Auditorium shots, indoor, no flash help

[amotorkat]

Hi, I have to take some pictures of an elementry play tonight. Its going to be lit, poorly. Cant use flash and no tripods allowed. Ill be using my Nikon D5000. Any advise on settings, metering modes, anything. I have a choice between two lenses:
Nikon Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED AF-S DX Zoom Lens
Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5 - f/5.6 DX Nikkor lens VR

The 55-200mm does not have vibration reduction built in, but the 18-55 does. If I use the 18-55, I would end up having to crop most the pictures, since I will be about 150 ft from the stage. With the 55-200mm, I think ill have issues with camera shake. Any advise would be great

cheers

[zona5101]

try and shoot when the stage is well lit. Use the VR lens, keep your fingers crossed -you have a tough assignment...

[amotorkat]

Originally Posted by zona5101

try and shoot when the stage is well lit. Use the VR lens, keep your fingers crossed -you have a tough assignment...

yeah, its just for our sons play, so its just for practice. I figured the VR lens and just crop later. It will be interesting to see how they come out.

[pjflan7]

150 feet back.....sounds like an impossible task.......shoot when the actors are still not while in motion...will have to boost iso way up to get a workable shutter speed.......I know....I did my kids play and I ended up using the 50mm 1.8 and it was still very rough! Good luck with it! Take both lenses for sure

[ARKreations]

If you can use a tri-pod, that will help compensate for the lack of VR in the 55-200.
Shoot in RAW and plan on post processing exposure adjustments and with noise reduction.
Good luck.

[amotorkat]

I think I got somewhat lucky! It was not on the stage, so they were underneath the lights and it was just a musical thing they did, so lights stayed on. I ended up using the 55-200 lens and had to pump up the iso to get the shutter speed fast enough to minimize camera shake. Over all, they came out OK, not as good as I wanted. Im going to sell my 55-200mm and go get one with VR

[klam]

Originally Posted by amotorkat

I think I got somewhat lucky! It was not on the stage, so they were underneath the lights and it was just a musical thing they did, so lights stayed on. I ended up using the 55-200 lens and had to pump up the iso to get the shutter speed fast enough to minimize camera shake. Over all, they came out OK, not as good as I wanted. Im going to sell my 55-200mm and go get one with VR

I believe having a faster lens will help a lot more with freezing the subjects during poor lighting conditions.

[i speak in math]

Originally Posted by klam

I believe having a faster lens will help a lot more with freezing the subjects during poor lighting conditions.

Yes, the VR is only going to help camera shake, not subject movement, which is the main problem here. You need a faster lens to get faster shutter speeds for that.

[amotorkat]

I think I do need a faster lens. I really enjoy trying to get the most out of indoor events like this without flash. What exactly makes a lens "faster"? Is it one that is a lower f/stop?

[i speak in math]

Yes. Faster = larger aperture. If you prefer zooms, look for a constant f/2.8. There are faster primes, such as an 85mm f/1.8 or a 135mm f/2.5 that will give you even more light.

And I would add that posting in an appropriate forum might get you more help. Since you are not using a flash, your topic isn't related to lighting. It is more about basic camera operations.