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Taking pics of dancers in a ballroom

Started Nov 13, 2017 | Questions thread
(unknown member) Forum Pro • Posts: 21,009
Re: Taking pics of dancers in a ballroom

Troilo wrote:

Hello all,

First time posting here, as I need a bit of advice from you.

I want to shoot pics of tango dancers in a milonga (that is a social dance), like this:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pforret/4160045989/

These are not stage dancers, but normal people moving not so fast; however, as you can see, the light is dim, and I don't want to use flash to disturb the dancers.

My kit is Canon M10 + EF 50 mm 1.8 II, which gives me nice background blurring and light for the pictures. However, using this combo with autofocus is hopelessly slow in the low light it has to operate. I've managed to get some good shots with manual focus + focus peaking (which works very nice in the M10). Although I've become used to the procedure, I get tired of having to adjust the lens focusing ring continuously, only half of my pictures are in focus, and even those are never 100% sharp.

My question is: will things improve if I buy a DSLR and use the viewfinder for autofocus? I am thinking of the 100D, the 750D, or maybe a more advanced mirrorless (M6 for example). Or do you think that the lenses I use (EF 50 mm 1.8 II, and soon EF 50 mm 1.4 USM and EF 85 mm 1.8) are the limiting factor?

Is tripod an option.

That should eliminate camera shake blur and leave motion blur only, if any.

Thanks for your help and best regards,

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