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This is not a good place to simply share cool photos/videos or promote your own work and projects, but rather a place to discuss photography as an art and post things that would be of interest to other photographers.

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Depth of Field and Low light , event photography, full frame vs APSC (alien.top)

submitted 1 year ago by DidiHD@alien.top to c/photography@viewfinder.pro

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Hi all,

TLDR: If I have to step down my aperture on a Full frame to get all people in focus, do I just lose the low light advantage I'm looking for compared to APSC?

Long version:

I am shooting a lot of low light parties. As a hobby for our little anime comunity. As it is rather casual, I don't bring a flash. (Have a little corner with a flash setup for cosplayers though).

Now, to my "issue". This is always in a very dark environment. With my Sony a6000 and a Sigma 30 F1.4, I always have to up to ISO 5000-6400 and still have to pull up shadows in post. While the new denoising features in LR is extrememly helpful, it can't safe everything. Pulling up the shadows in that area results in very colorful noise, then applying AI denoise with 40-50 results in artifacts and too soft images. (Apart from the fact that it takes very long to apply this to a bulk of images)

I therefor looking to upgrade to full frame for additional low light performance. sometimes shallower DOF is also desired. The issue is, during the events I'm taking pictures of groups of people. Multiple sitting together at tables. not in the same plane of focus.

Therefor I'd have to step down my aperture, but in this case, I'd guess I just loose the low light advantage I'd gain over APSC right?

Thank you for your help!

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[–] KidElder@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Basic answer - No

Even with full frame, you are still better off with using flash if you want enough light/low ISO for your pictures. Maybe if there was a very well light room with all the lights on, you could get away with it.

Even when I read about portrait photography for kids by professional photographers using low light photography technics, they placed their subjects by the window so they had enough light. They didn't take pictures in the middle of the room with low light.

I converted from APC-S to full frame (Nikon Z6) and I found for indoor use with people, flash is what I needed. Just too much movement and not enough light to capture spontaneous pictures.

I have yet to see a professional photographer at a wedding not use a flash on their camera and they have nice rigs for low light.

[–] No_Shake3769@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Let's say you get your desired DoF at f/5.6 on APSC and you would get the same DoF at f/8 on FF. The FF will be one stop better in noise performance. So in the end, the noise in your pictures will be pretty much the same.

[–] dbltax@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Use flash, simple.

Don't use LED panels for stills, they're just invasive at low light events. I've seen photographers use them in the evenings while shooting weddings, they just blind guests and give a very harsh and difficult to control light compared to a speedlight.

[–] tonalpics@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Instead of upgrading cameras, you're better off investing $40-$90 on a speed light. Your photo quality will increase dramatically for those indoor photos. If you're worried about bulk/weight (and if you're just using it for casual/personal situations like these) you can even get away with a mini speedlite like the Godox TT350. It fits in your pocket, has TTL (auto exposure), wireless trigger capabilities and runs on 2 AA batteries.