DSLR – Shooting in hi & lo lights

[Pete Burger]

You’ll sacrifice money 😉 and a lot of grain…

Joking aside: With faster lenses it’s harder to keep focus, but you’ll be gratified with less noise (because you don’t have to take high ISOs) and beautiful bokeh.

By the way: When choosing ISO, try to take multiples of 160 (160, 320, 640, …) if possible with your camera. I think the 60D offers those ISOs. They produce noticably less noise!

You also might want to try the Highlight Tone Priority, when shooting in bright conditions. The use of HTP is most controversial. Some like it, some avoid it.

[Sean Cramdon]

Thanks…I will definitely look into the filter you suggested. Are there any basic settings I should be using in bright light situations?

[Sean Cramdon]

Much appreciated. Never knew about the ISO multiple of 160 concept – got another rule of thumb to work with – I need as many as I can get:)!

[Noah Kadner]

Yeah Zooms are great to get a variety of frames sizes easily- versatile. However they sacrifice speed and sharpness to do so. Well unless you want to spend a lot of money on high-end zooms. In Canon I recommend at least a couple of primes.

A great starter prime to learn about what makes them so special would be the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens. It’s not the fastest made but way faster than your zoom and won’t break the bank.

Now this will serve you much better indoors and at night. In daylight you have the opposite problem- which is too much light. In that case you end up knocking down the exposure with shutter speed once you run out of ISO and aperture to lower- and that means inconsistent motion from shot to shot.

To fix that- get ND filters. The fader NDs are convenient but IMHO way overpriced. If you get say an ND2(.3) and ND8(.9) for starters you’ll have most situations covered as they can be screwed together for varying degrees of light-stopping power and are much cheaper than a single vari-ND.

Your 18-200 has a 72mm thread so you want 72mm ND filters, such as this Tiffen 72mm Neutral Density 0.9 Filter. Then you can use a https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001L18018/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=cowcreative-20“>52 to 72mm step-up ring to use the same ND filter on your new lens.

-Noah

Unlock the secrets of 24p, HD and Final Cut Studio with Call Box Training. Featuring the Panasonic GH2 and Canon 7D.

[Sean Cramdon]

Thank you very much, that is extremely helpful!

Thanks for the product tips as well, looks like I have some shopping to do:)

[Pete Burger]

As written in my post below, you can use the Highlight Tone Priority, which helps, to not blow out bright areas. As mentioned, some guys advise to definitly turn it off, others to definitly turn it on. So, test it for yourself. I personally find it useful in bright conditions.

An external viewfinder might be useful as well, esp. in bright conditions.

The “histogram” tip, Sohrab gave is definitly a livesaver! With Magic Lantern you can overlay histograms (rgb or luminance) on the display while recording. Very (!) useful. Check out, what the guys of Magic Lantern are doing. I don’t know, what the current development status of the 60D version is, but this piece of software is really true magic. Provides so many handy features (like the built-in follow focus, higher video bitrates, etc, etc, etc…). I don’t want to miss it for my T2i.

Also great: The new Cinecolor picture style from Technicolor. An awesome “flat” style that helps to preserve detail in dark and very bright areas. Like all “flat” styles, it creates very dull (is this the correct english word?) pictures in the first place and needs grading in post, but the results are stunning. With the look-up table (LUT), that is part of the free bundle, grading is easier than with other flat styles. Just import the LUT in FCP or use the free Red Giant “LUT-Buddy” plugin for Premiere and After Effects. Of course you can grade to your taste with any correction filter you are familiar with (levels, curves, …)

[Michal Trzaska]

Using a faster lens in darker situations was addressed, intervals of 160 on the ISO was covered as well, external monitoring and use of histogram help tremendously.

I’ll touch on the bright situations, and hopefully help with your overexposed images.

Fader ND (neutral density) Filter, a must. Basically adjustable sunglasses for your lens. Because you need to keep your shutter speed at 1/50 when shooting in 24p the ND Filter will allow you to control how much light goes into the lens.

Invest in a good filter, I would get a 72 or a 77mm side filter and then get step up rings for the different size lenses you have.

Matt Box with french flags, or a lens hood. I must say I don’t have ether but I wish I did. It will help in controlling sun flares.

Michal Trzaska
Editor, Colorist, Director of Photography, VFX Artist and Motion Graphics Artist

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[Sean Cramdon]

Right on, thank you very much. Looking forward to trying those tips out.