Fast lenses & dark places

[RedRebel]

Using a 5D with a 24-105 f4 IS gives a lot of possibilities to shoot inside dark churches and to do evening / night shots. However you have to use higher ISO settings (not a real problem), but the shutter times are always in the very slow range, lets say 1/8 ~ 1/20. Without people in the image it's no problem, but with people, you have a fair chance of motion blur.

I wonder if fast prime lenses such as 50 f1.4 (not to mention the new 50mm f1.2L) give you any benefit in real life. I wonder if these very large apertures don't cause too shalow depth of fields...

I just wonder how others experience this...

[Tim Gray]

Using this calculator http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html  for a Canon Rebel 50mm 1.4, 20 ft the dof is roughly 2 1/2 feet.

One solution to the blurry people is to take multiple shots at identical exposures making sure they are in fact moving, then you can layer and paint out the people, selectively using the part of the frame that has no people from one moment to the other.  Obviously best if using a tripod, but you can make it work without since the areas you are painting out are relatively small and it's simple enough to adjust the registraion manually.  (set blend mode to "difference" and move one layer over the other until the area you're interested in is as black as possible).

If your're the expiremental sort, you can use a REALLY REALLY long exposure and the moving people will just evaporate.

One challange (varies from place to place) is getting permission to use a tripod.

[AdrianW]

Remember that if you need to align nearly identical frames you can do that in some panorama stitching packages.

I use PTgui like that to align HDR stacks.

[TimothyHughes]

Using a 5D with a 24-105 f4 IS gives a lot of possibilities to shoot inside dark churches and to do evening / night shots. However you have to use higher ISO settings (not a real problem), but the shutter times are always in the very slow range, lets say 1/8 ~ 1/20. Without people in the image it's no problem, but with people, you have a fair chance of motion blur.

I wonder if fast prime lenses such as 50 f1.4 (not to mention the new 50mm f1.2L) give you any benefit in real life. I wonder if these very large apertures don't cause too shalow depth of fields...

I just wonder how others experience this...
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I own a 5D and the only lens I have worthy of mention is the 50mm f/1.4. Fast lenses give huge benefits: Brighter viewfinder image • Autofocus works in low light • More variable depth of field

A fast lens will only cause too shallow of a depth of field if you have it set to do so. There no no disadvantages to having fast lenses in your kit.

[Yakim Peled]

>> However you have to use higher ISO settings (not a real problem), but the shutter times are always in the very slow range, lets say 1/8 ~ 1/20.

I don't really see the problem. Use slower ISO and with Tv mode, set the suitable shutter times.