Auditorium settings??

[amgvca]

Hello... I am shooting with a Nikon D80 using a Tamron 28-300mm f3.5-6.3 lens. I also have the 18-55mm kit lens. My question is that I am going to be attending several school awards ceremonies that will be held in indoor auditoriums. I can never seem to get the lighting just right. I realize my zoom is very limited in dark lighting but I am not buying a new one right now. Should I get an SB600 Speedlight? Will it make a big difference here? How far away can I be with the external flash? I'm not sure how close I can get in some cases.
Thanks.

[amgvca]

is there anyone out there that has ANY ideas?????

[Nicole]

For what you'd spend on your SB-600, you could get a 50mm f/1.8 and still have some change. Of course, that would depend on you being able to get reasonably close to the stage or be OK with cropping your image. But that would be less distracting than a flash. The flash will possibly work, but again, that depends on your distance. Barring buying either of those, I would start with 1/60 sec, and as high an ISO as necessary (unless you're using the 70-300mm lens, in which case, a faster shutter speed to avoid camera shake would be necessary unless you have the steady hands of a surgeon ). Also, try spot metering the person on the stage, often although the lights are dim in the audience area, they are brighter on stage which should help you out some.

[amgvca]

I do have an old non-metering 50mm f/1:4 film lens that I inherited. I have to use all manual including focus so it takes a bit to get the reading correct and focusing may not be too sharp. Pretty "soft" actually. I saw that the Nikon 50mm 1;8D you are referring to is #2 in the most popular lenses article and the cost isn't prohibitive. Is it worth the $130 to replace the old film lens? Especially since I didn't pay for it in the first place. Or should I put that money towards the flash at this point. I'm not sure I understood the comment on the 70-300 lens, which I don't have. The 28-300 Tamron does have VC. How far does an external flash? What would you use in this setting? I see the set up you have. thanks

[Nicole]

Sorry, habit of typing 70-300, you have a 28-300mm (same difference though in terms of making sure that you're using a faster shutter speed if you're using a longer zoom... the general rule is 1/shutter speed to avoid camera shake). The VC on the 28-300 will help in terms of hand holding your lens at slower shutter speeds, but you'll still want to try to get at least 1/60 - 1/100 minimum shutter speed so that you stop the movement of the subject. That kind of shutter speed should get you started.

I have to say that I've successfully used the 50mm in auditoriums, but I've been reasonably close or close enough that the cropping required wasn't too bad. The advantage of a 50mm f/1.8D over the manual focus you said you have is that the the new one is auto focus, so if you get your focus right it should be sharper, especially if you're not skilled at manual focus (which I'm not, no clue if you are or not ). I would probably try to avoid an external flash in your situation because you might wind up with a lot of lit up heads and the stage still dark.

As I said, my preference is to avoid flash in large auditoriums. The range of a flash also depends on your flash and what power your flash is set to. But also remember that some places may not allow flash photography. I will admit that I don't understand the guide numbers and how far the flash is effective, so I won't even try to explain it. So my preference is wide aperture prime lenses since they're more affordable than wide aperture zooms and I don't have to worry about blinding people or distracting performers.

Hope that helps a little, and hope you find a good answer to how far the flash is effective.

[amgvca]

Thanks! I think I'll ask for the 50mm for Mother's Day...maybe I'll get lucky :0