Low light settings

BIGEYE

BIGEYE

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Name
Jim
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Yesterday I was photographing aircraft landing in pretty poor weather. My gear is Canon 500D with EF 70-200 L USM lens, and set to sport mode. The results were OK but more grainy than I would have liked, probably due to the dull light conditions.
I am looking to go back again today and conditions sre very similar. I would like to venture away from the basic (auto) settings and into the creative zone in an attempt to improve my shots.
Being a newbie, can anyone suggest settings that would be a good starting point in my attempt to get better results, bearing in mind I am photographing aircraft landing and still travelling at a good speed along runway.

TIA
 
A mate of mine uses sport mode on his Canon and all it does is adust ISO and aperture to get 1/1000 shutter speed. This can result in too high an ISO setting giving excess noise. Only shot aircraft once at a Silverstone briefly as I was there for the BTCC, I would have said 1/320 would be a good starting point in Tv mode for Canon and adjust ISO as needed.
 
I don't know what "sport" mode does.
Can you select Auto ISO. Put the camera on Shutter Priority and try 1/250. You should be able to freeze movement if you pan well. If not you'll need to bump the shutter speed up.
Perhaps yesterday with the poor light the sport mode was selecting a very high ISO and producing noise.
Use spot metering and meter the aircraft.
Poor light is very limiting - esp. for action shots.
 
Some days, I think you just have to accept the limitations of the conditions you're working in. Personally, I think a higher ISO is acceptable in an action shot - but I think arclight's suggested 1/250 is a good setting. You should be able to get sharp and reasonably grain-free shots of all but the fastest aircraft with that.

I frequently take pictures of ice hockey matches, which typically have to combine very fast action in very dim light with a telephoto lens, making it an absolute nightmare sometimes!
 
I'd probably go for aperture priority to be honest, but that's just the way I like to shoot. Do you have the f/2.8 or f/4 version? You're getting very grainy shots because there's not much light, so you can either decrease the shutter speed, or open up thyer aperture.

If you're going to be doing lots of panning, you might want to go for Tv, but what i'd do is this;

Set the aperture to something reasonably large, (something like f/4, anything bigger and I'd guess you'll be limiting DOF, but can you experiement). As you half-press the shutter, keep an eye on what ISO and shutter speed are being selected. Anything above about ISO 400 or 800 on a 500D will probably be starting to look grainy, but you can check this on your previous attempts.

If you shutter speeds are too long, open up the aperture some more. If they're too short and are making the plane look stationary, close it down a little, but keep an eye on the ISO. If your aperture is as wide as it goes, and your shots are still grainy, then you're just going to have to accept it, and learn about noise reduction, or using it to artistic effect.

This is what I would do, but everyone's different, so something else might work for you.

Chris
 
Thanks guys, got there today and fired off a few shots. Weather very dull again, set camera up for Tv Shutter Priority and set shutter speed to 1/250. Camera was at ISO 100 and an apeture of f4, I am well chuffed with the results and will post in transport forum later.
 
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