X-Pro 2 Setting question from a new user for an indoor event...

[Doberman]

Hello all,

I have my son's indoor Martial Arts belt ceremony tonight. I decided to use the new X-PRO2 with the 56 and 35 tonight. I do not have too much time to mess with settings and do testing.

What advice would you give as far as settings.

It will be fluorescent lights, semi dim, some movement, some steady shots. I will be shooting RAW+Across. What do you recommend for AF settings, back focus or not, what Auto ISO settings.

Thanks in advance.

[Larry Bolch]

Hello all,

I have my son's indoor Martial Arts belt ceremony tonight. I decided to use the new X-PRO2 with the 56 and 35 tonight. I do not have too much time to mess with settings and do testing.

What advice would you give as far as settings.

It will be fluorescent lights, semi dim, some movement, some steady shots. I will be shooting RAW+Across. What do you recommend for AF settings, back focus or not, what Auto ISO settings.

Thanks in advance.

 

Arrive early to get the best shooting location. It helps to have a clear view from the front row. An early arrival means you can do test shots, tuning the camera to the environment prior to the start of the ceremony. With the camera optimised ahead of time, you don't need to concentrate on camera operation, freeing you to concentrate on capturing the best content.

 

Realise that there is no one correct approach. Given two veteran shooters, the approaches might be very different but both will produce optimum content and image quality. I will give my suggestions and the reason behind them in some detail.

 

Once I was settled in the best seat in the house, even though shooting RAW, I would do a manual white balance. RAW allows you to do major corrections in software, but with a manual white balance, judging and tagging the images you want is easier if they all look equally good. In software, you need only do a bit of fine tuning, not major corrections. Auto white balance works best with daylight which has a continuous spectrum. Fluorescent lights are highly unpredictable due to their discontinuous spectrum. A custom white balance generally gets pretty close to ideal.

With zone focusing, you do not need the camera to lock onto the subject. Both lenses are at their best when stopped down a couple of stops, which also provides depth of field and creates the zone. As long as the subjects are in the zone, they will be sharp.

 

(This is a skill well worth mastering. Those who say that the camera is too slow focusing to capture their ballistic toddlers have not learned the technique. As long as the kid is in the zone, they will be sharp. No need to actually focus on the kid. Just move so you keep the kid within the zone.)

 

There is no reason to mutter "bokeh, bokeh" while shooting. If the background is fairly sharp, it gives a sense of location. Once you have the zone set, you will never have to wait for the lens to focus, giving near instant response when you press the shutter button. When you see where the presentation is taking place, focus on the presenter and then ignore further focusing unless the people move out of the zone.

 

Subject and camera movement are not much of a challenge in such a ceremony. A shutter speed of 1/125th should handle both adequately. Choose an ISO that will provide at least that speed. If it is really dim, I will take a noisy but sharp and detailed image over a smooth silky blur any time. Auto ISO is great as long as you have it set to deliver the shutter speed. If your hands are not steady enough, a monopod is an excellent solution. Tripods are not great in a crowd since people seem to be drawn in to trip over them.

 

If he is not the first in the program, you have a chance to do test shots on those who precede him. Check your results and fine-tune to improve them if necessary. The joy of digital shooting is that you get instant feedback. No matter what or where you are shooting, test shots are your best friend.

[kim]

For the settings, if it where me...

 

Avoid electronic shutter with the fluorescent lights.

Forget auto iso if you'll have constant light there will be little need for it as the lighting isn't changing much.

Pick a fairly high shutter speed if you want to avoid movement blur

Try using the full PDAF tracking with continuous AF [great o the X-PRO2]

Turn off Face detection

[DarnGoodPhotos]

1/125 may not be enough to avoid camera shake on the 56.