I recently purchased the D90/18-105 package and also picked up the 55mm/1.4f lens specifically for taking low light pics. I hope to be able to take great dance recital and volleyball pics without the use of a flash. The recitals will be in performance halls and the volleyball games will be in gyms. I've done some reading in this forum about gym lighting, but I'd really like to hear from all of you about suggested manual settings for the dance recitals. I'll do a lot of tweaking and experimenting, but I'm hoping some of you have some specific experience with recitals and will have some good ideas regarding settings. Thanks!

you mean 50mm? I'm not aware of a 55mm 1.4.

Crank the ISO, and jack up the shutter speed to freeze the motion. Keep the aperture high (low #). Even at 1.4 you are bound to get some noise though. My Daughter takes gymnastics and I know how difficult those low light action shots can be. High ISO will be the only way you can get shutter speeds high enough to freeze the action. If you don't mind a little motion blur, you can lower the ISO and shutter speeds for less noise. I wouldn't go much past 1600 ISO on the D90 though, and you want speeds of at least 1/320th of a second or higher depending on how fast the movement is. Don't even bother with that 18-105 for this stuff.

There's a 55 1.2 Nikkor...

Then there is a 58/1.2 Noct Nikkor...you can take pictures of fast moving objects in the dark with it! LOL

For volleyball or dance I think a telephoto would be more in order but if I had to use a 50 I'd zone focus it (eliminating the speed advantage of the lens-oh well don't like shooting wide open anyways)

Ooops. Typo. It's a 50/1.4.

Not a 55 and not a 58/1.2. Ha

Thanks for the suggestions. There's a music program Thurs night that I'm looking forward to experimenting at. Not much movement compared to a dance recital, but the lighting should be fairly similar.

Depending on how close you can get...on Thursday night - little movement...50mm/1.4 lens with the crop factor you are shooting at 75mm so try to get half bodies in the photo...if you can get that close...bracket these three settings (using higher and lower shutter speeds) no flash and I bet you'll nail the exposure...and if you are in the right range you're going to get a nice sharp subject with an OOF background...

1) ISO 800 F1.4 125 shutter
2) ISO 800 F2 250 shutter
3) ISO 800 F2.8 250 shutter

Another good tactic in the situation is to set the 50/1.4 at F8 and raise the ISO till you have the right exposure...then you don't have to worry about focus so much...

yeah but at f/8 his ISO will be through the roof, and he wont have to worry about the focus because all of the grain will be in the way....remember, it's a D90 here.

Put it on a tripod and I bet he could shoot F8 ISO 800 and get a good exposure...that would be approximately 1/4 shutter speed assuming an EV of about 8...

I was reading an old Shuttterbug magazine article the other day about the Tamron AF18-270 VC lens and the author was talking about shooting handheld and being steady down to 1/15 and getting marginally acceptable results at 1/12 (with a D90 body) ...that is incredible! Digital stuff is just getting insanely good...

a tri pod is great if you are shooting a still object. this thread refers to action in low light. having shutter speeds high enough to freeze the action will require ISO speeds higher than 800 most likely. As a general rule, even with still objects your shutter speed shouldn't be lower than your focal length (ex. 50mm = 1/50th).

Originally Posted by heathmallory

There's a music program Thurs night that I'm looking forward to experimenting at. Not much movement compared to a dance recital, but the lighting should be fairly similar.

I know you probably didn't have to make any ACTION shots...hahaha but what happened with the music program?