EOS R6 Mark II - Which Priority To Shoot For The Holiday

[Cantrell]

All,

I have a Canon R6M2 with several lenses. We are having Thanksgiving at our house with the family. Which includes our grow children and their children and my 92 year old mother in law. All of the shots will be taken indoors. Normally I shoot in manual, but wondering if I should shoot in different priority. Just concerned that I will miss a shot because I am adjusting the ISO or shutter speed. 

I am thinking about using my 24-240mm lens. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thank you in advance. I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.

[stevet1]

Cantrell,

I think you could probably get away with shooting in Aperture Priority. Your lighting will more than likely be pretty dim, as compared to being outside on a sunny day, so your aperture will be pretty wide to pull in as much light as you can.

You'll probably be shooting in the 35 - 50mm range or so, so you won't be zooming very much

Your ambient light will probably vary from room to room, so you can probably use Auto ISO.

My camera seems to have a tendency to overexpose by about 1/3 of a stop when I use Aperture Priority, so you could test out about 1/3 of a stop of negative exposure compensation to see what you think.

Also, if you have time between now and then, test out using a Tungsten White Balance indoors. I find it yields pretty good results.

You could also test out using the Program Mode on your camera, and let the camera make the choices.

Steve Thomas

[shadowsports]

Greetings ,

You can use the rf24-240 indoors if you have good lighting.  If not, a flash might help. How many rows deep will your family portrait be?  Do you have other lens options available?

[jrhoffman75]

I agree that Program would be best for rapid response. That is what I will be using at our get-together.

Along the line of Rick's question, low light can generally mean wide apertures, but depending on what you are shooting (maybe the long dining table) you might have depth of field issues.

If possible tripod and flash for certain shots would be a help.

[Cantrell]

All,

Thank you for the recommendations. The Program sound like a great idea. All of the suggestions were wonderful and appreciated.

I think I need to get a 50mm lens.

Reese

[normadel]

A 50mm lens? Why? If you want a prime (single focal length) lens for shooting indoors, a 35 or 28 will capture more, rather than having to back yourself against walls to get your family in the picture.

Or, a much shorter-range zoom lens. 

[Cantrell]

normadel,

Thank you for your reply. What is "a much shorter-range zoom lens" in your opinion? I am asking for my educational purposes. 

Reese

[normadel]

Looking at the RF lens line, and "reasonable" cost, the RF 24-105 F4-7.1 IS STM  or the RF 28-70 f/2 IS STM are two choices.

Then there are the ultrawides, more expensive.

Here are all the Canon-brand RF zooms, at B&H Photo Video:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/products/Mirrorless-Camera-Lenses/ci/17912/N/4196380428?filters=fct_b...

[Cantrell]

normadel,

Thank you very much for the information on the shorter range zoom lenses.

Reese 

[stevet1]

Reese,

You said you had a 24-240 lens, so that is a shorter focal length lens than the 50mm you mentioned. You can take shots between 28 and 35mm say.

The trick is that the lowest aperture range (depending on your focal distance), is going to be between f/4 and f/6.3. Depending on your lighting situation, and whether you want to isolate one person, there may be times when you would want to widen your aperture to say, f/2.8 or so, and you wouldn't be able to do that with the lens you've got.

In that situation, I'd say your best bet would be to add more lighting, or boost your ISO.

Cameras these days handle higher ISO's than they used to. That's why I suggested using Auto ISO. I personallly struggle with trying to guess ISO in dimly lit situations.

One option is to go into Live View, tap on the ISO button, and using your arrow keys, scroll through the ISO settings until the screen appears bright enough for you.

Steve. Thomas