What should my 6D settings be for indoor low light shooting with a EF 24-105mm F/4L IS USM lens?

[chitch7]

When I take pics at indoor fashion show/bikini contests without flash the pics are a little fuzzy.  Generally speaking, I wait for the model/contestant to pose then I shoot.  I shoot in manual with a shutter of 100 to 125 and ISO in auto with a limit of 3200.  I''m thinking this camera/lens combo should be doing a better job but maybe I just have another setting thats wrong.  Any suggestions?

[jrhoffman75]

Fuzzy due to out of focus or fuzzy due to camera motion?

If IS is on with those shutter speeds shake shouldn't be an issue if subject isn't moving. 

Are you you placing focus point on model face?

can you post a typical photo?

[RobertTheFat]

---

@chitch7 wrote:

When I take pics at indoor fashion show/bikini contests without flash the pics are a little fuzzy.  Generally speaking, I wait for the model/contestant to pose then I shoot.  I shoot in manual with a shutter of 100 to 125 and ISO in auto with a limit of 3200.  I''m thinking this camera/lens combo should be doing a better job but maybe I just have another setting thats wrong.  Any suggestions?

---

Hold it as steady as you can, and up the shutter speed to 1/160. And of course, make sure that IS is turned on.

And if you're the official event photographer and don't have to jockey with the officials, consider using a tripod.

[ScottyP]

1/100 is awfully slow. You can handhold it with IS but the subject pausing is not the same as the subject holding perfectly still long enough for your shot.

Look at the focal length at which most of your shots are taken.  A nice f/2.8 lens like a 70-200 would be nice. If this is still not a big enough aperture, or if you do not want to spend that much, then maybe a prime lens lilke a $325.00 85mm f/1.8 or f/2 100mm would be great.

The primes could let you go from the apparently inadequate f/4 ISO 3200 1/100 to a more promising f/2, ISO 1600, 1/200th...... or f/2, ISO 3200, 1/400th. 

[diverhank]

The advices given here are sound advices.  I just want to add a few more

1. If possible use a faster lens.  Otherwise set Av to f/4 

2. I'd  use 1/200 or faster as someone said, pausing is not exactly motionless...you might have better luck shooting in high speed...one or more frames will likely be in good timing to freeze the action. Use tripod or at least a monopod if they allow it.

3. I would limit the ISO to 6400 or even 12800...the 6D can handle it with post noise clean up. I'd rather have a sharp picture with some noise than a blurry one (automatic toss away for me)

[Waddizzle]

I think your shutter speed could be too slow, too. 

I frequently shoot indoors without a flash.  I say your shutter speed "could be" because sometimes I will underexpose by a full stop just to get the faster shutter speed.  I raise the exposure in post by a full stop to correct the exposure.  If I am using a wide lens, without any close subjects, I may underexpose the shot even more, up to as much as 2 full stops, just to get the faster shutter speed.

The 6D can do very weill in low light, but noise reduction in post processing really makes the photos shine.  Good post software can remove nearly all high ISO noise, a setting which I have disabled in the camera.  I can get pretty good final results [which is a matter of opinion] shooting ISO 6400 without too much image degradation.

Of course, a faster lens would make your job easier.  I'm guessing that you're doing most of your shooting at the wider end of the zoom range of the lens, and so 85mm is probably too long.  There are many fast primes out there.  It would be great if you had an L Series lens, but it is not a must.  I have a "nifty fifty" EF 50mm f/1.8 STM and loved it for indoor shots. 

I'd recommend picking up a faster lens, but post processing software is less costly.  I think investing in good post software is a better move than investing in a new lens, if you do not have it already.  I use [a] stand-alone version [perpetual license] of [Adobe's] LR6, which is not agreeable with Creative Cloud trials, at all.  Use a different [Adobe] login if you do use a trial with a perpetual licensed product.

[EDIT]

[Waddizzle]

BTW, i would also recommend continous shooting mode to capture the models when they pause.  I would also suggest manually selecting the center AF point and using AI Servo mode. 

[ScottyP]

One thing about shooting at high ISO.  Don't make it worse by cropping. Frame as tightly as you possibly can when you take the shot. High ISO creates grainy artifacts people talk about as noise, but it also gives greatly reduced resolution/detail. Cropping the shot blows up the grain, making it bigger.  Cropping also reduces the resolution even further. 

[ebiggs1]

Your question is too ambiguous for an exact answer. Of course faster lenses, slower SS and high ISO are warranted.  But what else is new?   To give you any sort of a reasonable answer, I would have to see exactly what "indoor low light shooting" really is.

Is there spots or floods? Incandescent or florescent tubes?  Colored light?  Way too many unknowns for a reasonable answer.

A sample would help.

[kvbarkley]

ebiggs1:

You just want to see girls in bikinis!