Would appreciate some help and advice

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stevenboo

Senior Member
Hello fellow nikonites I hope you are having an enjoyable weekend. I have a problem and need some advice.
I have the d3200 with just the kit lens. Yesterday i went to the Royal armouries in Leeds with the kids. I took the camera along hoping i could get plenty practice as i knew i would come across some challenging situations. Photographing in good light everything was ok. however the majority of the armouries is in low light even exhibits that are not behind glass the whole setting is very dark. my problem was to get the shot the shutter speed had to be relatively slow so as i viewed my pictures when i got home a large proportion of them were blurred. So my question is how would i stop this i wouldn't really want to lug a tripod with me when i had the kids so would a better lens help with better low light capabilities help? i have read good things about the 35 f1.8 or am i totally wrong?
Thank you
Steve
 
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Blacktop

Senior Member
stevenboo said:
Hello fellow nikonites I hope you are having an enjoyable weekend. I have a problem and need some advice.
I have the d3200 with just the kit lens. Yesterday i went to the Royal armouries in Leeds with the kids. I took the camera along hoping i could get plenty practice as i knew i would come across some challenging situations. Photographing in good light everything was ok. however the majority of the armouries is in low light even exhibits that are not behind glass the whole setting is very dark. my problem was to get the shot the shutter speed had to be relatively slow so as i viewed my pictures when i got home a large proportion of them were blurred. So my question is how would i stop this i wouldn't really want to lug a tripod with me when i had the kids so would a better lens help with better low light capabilities help? i have read good things about the 35 f1.8 or am i totally wrong?
Thank you
Steve
Click to expand...

A shot with the EXIF data would be helpful but yes, a 35mm 1.8 would really help. Also did you raise your ISO?
 
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stevenboo

Senior Member
Blacktop said:
A shot with the EXIF data would be helpful but yes, a 35mm 1.8 would really help. Also did you raise your ISO?
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Thank you for a response i was afraid a picture would be required lol. here is one im afraid that i may not have raised the iso enough. DSC_0182.jpg
 
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stevenboo

Senior Member
i suspected that might be the case once you mentioned iso. no flash allowed either. I knew i would get some photos that would be unusable but we have to make errors to learn and i have at least learned to bump my iso so thank you
 
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Blacktop

Senior Member
stevenboo said:
i suspected that might be the case once you mentioned iso. no flash allowed either. I knew i would get some photos that would be unusable but we have to make errors to learn and i have at least learned to bump my iso so thank you
Click to expand...

Yes, you could bump the ISO, but on your D3200 I would suspect that past 800 you would see noise. (grain)

A 35mm 1.8 would help in these situations where you are not allowed to use your flash and handholding the camera.
 
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stevenboo

Senior Member
Blacktop said:
Yes, you could bump the ISO, but on your D3200 I would suspect that past 800 you would see noise. (grain)

A 35mm 1.8 would help in these situations where you are not allowed to use your flash and handholding the camera.
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Thanks for that. Good to know i hadn't scrambled my own brain and was somewhat thinking along the right lines. Well its my birthday next week so at least i know what to ask for.
 
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Blacktop

Senior Member
stevenboo said:
Thanks for that. Good to know i hadn't scrambled my own brain and was somewhat thinking along the right lines. Well its my birthday next week so at least i know what to ask for.
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Good luck. I always ask for all kinds of stuff for my birthday, but I end up just having to buy it myself.:)
 
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Moab Man

Senior Member
As a general rule, if you have blur then the shutter speed is not fast enough to capture your target or to compensate for your own natural movement. This leaves you with the following options. 1 you can raise the ISO. 2 you can open up your aperture. 3 you can do a combination of the two.

As you get more experienced your technique will improve. To get started I would suggest using a shutter speed twice as fast as your focal length.

If your needing to stay more towards the auto end of picture taking consider "s"hutter priority / auto I so and let the camera make the rest of the choices.

Hope this helps.
 
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stevenboo

Senior Member
Thanks for the advise. I have been using either shutter or aperture priority atm until i get used to all the settings etc. This is why i love this site quick helpful responces
 
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Moab Man

Senior Member
Keep in mind, aperture priority will drop your shutter speed too low unless you in camera tell it not to go below X shutter speed.
 
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Woodyg3

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
At 1/3 of a second it is surprising that you got results as good as you did. :) If you aren't going to make large prints, you don't have to worry as much about noise for display on computer social sites, emailing to friends, etc. But, let's say you shot with the 35mm f/1.8. That would give you a little over 2 stops more light compared to your current lens. So, you could have shot at maybe 1/15. Then Raising the ISO to 800 the shot could have been 1/30 or so, and with good technique and a non-moving subject, you could get a sharp picture.

With your current lens, you could have raised the ISO to 3200 and shot at 1/25. There would be noise, but I'd try some shots like this to see how it looks to you in the format you normally view your photos.

Hope that helps a little. :)
 
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stevenboo

Senior Member
Woodyg3 said:
At 1/3 of a second it is surprising that you got results as good as you did. :) If you aren't going to make large prints, you don't have to worry as much about noise for display on computer social sites, emailing to friends, etc. But, let's say you shot with the 35mm f/1.8. That would give you a little over 2 stops more light compared to your current lens. So, you could have shot at maybe 1/15. Then Raising the ISO to 800 the shot could have been 1/30 or so, and with good technique and a non-moving subject, you could get a sharp picture.

With your current lens, you could have raised the ISO to 3200 and shot at 1/25. There would be noise, but I'd try some shots like this to see how it looks to you in the format you normally view your photos.

Hope that helps a little. :)
Click to expand...

i guess being a snooker player and having a steady hand does have some advantages lol yes woody it does help and thank you. glad to know what i was thinking was correct in some way and i wasn't talking myself down a blind alley. Was really hoping to get a good photo of the elephant as it is the only example of elephant Armour in the world. At least i have a good excuse to return
 
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Felisek

Senior Member
Don't forget that f/1.8 will result in a narrow depth of field. If you are taking a picture with a 35-mm lens from a few metres it will be about 50 cm. Instead of a shake blur you might end up with a part of the elephant being out of focus. You might need a tripod after all.
 
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Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Tripods can be a lot to lug around and frequently aren't allowed in museums. This being the case you might want to consider a monopod; they're cheaper, lighter and a lot more easily toted around.
 
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stevenboo

Senior Member
Hmmm never thought about a mono. Really not taken on the idea of lugging a tripod camera and kids so that's definitely something to look at
 
Vixen

Vixen

Senior Member
The other thing is if you can, rest your camera on a surface that will give you a reasonable shot, put your camera down and use a folder jumper, or a beanbag, to get it positioned as best you can. That way you can use a shutter speed as long as you like. Use your timer or a remote so you don't move the camera while pressing the shutter button. Don't forget to turn off image stabiliser (VR) on your lens when using a tripod or this method :D

I used a beanbag for ages until I could afford a decent tripod
 
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