Fast lenses for night action shots

Hi everyone, this is my first post here!

I would like to buy a new lens to take pictures of people dancing at local dancing events, so I will have to shoot moving subjects in low-light conditions, from quite a close distance.

I currently have an X-E4 camera with an XF27mm 2.8 which forces me to use incredibly high ISO and slow shutter speed.

I'm not 100% sure if I need autofocus, but for sure it would be nice feature to have (but only if it's super fast, otherwise I wouldn't use it anyway for this specific use case).

These are the lenses I was looking at:

Fuji XF 56mm f/1.2 - looks perfect, but I'm not ready to spend 1000€ on a lens at the moment;

Fuji XF 50m f/2.0 - everybody praises its quality and I love Fuji prime lenses, but i'm not sure it would be enough of an improvement from my XF 27mm f/2.8 in terms of light I can get in;

Viltrox 56mm f/1.4 - this is the one i'm currently thinking about buying. It seems to me that for 1/3 of the price, it doesn't lose too much compared to the Fuji XF 56mm;

Samyang 50mm f/1.2 - no autofocus (which I still don't know if it's a big minus or not), also the image quality I saw from a few reviews in Youtube didn't really convince me, but I read great things about this on the forum.

What do you guys think?

Thank you!

PS: also, as I don't have a portrait lens, I would also like to use whatever I'm going to buy as a portrait lens too.

sifro wrote:

Hi everyone, this is my first post here!

I would like to buy a new lens to take pictures of people dancing at local dancing events, so I will have to shoot moving subjects in low-light conditions, from quite a close distance.

I currently have an X-E4 camera with an XF27mm 2.8 which forces me to use incredibly high ISO and slow shutter speed.

I'm not 100% sure if I need autofocus, but for sure it would be nice feature to have (but only if it's super fast, otherwise I wouldn't use it anyway for this specific use case).

These are the lenses I was looking at:

Fuji XF 56mm f/1.2 - looks perfect, but I'm not ready to spend 1000€ on a lens at the moment;

Fuji XF 50m f/2.0 - everybody praises its quality and I love Fuji prime lenses, but i'm not sure it would be enough of an improvement from my XF 27mm f/2.8 in terms of light I can get in;

Viltrox 56mm f/1.4 - this is the one i'm currently thinking about buying. It seems to me that for 1/3 of the price, it doesn't lose too much compared to the Fuji XF 56mm;

Samyang 50mm f/1.2 - no autofocus (which I still don't know if it's a big minus or not), also the image quality I saw from a few reviews in Youtube didn't really convince me, but I read great things about this on the forum.

What do you guys think?

Thank you!

PS: also, as I don't have a portrait lens, I would also like to use whatever I'm going to buy as a portrait lens too.

Please post an example of "people dancing at local dancing events", that could mean a lot of different things. Very fast lenses typically come with a very shallow working depth of field which could certainly cause problems if your subject(s) are at close range and/or aren't always on the same plane. The larger the aperture/longer the focal length, the shallower the DOF, f/2.8 may indeed be the best aperture for the job and you will indeed need a very high ISO to maintain a shutter speed high enough to freeze the action.

I would be inclined to think the 50-140 f/2.8 would be the lens for the job, but it ain't cheap. Of your lens choices above, any could work, but I think the Fuji 50 f/2 or Viltox 56 would be the best choices if they are the correct focal length.

You say you are using “incredibly high ISO” and slow shutter speed with your f/2.8 lens.  Depending on exactly what you mean, a faster lens is not going to help you all that much.

Welcome to the Fuji x forum!

I can recommend the manual KamLan 50mm F1.1 Mark II x-mount lens if you can find one.  At the moment, Adorama has some in stock for $250.

At F2 and above it is the equal of the Fuji 50mm F2 WR and of course you get F1.1. Bokeh is great.  Beware, it weighs 563 grams (about 1.24 lb) and uses 62mm filters.

Here is a small set of samples:
https://www.dpreview.com/galleries/1438043515/albums/kamlan-50mm-f1-1-ii

sifro wrote:

michaeladawson wrote:

You say you are using “incredibly high ISO” and slow shutter speed with your f/2.8 lens. Depending on exactly what you mean, a faster lens is not going to help you all that much.

Well, for example last time I found myself to choose between 1/160 and ISO 25600 or 1/125 and iso 10000 (or 1/60 and ISO 8000 but I won't even comment the results of this combo).
I would like to be able to shoot a bit faster than 1/160 and ISO not higher than 10000.

Sounds like those are VERY low light situations.

Yeah you absolutely need a fast lens and 2.8 won’t cut it for sure. Even f/2 is insufficient.
Out of the listed options, I would say the Viltrox may be the better choice.

How does IBIS help for fast moving people?

With those focal lengths I think you will have difficulties in shooting from close distances and frame the entirety of your subjects.

Probably a 23 f/1.4 or even the 16 f/1.4 are more adequate.

sifro wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

Please post an example of "people dancing at local dancing events", that could mean a lot of different things.

This for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ounrVadrqDw

Very fast lenses typically come with a very shallow working depth of field which could certainly cause problems if your subject(s) are at close range and/or aren't always on the same plane. The larger the aperture/longer the focal length, the shallower the DOF, f/2.8 may indeed be the best aperture for the job and you will indeed need a very high ISO to maintain a shutter speed high enough to freeze the action.

So yes, indeed I didn't take into account that at large apertures, the DOF might be too shallow to get a couple with both members in focus in one photo.

What do you think?

Thank you for your reply!

Are you shooting stills or video?  If stills, an example with your 27 would be helpful (with the exif data) so we can know what the actual light levels are like. What SS/ISOs are you shooting at now? Looks like a potentially challenging proposition, a slow SS definitely isn’t going to cut it.

Iso 12 000 and f 2,8 - the place is rather dark.

With f 1,4  you could use ISO 3000 ...  and DOF will be very very  shallow .

Perhaps you could use a flash ?  A problematic situation and a f1,2  lens will make it really problematic - just one persons face can be in focus and the rest will be out of focus ...

More light or really high ISO ...  a slightly slower speed might work in some images - buying a new lens is difficult - i think you could /should test some "fast" lens before buying expensive gear like 56f1,2

sifro wrote:

michaeladawson wrote:

You say you are using “incredibly high ISO” and slow shutter speed with your f/2.8 lens. Depending on exactly what you mean, a faster lens is not going to help you all that much.

Well, for example last time I found myself to choose between 1/160 and ISO 25600 or 1/125 and iso 10000 (or 1/60 and ISO 8000 but I won't even comment the results of this combo).
I would like to be able to shoot a bit faster than 1/160 and ISO not higher than 10000.

OK.  Well, with those exposure settings I think you can see what your options are.  If you go two stops faster with a lens you can get in the area of 1/320 @ ISO 12800.

I'm not sure what the usage of the photos are but I never want to go over 5,000 for any sort of quality work.  I'll go 6400 or 10,000 if I just have to have the shot.  I'm not sure you're really going to get good images of dancing in the 1/250 - 1/320 shutter range.

Have you considered the 35mm 1.4? It's 2 stops faster meaning you can go from iso12800 to 6400 while still doubling your shutter speed. It has great light transmission(higher t stop) and at 35mm the dof isnt so small that everything will be a blur line with the 56 1.2 or the samyang. You don't need to back up as much either to get the shot.

Used you get them between 350 and 400 all day long and they produce very pleasing images.

sifro wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

sifro wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

Please post an example of "people dancing at local dancing events", that could mean a lot of different things.

This for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ounrVadrqDw

Very fast lenses typically come with a very shallow working depth of field which could certainly cause problems if your subject(s) are at close range and/or aren't always on the same plane. The larger the aperture/longer the focal length, the shallower the DOF, f/2.8 may indeed be the best aperture for the job and you will indeed need a very high ISO to maintain a shutter speed high enough to freeze the action.

So yes, indeed I didn't take into account that at large apertures, the DOF might be too shallow to get a couple with both members in focus in one photo.

What do you think?

Thank you for your reply!

Are you shooting stills or video? If stills, an example with your 27 would be helpful (with the exif data) so we can know what the actual light levels are like. What SS/ISOs are you shooting at now? Looks like a potentially challenging proposition, a slow SS definitely isn’t going to cut it.

Well, you've got yourself some crap light there, that's for sure.

First, if it were me, I wouldn't even think about shooting jpegs, Raws will get you cleaner results and way more control over the mixed lighting color and dynamic range.

If you can get by with a wider angle lens, the 16 f/1.4 and especially the new 18 f/1.4 will get you significantly sharper results across the frame and a decent amount of DOF relative to most other lenses while minimizing motion blur when shot wide open. Otherwise, in these shots, it wouldn't be a bad thing if the everything but the subjects were out of focus so the Fuji 50 f/2 or Viltrox 56 f/1.4 (or 85 f/1.8) might be a good (and cheaper) way to go. I don't know if the Viltrox 56 is any good wide oven, but the 85 is OK. A 35 mm might be worth considering too (the new 33 f/1.4 will be unveiled tomorrow). Personally, except for the Fuji 18 f/1.4 and maybe the 16 f/1.4, I'd probably wouldn't go much, if any, beyond f/2 or so, most lenses don't perform all that well beyond that and don't deliver as much extra light as the aperture increase suggests. Sharper, cleaner images images from the get-go will require less processing/sharpening in post and produce better results overall.

sifro wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

Please post an example of "people dancing at local dancing events", that could mean a lot of different things.

This for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ounrVadrqDw

Given what I see in that video you are going to need high ISO.  Without flash you are going to need faster than 1/1000s.  Unless you don't mind blurry appendages but are hoping for a somewhat sharp face.

So if you get a 2 stop faster lens it's going to have to all go into faster shutter speeds.  The ISO is going to have to stay up there.

If you are very close to the action and still want to maintain depth of field, consider some wide angle choices. Fuji has a 16mm and and 18mm 1.4, but Samyang has a 12mm f2.

If its super important to get the images a lot cleaner, it may be worthwhile to get a FF camera with cheap nifty 50?

Otherwise, faster lenses. The new 33mm XF 1.4 being released tomorrow would seem to fit the bill for a faster/brighter, quicker focusing, lens.