indoor events with people..what lens best

magicpic

I have a canon 20d...what is a good lens to use for shooting people events....and what flash set up is best...say the room is a 20X30 room..I did a event the other day . I used the 580ex with the f at 5..and the photos were too dark..so maybe if I had done a 2.8 with the flash it would have been ok//// hope to hear..janis

pathfinder

magicpic wrote:

I have a canon 20d...what is a good lens to use for shooting people events....and what flash set up is best...say the room is a 20X30 room..I did a event the other day . I used the 580ex with the f at 5..and the photos were too dark..so maybe if I had done a 2.8 with the flash it would have been ok//// hope to hear..janis

Magicpic,

You have not listed the lenses you possess in your Profile, so I do not know what lenses you already have that might work.

When I shoot people in a 20 x 30 room, I might use anything from a 24mm to a 200+mm lens, but the majority of my shots will probably come from a 24-70 zoom or a 24-105 zoom. Sometimes I like a 135mm for candids with a 20D too.

I cannot answer your question about flash exposure difficulties with the information you provided.

What ISO were you using?
Was the 580ex in manual mode or EETL?
Was the flash mounted on the camera or off?
Was the camera in Manual Mode or Av mode? ( The other camera modes are less useful for flash indoors, in my opinion, and contribute to some folks difficulties with flash)


The use of the Canon EOS flash system has been written extensively here - see my link to the EOS flash system at the top of the Technique thread above.

LiquidAir

The 580EX has enough power to give you f/5 in a 20x30 room, though when working indoors I tend to bump my ISO to the 400-1000 range to blend in more ambient as well as getting faster cycle times and longer battery life. If your shots are dark, it is most likely a metering issue rather than an aperture issue.

That said, I do prefer fast lenses when shooting indoors. Most of my indoor work is shot with primes, but the Tamron 28-75/2.8 is a great choice for indoor events if you like to work with a zoom. I prefer both the slightly longer reach and the lighter weight of the Tammy over the Canon 24-70.

magicpic

pathfinder wrote:

Magicpic,

You have not listed the lenses you possess in your Profile, so I do not know what lenses you already have that might work.

When I shoot people in a 20 x 30 room, I might use anything from a 24mm to a 200+mm lens, but the majority of my shots will probably come from a 24-70 zoom or a 24-105 zoom. Sometimes I like a 135mm for candids with a 20D too.

I cannot answer your question about flash exposure difficulties with the information you provided.

What ISO were you using?
Was the 580ex in manual mode or EETL?
Was the flash mounted on the camera or off?
Was the camera in Manual Mode or Av mode? ( The other camera modes are less useful for flash indoors, in my opinion, and contribute to some folks difficulties with flash)


The use of the Canon EOS flash system has been written extensively here - see my link to the EOS flash system at the top of the Technique thread above.

my lens are canon 70-200is28, 50mm 1.4, tam 17-5o 2.8..
I use a 400ISO, 580 eetl, flash off, camera in manual mode

pathfinder

magicpic wrote:

my lens are canon 70-200is28, 50mm 1.4, tam 17-5o 2.8..
I use a 400ISO, 580 eetl, flash off, camera in manual mode

I see that you are shooting with f2.8 or faster lenses at ISO 400 with the flash off the camera.

As LiquidAir said, there should be ample light from a 580ex IF the ceiling is white, and less than 10 feet high, because you will be bouncing off it unless you are using direct flash ( flash pointing directly at your subjects ). If this is a large commercial room with a ceiling 50 feet high, then a 580ex is not going to be adequate.

How did you trigger the 580 ex off camera? Off Camera cord or ST-E2 or Pocket Wizards or what?

In Manual mode on the camera with the flash in ETTL, you should get a properly exposed foreground, unless the strobe is just too far away and completely dumps its full capacitor charge and still comes up short. Do you know how long the recycle charging times were running? Were your batteries fresh? Did all your shots come out under exposed or only some of them?

I like to use the Canon CP-E3 external battery pack when shooting with the flash mounted to a tripod - It cuts the recycle time to just a second or so, instead of the more typical 5-10 seconds depending on your battery state. And with 12 AAs, instead of just 4, you can shoot all evening without running out of juice. I use disposable Lithium batteries because they pack so much more power than rechargeables, but lots of folks swear by rechargeable NIMHs as well.


If the flash is so far away that you are getting under-exposure you will have to get the flash closer or raise your ISO up, or get some auxiliary reflectors going.


Most of my shots of my family were shot at ISO 400, f 3.5 - 4, 1/160th second with a 580ex on a table in the corner of the room ( about 20 x 25 feet ) - I pointed the flash towards the ceiling a bit off of vertical, and used a foamie diffuser in addition to throw some light directly forward as well. The camera was set in Manual mode with the flash in ETTL and triggered by an ST-E2.


A longer shutter speed - say 1/50th - would get more ambient light in the image.