Pre wedding test results

Guys

Thanks for some sound advice I can't remember who said it but was to told out of my 3 lenses to use my 50mm 1:7 prime in the church and out of all the test shots taken last night fom both my 18-55 and new 50-200 the 50mm have come out the best indoors. Please bare in mind it was 8PM and the sun had gone the back of the church so lighting was low. On th day its at 4pm. I know have an idea of how the lighting situation is affected.

By best I mean this in terms of quality and noise. I set the lens to F 2.8 and set the max ISO in the camera to between 100 and 800. All the shots came out at ISO 800 with shutter speeds aroung 1/15 I did take a few later at 1600 and were 1/50 shutter but boy they look bad like something took with a camera phone PHEW !!.

I also tried my Flash as after the ceremony ie: signing the register you can use it, but to honest flash at 1600 ISO doesnt really look much better.

To be honest why anyone would want to use the k10D with ISO 1600 indoors I dont understand unless its to create a certain look. In slightly brighter conditions I imagine a lot better results can be made as it increases shutter speed and possible less noise.

I have been looking at a wedding album with approx 15 shots in leather bound etc.. and it cost £1500 But QUOTE none of the shots are taking in the church all are outside with a few that look like they have been took in a bright hotel reception area.

I have decided my plan as follows

shots outside of groom/best man and bride arriving in limo with shots inside limo and outside with person giving away.

1. A few up the alter 50mm Max iso 800 AV 2.8 (Only problem cant get as close as I would like with lens as the vicar told me where I can stand (Any other suggestions welcome)

2. A few signing register using same lens or maybe 18-55 with flash (Any other suggestions welcome)

3. Was going to take some walking up the isle but now decided to go out side and wait for them to make an exit. Use 18-55 AV at f5 to 8 or maybe auto green mode

4. Group shots AV at F5 to 11 and auto maybe

5. Then we go to an nnew are wher I will be in my comfort zone taking portraits of bride/groom and bridemaids on there own weather permitting.

6. Hopefully I will survive and Ill need a whiskey at this stage


I am just off to work now but will post a couple of shots later.

Im off to work so will post some shots from last night later so you can all observe the ISO 800 and 1600 shots

Shoot RAW, Pete Develop with Silkypix
RAW conversion software handling of high ISO noise varies a LOT! Some software produces mush, others, like Silkypix can do an excellent job with a little careful tuning.

I shoot at ISO1600 regularly and get great results. Yes, more noise than at ISO400, but perfectly acceptable. I don't suppose you've ever used high speed film (like the Fuji 1600ASA stuff) and tried scanning it... that's noisy
On the *ist-D I've shot regularly at ISO3200 as well and used Capture One.

TBH you have to acquire a bit of skill at getting the noise control levels just right, but the images are perfectly usable. I have several shots sitting in albums printed at 10x10" that were at ISO1600

If you absolutely have to shoot JPG then software like NeatImage can effectively clean up the noise while keeping the detail - but you would be advised to download the appropriate profile.

For the wedding - shoot RAW

Matt

Here's a suggestion Pete.. (as Matt says)..

shoot RAW, even if you know absolutely nothing about processing it. The very worst outcome is that you can just convert straight to jpg later anyway using SilkyPix, which is all the camera does to produce the jpg in the first place, except that SP will probably do a better job.

With RAW, you'll have much much more latitude with the shots, which means a greater chance of rescuing any cockups with lighting, WB etc. and we'll just talk you through sorting them out afterwards if needs be. If there's only a few shots, we'll all take one each, and do it for you.

Now I've dropped all the forum members in it, err....... bye.

Cheers

Liam

Pete, if you're using flash why use 1600ISO?

for the shots where flash is acceptable I'd have thought you could drop the ISO right down.

Pete, if you haven't used SilkyPix on noise-ridden RAW files yet, be sure to read over "10.1.8 Creating Extremely Clear Image" of the SilkyPix documentation. It makes all the difference in the world.
I was working on a particularly bad image (noise wise) for an hour. Very frustrated, I found this chapter. Within five minutes I had a very usable photo.

I thought Lightroom, CS3, etc... had better default handling of noisy images. Although, I had trouble getting images as good as SilkyPix with those tools after following those guidelines.

First thanks for offering to help all !!!

With regards to the flash and 1600 ISO this was done by the camera. I simply set the ISO levels to shoot between ISO 100 and 1600 automatically and that was it. It seem seems the camera chose 1600 with the flash ????

Pete

As I mentioned on my big "Flash" thread - the camera tries hard to balance the ambient light with the flash so it doesn't look too "punched".
The camera doesn't always choose ISO1600 with the flash... only when it's really dark!

EDIT: Try it to see the difference. Try ISO1600 with flash and ISO100 with flash in a normal dimly lit room. You should see a big difference in the result - that's in terms of lighting quality (not IQ).

As I also mentioned, you can set the camera (in Av mode for example) to have the ISO on the front thumb wheel. Then you can override the camera's choice if needed and manually set ISO. You can switch back to Auto by pressing the green button.

Matt

Thanks Matt I was looking how to show the ISO on the top yesterday but couldnt find it in the menu I'll have a look again.

Matt I am just messing with silkypix and am buggered if I can get the noise/sharpness individual sliders to work the presets work but manually I'm at a loss

Pete

You're running the Free version of Silkypix, aren't you?
Fine level control is only available in the purchased one (I know... more outlay! Welcome to the world of photography )
Matt

* Custom Menu
* Page 4/6
* e-dial in Av mode - set to 4

Even if you have it set to "1", you can hold down the OK button to show the ISO (and holding the OK and the Green will switch to Auto ISO)

Also note that if you set the Auto range to be 100-800, you can still override that and push it up to ISO1600 manually.

And, don't forget that if you override the ISO and you go outside to take shots - press the Green button (or pull down the ISO to something sensible like 100 or 200)!!

HTH!
Matt

OK here are two decent ones I took yesterday If they all come out as good as these I would on cloud nine.

1. This one was with my 50mm at ISO 800 EV +1.3 F2.8 NO FLASH 1/15 sec on a tripod. Cropped in Silkypix and manuallu ajusted noise and sharpness levels and Grey point. PS MATT contols now working




2. This one took at ISO 1600 F 5 EV 0 31mm with kit lens 18-55mm WITH FLASH

DON'T use EV adjustment on the day Just shoot RAW and trust the camera. If you blow out in RAW (as you have done a touch) there's nothing you can do. If it's slightly underexposed, then Silkypix can push the exposure properly

Glad you've got the controls working ok!

Re: the flash image - you can see the hard shadow behind the guy in the red jumper - that's the flash "punching" through the darkness. Ambient light here looks very low indeed. If you lowered the ISO that "punch" effect would increase... or the background would be totally black

But it looks like you're onto a winner here

Matt

Another quick tip:

If you get another chance to speak to the bride before the ceremony try to get her to walk up the aisle AS SLOWLY AS POSSIBLE. This will make it much easier for you to get good shots, & hopefully will allow her to savour the moment. In my experience as soon as the music starts the bride's nerves will mean she's likely to whizz up the aisle. Better for you & her if she can slow down...

Jonathan

Matt can you explain what you are recommending with the flash again as dont quite understand lower the ISO or Higher it ????

Cheers Pete

I don't want to add anything to this that confuses the issue, so can I just mention that there is one very important accessory that will be invaluable - an assistant.

It's much much harder to do a wedding on your own, so I hope someone will go with you to help organise both the photographer and the subjects. You can't think of everything at once...

Good luck.