HELP : Bowling Event!

[creative_one]

Hi EveryOne,

Im in a church group called the awakening & the leader saw on my facebook page that im into photography. He posted a message on my page saying can you bring your camera & take pictures at the bowling event which is tonight.
We are going extreme bowling which is when the lights are off & they have the black lights on with the disco ball is going & the DJ playin.
My question is should i take my DSLR - ( if so what setting should i be shooting in ?? The night one???) or should i just take my point & shoot camera???
I have a Nikon D60 & these two lens : 18-55 & 55-200
Thanks in advance!

[Edborstein]

Take both. If he's serious about you taking photos to get published, you'll want to have the best shots possible. If it's too big a pain to carry around a chunky DSLR, set it down somewhere safe and switch to the point and shoot.

That said, I'd say the night setting would be good, but experiment!

[zona5101]

You’ll need a fast lens and a high iso… so the P&S is out.

[creative_one]

Originally Posted by Edborstein

Take both. If he's serious about you taking photos to get published, you'll want to have the best shots possible. If it's too big a pain to carry around a chunky DSLR, set it down somewhere safe and switch to the point and shoot.

That said, I'd say the night setting would be good, but experiment!

I was actually thinking about taking both of them too.
But im thinking cause of the very very low lighting that it would take the shutter forever to process or take the pic.So is there a way to be able to take good clear pics without ( using a tripod) it being blurry???
I have a bag that i think can hold my purse as will as my 2 cameras.
Thanks so much for ur advice!!!

[creative_one]

Originally Posted by zona5101

You’ll need a fast lens and a high iso… so the P&S is out.

Zona5101,
Your saying that i should go with my DSLR???
I have these two lens : 18-55 & 55-200 do u think they are fast enough?

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by creative_one

Zona5101,
Your saying that i should go with my DSLR???
I have these two lens : 18-55 & 55-200 do u think they are fast enough?

the problem with the P&S is they usually do not have high iso capabilities (if adjustable at all) and they have pretty slow lens. Usually you can't manually set the shutter/aperture either. I would think that you wouldn't be able to get much beyond blur with the P&S.

Your dslr at least you can crank up your iso and maybe get a decent shutter speed. Neither of those lenes is particularly fast but I would choose the wider one because as your focal length increases, the dificulty in steadily handholding also increases. For instance you may very well be able to hand hold a shot @ 20mm focal length 1/15 or 1/30 of a second where you would have zero chance of a sharp image if you tried those shutter speeds handheld at 200mm.

[creative_one]

Originally Posted by zona5101

. Neither of those lenes is particularly fast but I would choose the wider one because as your focal length increases, the dificulty in steadily handholding also increases. For instance you may very well be able to hand hold a shot @ 20mm focal length 1/15 or 1/30 of a second where you would have zero chance of a sharp image if you tried those shutter speeds handheld at 200mm.

When u said wide is the 55-200mm len the wide one??

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by creative_one

When u said wide is the 55-200mm len the wide one??

the 18-55 would be the wider of the two - - wider field of view - you could also refer to it as the lower focal length.

[retronesphoto]

I would definitely keep the 55-200mm at home, bring the 18-55mm. You have the advantage of a larger aperture so you have a tad bit of an advantage. You have to keep in mind that your camera isn't as sensitive to light as your eyes. Forget the 55-200mm for now, you don't need it, use your legs as your zoom. I would definitely shoot at 18mm as much as possible, if not, then shooting with very little zoom so the aperture wont close down too much since the 18-55mm has a smaller aperture as you zoom.

You're going to have to sacrifice some for the shot, you're going to have to shoot at a pretty high ISO since you're in a low light situation, most likely at least 800, if not, 1600. Even if your camera allows you to use 3200 and above, the quality of the shot may just be rubbish.

Even then, you're probably STILL going to run into problems with shutter speed... Don't be afraid to shoot 1/10 - 1/60... I love those speeds, but make sure you IMPROVISE, use whatever you can to keep the camera steady on the least part. Don't worry too much about motion blur, it's usually fine. If you want to take some fun and friendly shots you can pop up your flash and change your camera's setting into portrait setting (fully automatic with One Shot AF mode) and just snap away...

If you would like, you can simple use your on camera flash, however on camera flash will be a bit harsh and it may create some pretty unflattering shadows... There's many things you can do...

I'm actually not sure if you're using a flash or not, if you use a flash, you can shoot speeds of up to 1/200, and 1/250 on a Speedlight I believe...

Well, good luck. Remember, improvise, and you'll get the shot you'll like. You might have to sacrifice either ISO or the Aperture to get a faster shutter speed...

Good luck again!

[Digidave]

We are going extreme bowling which is when the lights are off & they have the black lights on with the disco ball is going & the DJ playin.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you don't stand a chance with these conditions. If you want non-blurry, crisp shots, even a seasoned professional would have trouble with these conditions. If you can use a flash, you may have a chance but that is going to blind people & be irritating to all involved. With that little of light, you really need to add some or you will never get a good shot. I think the best you can do is get some posed shots of the group before they start bowling with all the lights on.