sports.
Are these indoor or outdoor sports? If outdoors, are these played during the day or are they night games?
The "best" camera for sports and low light is the EOS-1D X. It has phenominal low-light performance, has an amazing focus system, and can shoot at 12 frames per second. But it's about $6800 for the "body only" and then you still need lenses. I'm guessing this is probably not what you had in mind. But if money were not a constraint... this would be the one to go for.
The 5D III is another amazing camera for low light performance and and also has an amazing focusing system (largely the same as the 1D X) can shoot at 6 frames per second, and only costs $3500... again, that's the "body only". Still probably not what you had in mind.
The 70D has an extremely good focus system (though not as good as the 5D III and 1D X), not quite as good as low light (but pretty good and much better than a point & shoot camera) and shoots at 7 frames per second (1 fps faster than 5D III) and it only costs $1200 for the body only.
The T5i will be noticeably less expensive than the 70D... a good (but not extremely good) focusing system and 5 frames per second, but the body and 1 kit lens combined is about $850 but that wont a lens suitable for use shooting sports so you'll still need to invest in more appropriate lenses.
When shooting action photography in low light, what you _really_ want is a lens that can collect a lot more light than the average lens for that very brief moment when the shutter is open. Such a lens can allow you to use a faster shutter speed to help freeze those action shots. But *which* lens you use depends on the sport.
For low-light sports, these would ideally be f/2.8 zoom lenses... but f/2.8 zoom lenses are not cheap. Canon's EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM (ideal for most indoor sports and outdoor sports IF the action is happening close to you) is about $2500. Sigma's lens is about half that price. But if you're covering action on a large athletic field and the players are far away, they'll still be small. Sigma makes a 120-300mm f/2.8 zoom for sports... for the low low price of only $3600.
Scott Kelby does a video to talk about sports photography and he discusses the equipment used and why... and basically says if you want the gear for shooting sports, you basically need a suitcase full of money.
Tim Campbell
5D II, 5D III, 60Da

HF R52-POOR VIDEO QUALITY IN LOW LIGHT

HELLO,I'VE BEEN USING THE HF R52 FOR SEVERAL MONTHS NOW AND FOR THE MOST PART AM VERY HAPPY WITH IT..THE ONE ISSUE I'M HAVING IS WITH THE POOR VIDEO QUALITY IN LOW LIGHT CONDITIONS[NIGHT TIME OR INDOORS].THE RESULTS ARE "GRAINY" OR "FUZZY"..I'VE TRIED DIFFERENT SETTINGS WITH NO LUCK..WHEN I USE THE "LOW LIGHT"SETTING IT ACTUALLY SLOWS DOWN THE MOVIE LIKE ITS IN SLOW MOTION?? OUTSIDE IN THE SUNLIGHT IT LOOKS GREAT! DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS?? THANKS,ROB

The videos on WCSN are Windows Media Video's...320x240...not very good in quaintly to start with. If you make these video larger on the screen they are going to degrade...sorry

FS300 in low light

Anyone know the best settings to use in low light. Last year, I tried filming inside Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion and the end result was garbage. I'm going back this year and would like to try again, any suggestions?

The best mode to use when shooting at night or in low light where you are shooting is the Night Mode. However, there are some drawbacks noted in the manual.
Moving subjects may leave a trailing afterimage.
Picture quality may not be as good as in other modes.
White points may appear on the screen.
Autofocus may not work as well as in other modes.
Low light shooting has certainly improved over the years since the FS300 was released. Have you considered one of our newer VIXIA models?
Did this answer your question? Please click the Accept as Solution button so that others may find the answer as well.

Camera wont take a photo - warning "Low light" on screen

The camera and phone have been working fine*, until today when I get the error message on screen "low light" when trying to take a picture. It is being used in a room with normal lighting.
The warning only goes away when I point the camera directly at a light bulb.
The camera refuses to take a photo, regardless whether the warning is displayed or not.
Changing from auto <-> night mode has no effect either.
Any suggestions?
*Apart from a few weeks ago, the video zoom in/out stopped working, although it did take photos and videos ok.

Hello Mark,
Welcome to the BlackBerry Support Community.
Sorry to hear about the issue you are experiencing with the Camera application on your BlackBerry smartphone.
Please reinsert your battery as a test. If this fails to resolve the issue, perform a reload or upgrade the BlackBerry Device Software. For more information on this procedure see the following article:
How to update or reinstall BlackBerry Device Software using BlackBerry Desktop Software - http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/KB03901
Let us know if this helps.
-FB
Come follow your BlackBerry Technical Team on Twitter! @BlackBerryHelp
Be sure to click Kudos! for those who have helped you.
Click "Accept as a Solution" for posts that have solved your issue(s)!

Iphone 5S low light video recording is very dark :(

Hello Friends,
I bought a new iphone 5S and its few days only since i have been using this phone
and i never tested video camera before.
recently i came to know while taking some video in a low light situation, i noticed that the video is **** dark and
it looks pathetic though in image mode the camera appeares to be good and its clearly brighter.
but when i switch to video mode it becomes very darker.
I did some comparison just to confirm my suspicion and in fact it turns out that videos are worse quality than videos that i shot with my iphone 4S, i tried all possible settings but nothing worked,
i did restore my phone twice by assuming it is a software issue however i still believe it might be a software issue because when i am using 3rd party app to take video everything is perfect. even if i am using the same camera feature through imessage/whatsapp by directly accessing camera it works fine.
i don't know what exactly the problem is
please friends help me....if anyone has faced the similar problem.
Thank you

Hello there, ankitnavgwal.
Good job on troubleshooting your issue so far. The following Knowledge Base article offers a great checkllist of practical steps for troubleshooting issues with iOS not functioning as expected:
iOS: Not responding or does not turn on - Apple Support
If a single application is not responding or stops responding when it opens, you can force it to close.
If the device is unresponsive or if certain controls aren't working as expected, restart your device.
If the device remains unresponsive or does not turn on (or power on), reset your device.
If there is no video or if the screen remains black, verify that the device has enough charge to turn on:
If you are using an iPad, ensure that it's connected to the USB Power Adapter supplied with the device.
Let it charge for at least twenty minutes, then see if it starts normally.
If there is no image on the screen, press the Sleep/Wake button to attempt to wake the device.
If the screen displays a red battery icon, continue charging the device until the battery is fully charged. Learn more about charging iPhone and iPod touch, or iPad.
If the above steps do not resolve the issue, or the if the screen remains black or shows a persistent Apple logo, try restoring with iTunes:
Connect the device to your computer and open iTunes.
If the device appears in iTunes, select and click Restore on the Summary pane. Learn more about restoring iOS software.
If the device doesn't appear in iTunes, try to force the device into recovery mode, and then restore it.
If the above steps do not resolve the issue, contact Apple.
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.

Tips for avoiding "noisy" images in low-light

Hi all,
I noticed that there are a lot of users here who are complaining of noisy images especially in low-light. I'm not a professional photographer or anything but I have been playing a lot with the camera of my Xperia Z1 and I did have noisy images also at first.
Here is my tip: Use these settings:
Go to Manual Mode.
Shoot in either 8MP 4:3 or 16:9 (don't worry about not making use of the 20MP, because its still doing oversampling to improve the quality of the 8MP image by making use of the whole 20MP sensor).
Set Stabilizer to off
ISO to Auto (if you prefer more detailed images, set ISO to a lower value but take note of the exposure of the image and that there is a chance of motion blur due to the longer shutter speed necessary to capture low light at low ISO)
WB Auto (or your preference).
With the setting I use above, I've seen improvements on low-light capability (indoors, artificial lighting, or night outdoor scene for example) and quality of my camera pictures. Note though that this will not be applicable for extreme low-light. Its very normal to capture really noisy images when shooting in extreme low-light (even my dedicated compact camera has troubles too).
Here is my theory why its taking noisy images by default. In Superior Auto, I analyzed the EXIF data of the pictures I've shot. It seems that Superior Auto is really excessive in bumping up the ISO (thus resulting in more noisy images) to compensate for having a faster shutter speed (reduced motion blur). Thus what you get is a noisy image that is bright and freezes the motion. For example, test it out that in Superior Auto, even minute movements of the phone will trigger the Sports Mode (running man icon near the button) prioritizing a faster shutter speed at the cost of a higher ISO.
Another reason I have for turning off the Stabilizer in Manual Mode is the same. In contrast to Steady Shot used in recording movies (sensor based shift to compensate for handshake movements), I think the Stabilizer option basically just bumps up the ISO also to compensate for handshake movements. I"m not entirely 100% sure but so far, I've been satisfied with taking images with the Stabilizer Off.
Please feel free to test it out and report the results if there have been improvements. I'm still testing it out too! One of the things I wish for Sony to put in the Camera App are just these 3 things:
1.) Holding Shutter Key will open the Camera app with the LAST CONFIGURED SETTINGS
2.) Maximum ISO can be set in Manual Mode
3.) Scene AUTO mode for Manual Mode (I know it might be redundant but it would be nice to have Auto mode for 4:3 orientation images).
Again, hope to hear from others what are their settings or if they notice any improvements in images captured.
Thanks!

Hi, there is a FAQ related to this topic.
http://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/FAQ/Capture-better-photos-in-low-light-conditions/m-p/395397#U395397
Don't forget to mark correct answer as Accepted Solution.
If you find the post helpful, press Kudos.

Nokia Lumia 925 with Black update - When low light...

The ambient light sensor doesn't seem to be correctly used in low light conditions.
In low light, with the phone "locked", just push the middle unlock button. The screen show the usual unlock screen, but at high brightness, for what seems to be a variable time (every time I do this), but not longer than 100-200 ms. Then the ambient light sensor starts to work, and reduces the display brightness.
This has only started since the black update. My Lumia 925 was working fine before, and now this display brightness problem has started. It only happens in low light conditions. If there is enough light (eg. daylight), the screen doesn't start with max brightness to begin with.
It doesn't matter if I'm using "glance" either. With this feature turned on or off, in low light conditions, this problem is the same.
I am now not using glance (I wasn't really using it before the update anyway), and I've set my screen brightness to a set value as a workaround.
OS version 8.0.10517.150
Frimware: 3051.40000.1345.1001
Hardware: 0.5.6.1
Radio: 3.2.04047.1
SOC: 8960
Solved!
Go to Solution.

So I've played with my phone more ... and I don't think there is a big problem. If I move to a room that is darker, and wait a few seconds, the phone unlock screen isn't bright when I hit the unlock button. It seems the phone now needs longer time to get used to the light conditions it is in.
Maybe the Lumia was always like this, or maybe the ambient light sensor has a slower response time now, and isn't polled as often for its reading, like it was before. More likely is that as I have been playing with the glance screen, I've been locking and unlocking quickly, while walking around. The phone hasn't had enough time to update the ambient light settings.
Interestingly, with the glance set to interval, I can still wake up the interval screen when placing my hands on the screen. I had left my phone for sometime on its own, then I lifted it up. Either my fingers or the movement triggered the glance screen to turn on. Or its has a timer as such, and just happened to turn on at this point in time ! Who knows (well I'll search for more info about the new glance settings now).
So it looks like there is no problem. Either its always been like this, and I'm testing the ambient sensor polling to the limits by pressing the unlock button often. Or the polling rate has been reduced (maybe to help increase battery life).

Trouble with low light action shots on 70d

I just went from a T3i to a 70D. I seem to have trouble with action shots in low light situations, any suggestions on setting...
Solved!
Go to Solution.

"I just went from a T3i to a 70D"
... and didn't upgrade your lens inventory? Although the 70D will be better in most cases compared to a Rebel T3i, it is the lens. It is always the lens.
EOS 1Ds Mk III, EOS 1D Mk IV EF 50mm f1.2 L, EF 24-70mm f2.8 L,
EF 70-200mm f2.8 L IS II, Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 EX APO
Photoshop CS6, ACR 8.7, Lightroom 5.7

Correcting for low lighting using FCP

Hi,
I am trying to correct for low lighting conditions of a some scenes I shot using an XL2 MiniDV Camera. Any suggestions? The scenes were shot in 24P 16:9 at 1/48.
Best,
Gary

for what it's worth, i've had pretty satisfactory results with a combination of Shadow Highlight from Lyric Media...
(FREE at - http://www.lyric.com/fcp-plugins/index.htm#shadow)...
...and then rescue the grainy blacks with Black Restore from Too Much Too Soon...
(FREE at - http://www.mattias.nu/plugins/)...
Just my input.

Watching movie on 780p on a 1080p tv has some color issues in low light? any solutions?

While watching a movie from Apple TV on my 1080p television, there is some "blooming" in low light. Is that just an issue with the 780p resolution or maybe a wi-fi issue, or with my TV?

Just to let you know that I fooled around with the soft focus effect tonight. I took one of the worst clips (15 seconds) and copied it 8 times into the timeline and then did different settings on the soft focus panel and then burned it. It really didn't take much time. Results were encouraging and though the most blurry one had no flickering, I should be able to find some compromise here that will wrok for me. Thanks so much for the help.

6D low light video

Hello,
I'm trying to shoot video in low light and I'm getting some extra hue and contrast. When I shoot stills, what I see on the screen is what I see on my computer. When I flip over to video (with out changing ISO or WB settings) the images are darker and have a green hue.
I need what I'm seeing on the screen of the camera to be what I see on my computer monitor after I download of the card.
Any ideas?
Current setting: Exp 1/30, ISO 8000, WB 3200, f-stop 2.8
What I've tried: IPB and All-I compression, different SD cards rated for different speeds, formatting the card with the camera, and shrinking still images to 1920X1280 - Same results ever case

RobertTheFat wrote:
Skirball wrote:
I don't know about you, but my stills (RAW) are always darker than they are on my camera (6D); which is a jpg and might be part of the source. It wasn't near as noticable on my 450D. I just learned to adapt my eye and I check my histogram anyway. But I'd say the actual image looks about a 1/2 stop darker on my computer than the camera. I don't think it's abnormal to have small differences between the camera screen and computer. THere are too many variables to deal with to be consistent.
The most obvious explanation for that phenomenon (which means that you've probably already considered it and ruled it out) is that you've turned up the brightness of the camera's display screen. That setting is independent of all else, and it's easy to turn it up when the ambient light is high and then later forget that you did it. And maybe you didn't have the screen turned up as high on your 450D.
Also, of course, even a RAW image gets darker if subjected to any white balance correction (because that correction can only subtract, not add, light). I'd expect the screen to display the corrected image, but conceivably it doesn't.
Yes, that was the first thing that crossed my mind, but not just that the setting was turned up, but that the display is simply brighter. Although my old 450D seemed to be closer to the actual exposure it was terrible in the shadows. Things would look black on the camera but I'd still have detail on the actual photo.
I didn't bother looking for a brightness setting on my 6D for several reasons. 1) the brightness is really nice when you're out in bright sunlight; 2) I recognize there are far too many variables to expect any consistency between a small jpg with settings applied on a 3" backlit LCD to a full sized RAW file on a calibrated IPS monitor in a dim room; 3) I check my historgram constantly, I never trust what I see on the image, it's just a preview to get you in the ballpark; and 4) the IQ and recovery on the 6D is so good that I know if the image looks decent on the camera then I'll be able to make it work in post.

Settings Suggestions (Low Light Performance)

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