Low Light Photography

[Lea]

Hi everyone, I have a question for the group perhaps you can give me some answers. I shot a concert, actually the first truly low light concert I have done with my D300 since I got it. This is the primary reason I purchased this camera, for my entertainment coverage and low light. For the shoot I used my Nikor 70-200 2.8 VR lens for the speed and the lack of flash that was needed.
I found however that the photos were not steller. I tried shooting everwhere from ISO 800 to 3200 and the photos were not well focused, somewhat off color, and some movement was still blurred even tho they weren't quick movements. I ended up shooting most the concert with my D70 at ISO 800 and got good results I have been used to, as usual. I'm wondering if perhaps there is some setting that I am missing to acquire the steller results I am needing??? Am I shooting something wrong, Or does there need to be a check done on my camera. Right now I'm a bit miffed.. I'm missing something I'm hoping and don't like the results I got.

Has anyone had to have any adjustments to their D300 after purchase?

[Ken Bramble]

Like you Lea I am experiencing some problems with my D300 that I didn't have with my D80. So I will follow this discussion and hope that we get some ideas. Specifically what were the things you didn't like about the concert shots you took with your D300? Color control is one of my concerns and I have been experimenting with WB as the source. I wonder if this was one of your problems. I have found with the appropriate setting, focus is one of the strengths of the D300, even in low light. ISO 800 is about as high as I will go, even though Nikon claims that higher levels with NR minimizing noise, produces very acceptable shots.

[Lea]

I've shot many low light concerts/award shows etc. with my D70, both in auto and manual settings with my 70-200mm 2.8 VR lens with great results in the past. Crisp clear images with true color and no movement blur. Very little tweaking necessary afterwards.
Shooting the D300 in the exact same fashion with experimenting with ISO 800 shooting up to 3200 gave me subtle blur, non crisp images. I played a bit with the white balance but not much since I hadn't experimented much with WB to date. Some of the distance shots came out fine but when I was closer to the stage, about 100ft is when the blur occurred and coloring difference fell into place.

[Lori Pond]

I have also experienced this issue while using my 18-200mm VR lens in low light situations. I was thinking it was the lens until I read your posts. I did find that the lower the ISO I shot with (500 ISO worked the best) the better the photos. It would be nice to be able to use higher ISOs, though!

[George Mann]

Lea it is hard to know what the problem is without seeing all your camera settings (and you have probably solved the problem yourself by now).

For myself I switch to Single-Area AF in any difficult focusing situation (or even manual), and I also use manual exposure and bracket. I know this is an old fashioned approach but it tends to give me better results. As far as the color is concerned, I pray that I get it right and shoot in RAW only, so I can correct my mistakes later.



George

[Steve Walker]

Check out David Ziser's post at http://digitalprotalk.blogspot.com/2008/06/nikon-d3-in-low-light-wo...