Noisy pictures

[j3w3ll3r]

Hi

We took 300 pictures at my in-laws 40th Anniversary Party, as the camera was just passed about between friends I left it in Auto

It was in a small school hall with Disco lights, white walls and ceiling

Canon 60d
15-85mm
430EX ii flash

The camera set the ISO mainly to 1600 (i know this is high but thought it should have produced reasonable results) but the pictures are incredibly noisy, im working through them in PE9 but just wondered what sort of settings I should have used

Having forked out decent money for the lens im wondering if the 17-55mm is worth the extra as its that bit faster

Many thamks

Stephen

 

[scottthehat]

best way when using flash is to set the iso manualy,

 

[Flash In The Pan]

High iso=noise

You shouldn't use auto iso with flash, next time set it to 400 or so at most.

 

[TCR4x4]

As you had a flash gun, I would have had the ISO at a max of 400.

No point getting a faster lens and using flash really. Do one or the other unless you really need shallow DOF.

 

[j3w3ll3r]

what sort of ISO should I have used I know its hard as you were not there

Edit..my slow responce, thanks, im gutted really, saving them slowly though

 

[scottthehat]

depends on the size of the room, but i always start at iso 200 apature say f4 and shutter speed rangr from 160/sec downwards depending on if its a disco and that.
and bounce of the ceiling or walls, its trial and error, but if used properly it will always beat high iso.

 

[Russ77]

I shot a party in a church hall with high "pointy" ceiling so bouncing off that wasn't an option so I used a Gary Fong Lightshere to diffuse the flash.

Had to up the flash exposure value a bit but managed to shoot at ISO400, mainly in AV mode with the aperture wide open on my 15-85mm (unless I took group shots of course )

 

[HoppyUK]

I'm guessing the noise is mainly from under exposure. You get far more noise that way than just by using high ISO. Unfortunately, the two often go hand in glove...

If you're using flash, unless you can bounce it and fill the room decently, there are inevitably lots of dark background areas that will be awash with noise.

 

[Russ77]

If all else fails..... Black & White conversions can sometimes rescue an otherwise unusable shot

 

[j3w3ll3r]

If all else fails..... Black & White conversions can sometimes rescue an otherwise unusable shot

Yup, seem to have a lot of B&W arty style pics

 

[Russ77]

Yup, seem to have a lot of B&W arty style pics

Still better than no picture at all