I'm Terrible At Low Light Photography! (Any Help Appreciated)

[Bryan Carroll]

Lately I have had some things pop up where I need to shoot in low light situations (like tonight was a homecoming-type situation). And I have discovered I'm not the best at low light photography!

I usually use an a6500 (waiting on the a74 to get released at some point), which I already know the crop sensor does not help in low light situations. I also don't have any super fast lenses that are native to Sony (I have a Canon 50mm 1.8 w/ adapter (super slow with autofocus), Tamron 70-180 f2.8, Sony 16-35mm f4) which I know probably isn't helping the situation out either.

I usually don't like shooting over about 800 iso because on the crop sensor the noise starts to become much more noticeable. But with people moving around, and super low light I was trying to shoot around 6000 iso just to see what would happen. The problem is, the autofocus would not focus on anything, and would just hunt like crazy. When it was hunting, I could never actually snap a photo.

Is this just a problem with not having the right equipment, needing a full frame sensor with fast lenses, etc, or just being a terrible photographer in these type of situations.... Any thoughts?

 

[Ade]

Have you tried manual focusing at a set distance? I know a lot of people use this with street photography.
Not ideal with people moving quickly but it might help a bit.

 

[Bryan Carroll]

Have you tried manual focusing at a set distance? I know a lot of people use this with street photography.
Not ideal with people moving quickly but it might help a bit.

I did end up switching over to manual focus for some of it, which did seem to work better. But yes you have to work fast when people are moving around so it was good practice with manual focus!

 

[grahamgorilla]

Have you tried taking multiple shots (continuous shooting)? Hopefully one of the series of shots might have a good focus...

 

[Bryan Carroll]

Have you tried taking multiple shots (continuous shooting)? Hopefully one of the series of shots might have a good focus...

I haven't tried that but it is a good idea!

 

[tcoquelin]

I'd stick to the 50f1.8 and rely on IBIS or tripod or anything to get the longest exposure I can.
I also shoot RAW and only remove chroma part of noise in post. This leaves a much less distracting noise while saving most of the details.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

I am really bad at low light photography too! Last year I took some pictures at a friend's wedding with my a6000 and kit lens and half were crap because the rain forced us inside a dark dining hall (not dark really, but more mood lighting than picture lighting haha).
If I had to do it all over again, I would lower the shutter speed to the lowest speed I can get clear pics handheld (which could be 1/100 or 1/150 if you are a bit shaky like me), aperture at the widest value possible, and leave the ISO in automatic (but set the limit so you know the ISO will be between 1000 and 4000 for example). However, there is a limit to some gear, and I wish I had rented a faster lens for that event, a Sony 50mm f1.8 would have been great, a Sigma 56mm f1.4 would have been even better. Live and learn!

 

[Tim Mayo]

It depends on what you are wanting to shoot but the Sigma trio of F1.4 lenses (16mm, 30mm, 56mm) are very good for the price.

I stumbled across this video yesterday that I really enjoyed, although he's shooting with the a7III + 85mm F1.8