Help...grainy indoor photos!

[soapboxsarah]

Okay, I need advice! I am good at taking outdoor photos and even indoor photos when a lot of sunlight is in the room but how do I get a good picture in a dark room? What kind of external flash should I buy? Messing with the settings on my camera is making my photos grainy and a redish color. I have an former professor from music school that wants me to take photos of his band playing and of couse that will be dark so I really want good pictures.

I am currently shooting with a Canon Rebel T2i.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Cardiiiii]

External flash or faster lens. I have the same problem with my kit lens. Biding my time till I can afford the 17-55 f2.8.

[StillFocus]

Grab a 50mm f/1.8, that should solve the problem. You want to make sure your aperture is as wide as possible (lowest number), the shutter speed is as slow as possible to still allow you to catch the action, and your ISO is not above 800 (higher ISO = more noise).

[inkista]

With the T2i, your native ISO settings--those that are done by increasing the voltage gain across the sensor, not the ones that are done by in-camera processing--are 100-3200. So, avoid the 6400(H1) and 12800(H2) settings. 3200 may also be pushing it, but if you really don't have the light or aperture, you may need to use it.

You may want to invest in some form of noise software: NeatImage and Noise Ninja are two commonly mentioned plugins for Photoshop that do more than pulling a slider around.

Your second biggest defense is not to underexpose.

Underexposing and then "pushing" the exposure in post-processing is likely to introduce more noise than if you'd just shot at a higher iso setting. Noise appears more in darker areas of the photo than in lighter ones.

You could get an external flash, but with performance shooting, it may be considered disruptive to use it, and one small AA-powered speedlight is going to have a hard time lighting up an entire room--especially if it's a large one. There are tricks to help you out, but that may be asking a lot of an on-camera flash. You may also want to consider if maybe letting some motion blur register, and using a tripod might not also be a good way to go. As everybody else is saying, a faster lens (with a larger maximum aperture) could also help. But also be aware that you may be trading off some sharpness when you shoot wide open.