Shutter priority in poor light: I took photos of a dance practice, in the studio, horrible lighting, of course lots of movement. I was using a D7000, with a Nikon 24/85 mm lens. I...

Moonsey Loc: SW Michigan

I took photos of a dance practice, in the studio, horrible lighting, of course lots of movement. I was using a D7000, with a Nikon 24/85 mm lens. I usually use aperture mode, but switched to program. 1200 ISO, no flash. The pics were very blurry. Is this lens ok? If I switch to shutter priority, what speed should I use? The dancers can be very close, or across the studio, which is why I used the 24/85. It was just for practice, but what can I do to improve?

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

It would really help if, when people ask questions like this, that they put the lens details in, so that the person answering doesn't have to go to google all the time, to see what the exact specs of the lens are.
Because depending on the specifications of the lens, the answer could be tailored differently.
And now after going to google, I note that there are different specced Nikon 24-85mm lenses. Which do you have?
What other lenses do you own?

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

Moonsey wrote:

I took photos of a dance practice, in the studio, horrible lighting, of course lots of movement. I was using a D7000, with a Nikon 24/85 mm lens. I usually use aperture mode, but switched to program. 1200 ISO, no flash. The pics were very blurry. Is this lens ok? If I switch to shutter priority, what speed should I use? The dancers can be very close, or across the studio, which is why I used the 24/85. It was just for practice, but what can I do to improve?

Could you post some examples?
And please tick the 'store original' box so we can see the uncompressed image and the Exif data.

Question? Why did you move away from aperture priority?
That would have been my choice, with the lens wide open, and bump the ISO until I got shutter speeds of 1/250th or faster. Unless you're going to do some serious large prints, then you should be able to use ISO 3200 with no problem on that camera.

djtravels Loc: Georgia boy now

Use shutter priority with speed enough to stop the action. Side to side action takes more shutter speed. Set ISO to auto, set aperture to whatever you need for depth of field. Maybe you'll get a picture.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Moon, I do dance and use a 50-1.4, it's the only lens I have that will even come close. Up close you can't get two dancers in focus at the same time, but that still works well. If I had a 1.2, I would use it. I usually float my ISO. In a studio you could bring in more lights. Or they could pose(stand still). If the studio has mirrored walls, that could be tricky.
I do dress rehearsals cause I can mingle with them on the stage and get different angles as well as individual shots. Once you know the routines, you are just another dancer on stage.
During shows I shoot from the wings. During long routines, I can go from one side to the other and get both sides, otherwise I get only the same dancers over and over.
Good luck and break a leg.
SS

Edit: Moon, I use Tv(shutter priority), as you already know, stopping the. action is of prime importance. 150th stops most of the motion, some shots need more, others less. Since the light is low, the camera will keep the lens wide open and the floating ISO keeps it as low as possible, to keep as much noise out as possible. SS

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Moonsey wrote:

I took photos of a dance practice, in the studio, horrible lighting, of course lots of movement. I was using a D7000, with a Nikon 24/85 mm lens. I usually use aperture mode, but switched to program. 1200 ISO, no flash. The pics were very blurry. Is this lens ok? If I switch to shutter priority, what speed should I use? The dancers can be very close, or across the studio, which is why I used the 24/85. It was just for practice, but what can I do to improve?

You will never get good action shots in poor lighting with a slow lens like that no matter what your settings and no matter what the camera. You need better lighting, a flash, or a much faster lens. What you are trying to do is enter a Ford Fiesta in a Nascar race, you're on the right track but without a prayer for success.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Moonsey wrote:

I took photos of a dance practice, in the studio, horrible lighting, of course lots of movement. I was using a D7000, with a Nikon 24/85 mm lens. I usually use aperture mode, but switched to program. 1200 ISO, no flash. The pics were very blurry. Is this lens ok? If I switch to shutter priority, what speed should I use? The dancers can be very close, or across the studio, which is why I used the 24/85. It was just for practice, but what can I do to improve?

The Nikkor 24-85 is not a particularly fast lens at f/3.5-4.5. You may have to shoot wide open with a fairly high ISO of 1600 or higher to attain a shutter speed fast enough to stop the action. I'm guessing you will need a minimum 1/320 second, and perhaps 1/650 or even faster shutter speed. If its dark enough, this lens won't cut it. I did a show recently with a fast 30mm f/1.4 prime. I shot mostly at f/2 to f/2.5 at 1/320 second and still needed a lot of shots at an ISO of 1600 and some as high as ISO 2500. To accomplish the same thing with your lens in low light I would have needed to use an ISO setting of at least 3200 and perhaps 6400.

Moonsey Loc: SW Michigan

lighthouse wrote:

It would really help if, when people ask questions like this, that they put the lens details in, so that the person answering doesn't have to go to google all the time, to see what the exact specs of the lens are.
Because depending on the specifications of the lens, the answer could be tailored differently.
And now after going to google, I note that there are different specced Nikon 24-85mm lenses. Which do you have?
What other lenses do you own?

Sorry, 3.5/ 4.5. Not fast enough, I guess. I own a 50 mm 1.4, an 85mm 1.8 and an 18-200, 3.5/5.6. I will switch to the 50mm. I just thought it would be worth a try with the 24-85.

Moonsey Loc: SW Michigan

djtravels wrote:

Use shutter priority with speed enough to stop the action. Side to side action takes more shutter speed. Set ISO to auto, set aperture to whatever you need for depth of field. Maybe you'll get a picture.

Thanks, worth a try.

Moonsey Loc: SW Michigan

mwsilvers wrote:

The Nikkor 24-85 is not a particularly fast lens a... (show quote)

Moonsey Loc: SW Michigan

mwsilvers wrote:

The Nikkor 24-85 is not a particularly fast lens a... (show quote)

Thanks for your help. I will try, but I think it will be better to go to a prime.

Moonsey Loc: SW Michigan

MT Shooter wrote:

You will never get good action shots in poor lighting with a slow lens like that no matter what your settings and no matter what the camera. You need better lighting, a flash, or a much faster lens. What you are trying to do is enter a Ford Fiesta in a Nascar race, you're on the right track but without a prayer for success.

I'm sure you are right. I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do with this lens, since I'm not free to move around, and I can't use flash.I was hoping to adjust for distance.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Moonsey wrote:

Thanks for your help. I will try, but I think it will be better to go to a prime.

While you don't currently have one, a constant f/2.8 zoom might work depending on how much light there is.

Moonsey Loc: SW Michigan

SharpShooter wrote:

Moon, I do dance and use a 50-1.4, it's the only l... (show quote)

Thanks, I will have another go tomorrow, this is in studio, and I will switch to my 50mm. I think photographing dancers is one of the most challenging things to shoot, and I would love to get better. Thanks for your advice.q

Moonsey Loc: SW Michigan

Wall-E wrote:

Could you post some examples?
And please tick the 'store original' box so we can see the uncompressed image and the Exif data.

Question? Why did you move away from aperture priority?
That would have been my choice, with the lens wide open, and bump the ISO until I got shutter speeds of 1/250th or faster. Unless you're going to do some serious large prints, then you should be able to use ISO 3200 with no problem on that camera.

I just thought shutter priority would be best to stop action. I will try aperture, and see qwhat happens.