Faster lens vs flash

[happyspace]

Hi everyone,

I'm not able to get good shots of my kids playing, specially indoors. I don't use the on-camera flash as it's too harsh. I use the widest aperture on my kit lens but it's still not fast enough.

Should I just max the ISO (before noise is noticeable, not that I'm planning to blow up any of the images) or am I fighting a losing battle considering my equipment?

Do I need to use a faster lens or flash to get decent pictures? If so, which (lens/flash) is best suited? I've read elsewhere that a 50mm may not be fast enough for indoor conditions and that only a flash will be able to freeze motion.

(In the long run, I'd like to get both but I've only had my first DSLR for a few months so don't want to jump into buying lots of other stuff at the moment.)

[RichardTaylor]

(1) providing you have the software to apply noise reduction, possibly selectively;
Shoot RAW at maximum ISO and see how you go. Try B&W conversions.

(2) Buying a lens means more decisions besides how fast. It also means what focal length.
If you decide to go this route use your kit lens to decide what you need, ie 24mm/38mm/50mm.
Also run some test exposures to what maximum aperture you may need (at the shutter speed you want to shoot at), keeping in mind lenses may not perform so well wide open (although it may be ok) and DOF will be very shallow.

Also available light may still mean your photographs still do not look good to you even though they are technically ok..

(3) With an external flash, either off camera and/or bounced/diffused gives you a lot more control; over the light.

Personally I would go with an external flash, diffused or bounced.

It is very rare that I shoot pics of children.

[bullychk04]

Thank you so much for posting this! I was just about to post a new thread, but saw yours lol. I'm anxious to hear what people have to say, as I'm having the same problem. I'm stuck shooting outside. I usually use my 50mm on portraits.

What kind of external flash would you recommend, RichardTaylor?

Not sure what the OP is shooting with, but I'm shooting w/ Nikon D3100.

[RichardTaylor]

I'm a Canon shooter who has 580EX's (Canon top of the line flash).

If I was a Nikon shooter I would be looking at the SB700 or 900

[BigFuzzy]

I always recommend knowing how to use flash for those situations where it's necessary. Buying a flash and only popping it on your camera without knowing how to use it won't help you much.

At the very least (ie before learning flash properly) learn how to use the "flash compensation" setting on your camera as you can dial down the power of the flash to prevent the blow-out.

In the end, if you learn flash, your images won't look like they were flashed. They'll simply look well lit regardless of the source.

Good luck!

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Which DSLR body do you have? I would first invest in a fast lens (something like 50mm or 35mm 1.8) and then in a flash, because I love shooting in the available light. Of course there are times when even at f1.8 and ISO800, you won't have fast enough shutter speed, in which case you might just have to invest in flash or use the one on your camera.

[alphavalues]

I use a pop up diffuser when I'm taking snapshots or using the builtin flash for fill, and it really does wonders for breaking up the harsh shadows. It's a great way to start working with flash before investing in a decent off camera unit.

[inkista]

Are you a Canon shooter or a Nikon shooter? crop-body or full-frame? That would help us give you more specific equipment recommendations.

My general recommendation is pretty much the same as Richard's:

1) Try using a higher iso setting, first. If you only recently moved from a P&S camera, do not fear the high iso. 800 and 1600 will not look the way they did on your P&S camera. With good exposure and noise reduction software, you can do some amazing things. The key, of course, is to get your shutter speed high enough to "freeze" the action.

2) Get a faster lens. Unlike Richard, I'd actually go for the faster lens, first. That doesn't necessarily mean you won't need a flash. But if you get a faster lens with a fast autofocus motor, you might have half a chance of catching the kids in focus as they run around. A slow kit lens without USM/AF-S is less likely to lock in fast enough before they've moved. Also, a faster lens is waaay easier to learn than flash photography.

3) Get a flash. But I would highly highly recommend that you be comfortable shooting in M mode. I don't mean you have to shoot there all the time, but being in control of all three exposure settings and mentally being able to swap stops among them is going to make learning flash photography a lot easier. One of the big things you have to learn is that your camera's metering, which you've been relying on for ambient exposure is ONLY going to tell you about ambient exposure. It can't meter a flash burst that hasn't happened yet. So, often, to get the exposure you want, you have to mentally add in the flash, and NOT set your camera's exposure to where the needle lands on 0 in the light meter. The way all your automated modes do by default.

You can shoot in automated modes, but you'll probably have to override it somehow for every. single. shot. This is something M does easily. The automated modes, a little less so. And the auto modes are going to make it harder to figure out what went wrong (when something does) and how to correct it. If you are not yet comfortable and happy shooting in M mode without flash, I'd suggest practicing a little more until you are before getting a speedlight flash. It won't take long.

For flash, if you can afford it, getting the top-of-the-line OEM flash (580EX II / SB-900), particularly for run'n'gun fast shooting, is going to be preferable. It will be expensive (~$500). But it will have the highest level of compatibility with your camera, the most power output, can do some extra special stuff (like i/e-TTL), and isn't subject to the vagaries of reverse engineering like most 3rd party flashes. If that's too expensive, then going for an older used top-of-the-line OEM (580EX, SB-800) or the current mid-range (430EX II, SB-700) is still a good choice. If even that's too expensive, then maybe look into 3rd party flashes like Metz or Nissin.

However. If you plan on doing posed portrait studio-style lighting, you have a lot of other choices open to you. It doesn't sound like that's where you're going, though.

As BigFuzzy states, you're likely to get a lot more than just "more light" from a flash if you learn how to use it properly, but that can be a lot to take on board. The main thing is not to use it like the pop-up flash. Just because you get an external flash doesn't mean it can't look just like the pop-up.

The main technique you're likely to want to learn is bouncing, which is aiming the flash head at a reflective surface (wall, ceiling, floor, window), and then using the reflected light as your illumination. It'll be softer and more diffused and looks more natural than straight-on hard flash. This is why tilt and swivel capability of the flash's head are important features.

[happyspace]

Wow , thanks everyone for your detailed advice.

I have a Nikon D3100, sorry for not including that in my original post.

I think I will go with some kind of diffuser for my built in flash for now and also see what I can do with flash compensation. That may be enough for my current needs.

But I will keep a link to this thread for when I'm ready to move on.

[Jim Bryant]

With faster lenses, you won't need a flash or not. Depends on what you want. I'd go for the lenses.