Indoor Pool

dogday

I have a Canon XSi and will be taking pictures at and indoor pool. I've tried once with the camera set to Manual at a speed of 100 I had to increase the iso to 800 needless to say the pictures were horrible very grainy any advice would be great.

Thanks in advance.

-DogDay

adbsgicom

Not sure what advice you are looking for. If there isn't much light to the sensor, you need to push the ISO, and on an XSi you will get to having problems sooner than higher-end models. If you have a faster (i.e., lower f-stop number) lens, that will allow more light in. If you have the luxury of setting up some flashes in the corners to add light, that would also change the equation by adding light. What options are available to you? Also, if you are pushing the ISO make sure you don't under-expose since all the noise lives in the shadows and when you boost the exposure to compensate afterwards, you end up boosting the noise.

dogday

adbsgicom wrote: »

Not sure what advice you are looking for. If there isn't much light to the sensor, you need to push the ISO, and on an XSi you will get to having problems sooner than higher-end models. If you have a faster (i.e., lower f-stop number) lens, that will allow more light in. If you have the luxury of setting up some flashes in the corners to add light, that would also change the equation by adding light. What options are available to you? Also, if you are pushing the ISO make sure you don't under-expose since all the noise lives in the shadows and when you boost the exposure to compensate afterwards, you end up boosting the noise.

I was looking at purchasing a new lense with a f/2 am I better spending the $$$ on upgrading my camera instead?

adbsgicom

An f/2 lens is forever, and useful anywhere. How much of your shooting is indoor/low-light/no-flash?
Since I don't know what lens you are currently working on, here is a bit of math. Let's assume your camera really maxes out at ISO400 and you have an f/5.6 lens.
Going to f/2 is 3 full stops (5.6->4.0->2.8->2.0) so that is 8x the amount of light.
Going to a 7D or 60D (I assume it has the same ISO properties as the 7D) gets you solidly up to 1600 to 3200. Again 8x

I've seen plenty of gorgeous images shot with and XSi, so if you are happy with the controls and how it works and all, then I'd go with the glass. With the nicer glass, you will have better images (crisper) when you have more light, the ability to shoot very nice shallow DOF images, and a more permanent investment. I have an 85mm f/1.8 that I find amazing, especially at the price. If that is too long for you (you need to see where you are generally shooting to decide). I think the f/1.4 is the better lens of the 50's out there, though I don't have one, perhaps someone else can comment, or you can search for some posts on the matter.

dogday

adbsgicom wrote: »

An f/2 lens is forever, and useful anywhere. How much of your shooting is indoor/low-light/no-flash?
Since I don't know what lens you are currently working on, here is a bit of math. Let's assume your camera really maxes out at ISO400 and you have an f/5.6 lens.
Going to f/2 is 3 full stops (5.6->4.0->2.8->2.0) so that is 8x the amount of light.
Going to a 7D or 60D (I assume it has the same ISO properties as the 7D) gets you solidly up to 1600 to 3200. Again 8x

I've seen plenty of gorgeous images shot with and XSi, so if you are happy with the controls and how it works and all, then I'd go with the glass. With the nicer glass, you will have better images (crisper) when you have more light, the ability to shoot very nice shallow DOF images, and a more permanent investment. I have an 85mm f/1.8 that I find amazing, especially at the price. If that is too long for you (you need to see where you are generally shooting to decide). I think the f/1.4 is the better lens of the 50's out there, though I don't have one, perhaps someone else can comment, or you can search for some posts on the matter.

Thank you for the advise exactly what I was hoping for helped me make a choice.

adbsgicom

dogday wrote: »

Thank you for the advise exactly what I was hoping for helped me make a choice.

Bear in mind, you will probably want a new body soon as well.... it is an addiction....

adbsgicom

Also, make sure you shoot raw (better recovery of data in post processing) and make sure you expose properly (since the noise is much worse if you underexpose). Better to err on slight over exposure (in RAW you can come back down and still have the data) than to be too dark and boost the noise.