What is the best setting for a Nikon D80 Digital camera shooting photography in a dance club?

Question

I am attending a club tonight and I want to use my camera, what is the best way to assure picture quality with out a flash or capturing images with out having grain(noise) or blurriness.

Answer 1

First of all, you'll need a pretty fast lens, f/2.8 or faster. Those tend to be very expensive. Another alternative is to shoot in aperture priority, largest aperture and highest ISO (not auto), in your camera's case 3200 (Hi.3) with boost. Ensure your noise reduction is on (camera menu) and watch your shutter speed. In aperture priority, the aperture you chose will be indicated in your viewfinder along with the shutter speed. Club lighting can be very dark and what light you do have unpredictable so mind your shutter speed. Anything below 1/60, you need to support. It would help if you had a VR lens, like the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR, the kit lens for that camera if you bought the combo is the 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6. That lens is not fast enough for what you want to do with it, but with your ISO on boost (in A mode, wide open at f/3.5, and watch your focal length it will stop down your aperture as you zoom increases, to f/5.6) and your noise reduction the noise should not be too bad, but it will be noticeable and is the only way to maintain a fast enough shutter speed to avoid camera shake, but you'll still want to support the camera well during shooting. That'll be the best you could do without a flash, or a fast lens.

Answer 2

That's not an easy question to answer because there isn't a standard setting for such situations. Every situation is different, every building has different lights, etc. The best option is to learn how to use the light meter. I would suggest setting the camera to shutter priority (S) and then setting the shutter speed on a minimum of 125. Go to menu and adjust the ISO setting to 1000 or 1200. 800 at the very minimum. Now, the question is , are you going to use a flash and that depends on available lighting. If there is adequate light adjust the light meeter to center and proceed to shoot. If you're going to use a flash then everything is go.
Hope that helps.

Answer 3

Anything 1600 and up will give you some grain..more so the higher you go.

Your going to need an F1.4 or F1.8 lens. I have trouble w/ the 2.8 even sometimes.

Second of all, if you shoot ANYTHING under 1/50 (and that's pushing it) your photo will come out blurry.

Unless the lens has image stabilization on it, anything under 1/100 has the potential to be blurry.

With that, here are the settings I often use:

ISO 1600
F1.4 50mm prime lens (or a 2.8 zoom)
AI FOCUS or SERVIO
Shoot on Manual and use your metering!

these settings are only good for shooting a stage w/ some lighting, even if it is dim....if you just want to shoot friends dancing and stuff in pretty low low light, it is going to be really had to capture that. your better off w/ a P&S camera for those times! :)

Best of luck, happy shooting!

Answer 4

From the FotoShop Day & Night Exposure Guide:

Night clubs with dim lights:

ISO 3200
f2 @ 1/30 second
f2.8 @ 1/15 second

ISO 6400
f2 @ 1/60 second
f2.8 @ 1/30 second

Home interiors with average light (hardly applicable to a night club)

ISO 3200
f2 @ 1/250 second
f2.8 @ 1/125 second

ISO 6400
f2 @ 1/500 second
f2.8 @ 1/250 second

Turn on the Noise Reduction circuitry in your camera and give it a try.

IF you are using a lens with Image Stabilization you should be able to hand-hold the settings for Night Clubs.