need some advice: Last night I went to a High school graduation and came back with hundreds of picture. The problem is that with all the indoor pictures came out extremely grainy. All...

loony Loc: Hillsboro, OR

Last night I went to a High school graduation and came back with hundreds of picture. The problem is that with all the indoor pictures came out extremely grainy. All shots were taken at 400 ISO wide open aperture. I am shooting a Canon 7D with a 100mm-400mm and my kit lens 28-135. Does anybody have any idea as to why this would happen?

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Any indoor shooting is maxing out your camera/lens combo, and at only 400 ISO your shutter speeds still had to be pretty slow. The 7D usually isn't too bad at ISO 400 though so I have to say it was a result of the slow lens choice in this instance.

hochspeyer Loc: Chicago

What sort of lighting did the facility have?

rrforster12 Loc: Leesburg Florida

This will be the results when there is insufficient light available. In a low light situation you need a higher iSO setting and/or a faster lens. It's all about getting sufficient light to the sensor at whatever shutter speed you are using.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

rrforster12 wrote:

This will be the results when there is insufficient light available. In a low light situation you need a higher iSO setting and/or a faster lens. It's all about getting sufficient light to the sensor at whatever shutter speed you are using.

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

rrforster12 wrote:

This will be the results when there is insufficient light available. In a low light situation you need a higher iSO setting and/or a faster lens. It's all about getting sufficient light to the sensor at whatever shutter speed you are using.

Yes, noise hides in the dark low contrasty areas typical of this situation.

loony Loc: Hillsboro, OR

It was a collage basketball stadium if that helps. I had to slow my shutter speed to 1/30 to get enough light. and then the picture was still a little dark. I shoot in RAW so I was able to lighten up the picture. Is it possible that adjusting the exposure in Lightroom is causing the graininess?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

loony wrote:

It was a collage basketball stadium if that helps. I had to slow my shutter speed to 1/30 to get enough light. and then the picture was still a little dark. I shoot in RAW so I was able to lighten up the picture. Is it possible that adjusting the exposure in Lightroom is causing the graininess?

Look at it this way. You got pictures without spending $4,000 for low-light equipment. Post processing will make them look decent.

loony Loc: Hillsboro, OR

I was able to fix them with post processing. I am trying to figure out what went wrong to avoid this in the future. I have been talking to some other people as well and they are saying it sounds like my sensor is having a problem.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

loony wrote:

It was a collage basketball stadium if that helps. I had to slow my shutter speed to 1/30 to get enough light. and then the picture was still a little dark. I shoot in RAW so I was able to lighten up the picture. Is it possible that adjusting the exposure in Lightroom is causing the graininess?

No...it's underexposing.

You'll have to bite the bullet and raise your ISO a lot. You need the resulting image to be properly exposed.

Images will look better at a higher ISO but well exposed than 2 stops underexposed and at a much lower ISO (generally speaking)

Gyms are dim...no two ways about it.

Shooting with a fast lens is an advantage, I've shot with an f/2 lens in dim gyms a lot and as I recall...the ISO was 1600 or so and the SS was 1/125 or 1/60 (which is really pushing the shutter speed limit for my shakiness)

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

loony wrote:

I was able to fix them with post processing. I am trying to figure out what went wrong to avoid this in the future. I have been talking to some other people as well and they are saying it sounds like my sensor is having a problem.

Post a representative image uncorrected and we can see if that's true or just speculation.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

loony wrote:

I was able to fix them with post processing. I am trying to figure out what went wrong to avoid this in the future. I have been talking to some other people as well and they are saying it sounds like my sensor is having a problem.

Not likely a sensor problem. More likely under exposed. As others have suggested, use a higher ISO or faster lens, or even a powerful flash.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

loony wrote:

I was able to fix them with post processing. I am trying to figure out what went wrong to avoid this in the future. I have been talking to some other people as well and they are saying it sounds like my sensor is having a problem.

Loony, you needed a faster lens or more light.
You could use a GOOD flash with a BetterBeamer. That would get you to a couple a hundred feet. But won't help with what you already did.
And at 1/30th with a long lens, you HAVE to have support! Good luck. ;-)
SS

loony Loc: Hillsboro, OR

SharpShooter wrote:

Loony, you needed a faster lens or more light.
You could use a GOOD flash with a BetterBeamer. That would get you to a couple a hundred feet. But won't help with what you already did.
And at 1/30th with a long lens, you HAVE to have support! Good luck. ;-)
SS

I did not use a flash because I was too far away.

I had good support that was not the problem. I had my elbow sitting on the armrest and I was supporting the front of the lens with that hand. here Is one of the photos the only thing I did was adjust the exposure. This is not focused well but you will be able to see what I am talking about.

graduate

rrforster12 Loc: Leesburg Florida

Looking at the shot I think there was enough movement while taking the picture to cause the slightly out of focus condition. That being said, I think it was still pretty good for a 1/30th shutter speed. Trying to sharpen the picture in PP will introduce pixilation which might be construed as grain. Just a thought.