FZ 1000 in nightclub w/o flash - suggestions?

If your subject is not moving you might try the hand held night mode. The camera takes a very quick burst of 3 or 4 shots then stacks them internally. This mode obviously wont work if there is a lot of movement of your subject, but it does work well in poor light.

TedNYC said:

Hi

My FZ1000 has been great for sports (rugby) photography, all of which is outdoors in good light. I've learned not to presume I can outthink the years of R&D Panasonic has invested in this camera's software. I let the software do the job it was designed to do. Scene Guide Mode for Clear Sports shot has produced nice frames with plenty of raw material for lightroom to chew on.

I'll be shooting a friend's jazz performance in a nightclub/restaurant, substantially different light conditions than a midsummer afternoon. I can't use the flash. Yes I will use RAW to grab as much info as I can get. Beyond that, any suggestions? Or just iA and let it do its job?

thanks!

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-- 4k video works well for lit stage performances.

Put it in Silent Mode. Use P for video with auto ISO and try a few short clips. Unless there is really fast movement you should be able to just use these settings. I think you can also set your maximum ISO. Be sure to set exposure comp in the middle, and white balance to auto.I have shot my granddaughters dance recitals in darkened auditoriums several times and you can get some really good video with nice frames to extract.

Of course you can always do regular still shots in between video clips also.

-- Mark --
Flickr page https://www.flickr.com/photos/70985317@N02/sets/with/72157649372884488

I use P mode with auto iso unless I need higher shutter speeds then I use shutter priority with auto iso .

Labe said:

I use P mode with auto iso unless I need higher shutter speeds then I use shutter priority with auto iso .

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Nice captures — be far more informative if images had the EXIF Data.

Cheers,
Jon

Jon_T said:

Labe said:

I use P mode with auto iso unless I need higher shutter speeds then I use shutter priority with auto iso .

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Nice captures — be far more informative if images had the EXIF Data.

Cheers,
Jon

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yes sorry about that, I just grabbed these quick from my Facebook page as I don’t have the full res images to hand .

Ill post them tomorrow when I’m at my pc .

Paul

TedNYC said:

.. I'll be shooting a friend's jazz performance in a nightclub/restaurant, substantially different light conditions than a midsummer afternoon. I can't use the flash. Yes I will use RAW to grab as much info as I can get. Beyond that, any suggestions? Or just iA and let it do its job? ...

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All dependent upon the lighting as it can very greatly at different venues.

If your friend will be doing a practice session would recommend going to the practice and do some test shots.

If not doing practice session then go to the nightclub/restaurant take some test shots; may have to talk with the nightclub/restaurant's manager for permission.

For myself for shooting stills in low light/ high ISO lighting conditions I prefer the much better noise reduction and greater recovery of highlights/ shadows that RAW provides as you're working with the sensor's full recorded image data.

You can shot JPG/ RAW to have both.

Cheers,
Jon

I'd suggest A-mode with the widest aperture setting, which will keep the camera at f/2.8 at the wide end and f/4 at full telephoto. I'd also use Auto ISO with ISO Max set to 3200. Expect plenty of blurred photos and motion blur. To minimize camera anoyance, ensure that the focus assist lamp is turned off.

4K Photo Mode might be worth a try as well.

I'd suggest doing some testing ahead of time, maybe visit a similar venue for a test run.

kkardster said:

I'd suggest A-mode with the widest aperture setting, which will keep the camera at f/2.8 at the wide end and f/4 at full telephoto. I'd also use Auto ISO with ISO Max set to 3200. Expect plenty of blurred photos and motion blur. To minimize camera anoyance, ensure that the focus assist lamp is turned off.

4K Photo Mode might be worth a try as well.

I'd suggest doing some testing ahead of time, maybe visit a similar venue for a test run.

Click to expand...

Just one problem with this approach. Panasonic logic always pick very slow shutter speeds which is why I suggested shutter priority as they select widest aperture first then up the iso .

I use p mode often as if the shutter speed selected is too slow you can use shift to .increase shutter speed, this forces the aperture wide open first then the camera lifts iso to keep the exposure balance.

Labe said:

kkardster said:

I'd suggest A-mode with the widest aperture setting, which will keep the camera at f/2.8 at the wide end and f/4 at full telephoto. I'd also use Auto ISO with ISO Max set to 3200. Expect plenty of blurred photos and motion blur. To minimize camera anoyance, ensure that the focus assist lamp is turned off.

4K Photo Mode might be worth a try as well.

I'd suggest doing some testing ahead of time, maybe visit a similar venue for a test run.

Click to expand...

Just one problem with this approach. Panasonic logic always pick very slow shutter speeds which is why I suggested shutter priority as they select widest aperture first then up the iso .

I use p mode often as if the shutter speed selected is too slow you can use shift to .increase shutter speed, this forces the aperture wide open first then the camera lifts iso to keep the exposure balance.

Click to expand...

I guess that could be, but with my FZ200 set for ISO Max of 1600 I never really notice because it's usually pegged to f/2.8 and ISO 1600, so shutter speed is the only real variable.

Maybe the FZ1000 offers more leeway, even though it'll stop down as soon as you touch the zoom.

kkardster said:

Labe said:

kkardster said:

I'd suggest A-mode with the widest aperture setting, which will keep the camera at f/2.8 at the wide end and f/4 at full telephoto. I'd also use Auto ISO with ISO Max set to 3200. Expect plenty of blurred photos and motion blur. To minimize camera anoyance, ensure that the focus assist lamp is turned off.

4K Photo Mode might be worth a try as well.

I'd suggest doing some testing ahead of time, maybe visit a similar venue for a test run.

Click to expand...

Just one problem with this approach. Panasonic logic always pick very slow shutter speeds which is why I suggested shutter priority as they select widest aperture first then up the iso .

I use p mode often as if the shutter speed selected is too slow you can use shift to .increase shutter speed, this forces the aperture wide open first then the camera lifts iso to keep the exposure balance.

Click to expand...

I guess that could be, but with my FZ200 set for ISO Max of 1600 I never really notice because it's usually pegged to f/2.8 and ISO 1600, so shutter speed is the only real variable.

Maybe the FZ1000 offers more leeway, even though it'll stop down as soon as you touch the zoom.

Click to expand...

The fz1000 does have more leeway as that larger sensor can be pushed to iso6400 at a push with iso 3200 more than usable.

These images are just what I had to hand , 1st one iso 6400. The 2nd iso 3200

Labe said:

kkardster said:

I'd suggest A-mode with the widest aperture setting, which will keep the camera at f/2.8 at the wide end and f/4 at full telephoto. I'd also use Auto ISO with ISO Max set to 3200. Expect plenty of blurred photos and motion blur. To minimize camera anoyance, ensure that the focus assist lamp is turned off.

4K Photo Mode might be worth a try as well.

I'd suggest doing some testing ahead of time, maybe visit a similar venue for a test run.

Click to expand...

Just one problem with this approach. Panasonic logic always pick very slow shutter speeds which is why I suggested shutter priority as they select widest aperture first then up the iso . ...

Click to expand...

Agree!

Member said:

.. I use p mode often as if the shutter speed selected is too slow you can use shift to .increase shutter speed, this forces the aperture wide open first then the camera lifts iso to keep the exposure balance. ...

Click to expand...

With the FZ150 and FZ200 in P mode used the "MIN. SHTR SPEED" to have a Shutter Priority P mode to have all the flexibility of P mode (rather than a fixed shutter speed) with a minimum shutter you wanted to prevent subject movement blurring—quite useful for indoors flash shooting.

Miss this feature with the FZ1000 and ZS100.

One of several reasons I upgraded to the RX10 IV.

Cheers,
Jon

kkardster said:

Labe said:

kkardster said:

I'd suggest A-mode with the widest aperture setting, which will keep the camera at f/2.8 at the wide end and f/4 at full telephoto. I'd also use Auto ISO with ISO Max set to 3200. Expect plenty of blurred photos and motion blur. To minimize camera anoyance, ensure that the focus assist lamp is turned off.

4K Photo Mode might be worth a try as well.

I'd suggest doing some testing ahead of time, maybe visit a similar venue for a test run.

Click to expand...

Just one problem with this approach. Panasonic logic always pick very slow shutter speeds which is why I suggested shutter priority as they select widest aperture first then up the iso .

I use p mode often as if the shutter speed selected is too slow you can use shift to .increase shutter speed, this forces the aperture wide open first then the camera lifts iso to keep the exposure balance.

Click to expand...

I guess that could be, but with my FZ200 set for ISO Max of 1600 I never really notice because it's usually pegged to f/2.8 and ISO 1600, so shutter speed is the only real variable. ...

Click to expand...

True and the Pany's metering priority on using a lower ISO setting even when a higher ISO could been used to have a faster shutter speed—especially at longer focal lengths.

For indoor flash shooting and and shooting various indoor events I have my "C1" setup to use the P mode and the "Min. Shtr Speed" set to 1/125th to have a Shutter Priority Program mode to have all the Program mode's features.

IMHO the advice of using A mode and setting to lens' max aperture mainly for 1/2.3" sensor cameras (though possibly with the ZS200) with lens with small max apertures; not really applicable to the FZ200/ FZ300 or the FZ1000/ FZ2500.

For general shooting with FZ200 in good lighting I use A mode with aperture f/4, the noted 'sweet' for the FZ200 lens. When using the L-55 TC use A mode with aperture f/5.6.

kkardster said:

... Maybe the FZ1000 offers more leeway, even though it'll stop down as soon as you touch the zoom....

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Of course, but obviously not as much as the small ZS/TZ f/3.3 - 6.4, or the
ZS200 f/3.3 - 6.4 max apertures.

With 18MP 1/2.3" sensor diffraction begins around f/3.5, whereas 20MP 1"-Type sensor diffraction begins around f/4.5.

Hence kudos to Sony for limiting its RX100 VI max tele to the f/4.5 200mm EFL.

Cheers,
Jon

I don't have the FZ but in general I'd say definitely use raw as white balance may also be tricky, and consider spot metering from the brightest posts of the scene (eg white shirts... or hair!) as a starting point to get exposure right and avoid blowing highlights.

Other than that, better that an image is sharp and grainy rather than smooth and blurred, so I'd choose a shutter speed you don't want to go below and then allow the ISO to go up even if it's higher than you'd ideally like. The results will probably be more usable than you think!