Shutter Speed in Receptions?

[Chris Harding]

Hi Guys

Just wondering who uses a lower shutter than 1/50 or 1/60 inside reception venues. We are on the PAL side of the world so our next step down is 1/25 and as long as you don't try to do fast pans there is virtually not motion blur and with the lower shutter speed low light is far less of an issue.

I'm awfully lazy so I leave my camera in 50P mode which has a default shutter of 1/50 but if I was not lazy I could gain a bit of light by switching the camera to 25P which defaults the shutter to 1/25 instead of having to sometimes add a bit of fill light when I shouldn't have to!

What do you usually shoot receptions in? Nothing really moves very fast and there is no real reason to stay in 50P as you are unlikely to do a slomo of the cake cutting!!

Chris

[Adrian Tan]

Hey Chris, I'm iffy about shooting dancing at the reception lower than 1/50, because I do notice the motion blur on my monitor afterwards, and it hurts my eyes.

But I'm quite prepared to shoot stationary objects at 1/30 if I have to. I'd rather go to 1/30 than crank ISO up, if it's a choice between the two.

[Noa Put]

I used to shoot at 25p and 1/25th shutter on my canon xh-a1 all the time at dark receptions, not because I liked the added motion blur but because I had no other choice as the camera was a bad lowlight performer and very noisy even at 6db gain, now I never shoot with 1/25th shutter but I would if I have to, if I really need to squeeze some extra light in that would be my last resort, it does work well as long as there is not too much motion.
Edit: It happens that I change the shutter by accident to 1/25 at the reception and only notice after a few shots, in post I also can take out these shots which have a lower shutter so for me it is noticeable.

[Chris Harding]

Thanks Guys

I was just checking if I was up to speed with what people are doing. My laziness has kept me on the right track. Never have used 1/25th as yet on anything because I was worried about motion. Yeah on my old Panny's with little 1/4" chips I was tempted at one stage but I almost exclusively use the Sony B-Cam with the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 so I seldom need any lighting and can keep the ISO within decent limits. I'm shooting 1080 50P outside and just leave the cameras set to that so I can happily carry on that way. I guess a bit of 25P at a slow shutter might work if you needed a shot of candles but with a fast enough lens it usually isn't necessary.

The input is appreciated

Chris

[Dave Partington]

For really dark situations for things like speeches we've shot at 1/25 a number of times. There's only so much ISO you can through at things and then you need to slow the shutter. For speeches it doesn't matter since no one is moving, but for first dance we'd always kick it back up to 1/50.

[Peter Rush]

I've done a couple of ceremonies in a particular castle that's so dark it's like filming in a cave - for that I went down to 25/s but only for the ceremony.

[Dave Partington]

Originally Posted by Peter Rush

I've done a couple of ceremonies in a particular castle that's so dark it's like filming in a cave - for that I went down to 25/s but only for the ceremony.

Aye-up lad, we're getting electricity up north next week so that won't be needed any more ;)

[Peter Rush]

You might know of it Dave - Allerton Castle - very dark in the main hall! - filmed there 3 times and each time down to 1/25 for the ceremony

[Danny O'Neill]

No problem here going down to 1/25 (or annoyingly 1/30 for DSLRs which don't seem to go that low).

As a techie Im normally hot on these things but Im more than happy with the results.

[Dave Partington]

Originally Posted by Peter Rush

You might know of it Dave - Allerton Castle - very dark in the main hall! - filmed there 3 times and each time down to 1/25 for the ceremony

Yup. 15 mins down the road from me.

[Chris Harding]

I'm always dreading the day I walk into an inside ceremony venue and find it in complete darkness and only lit by a row of tea candles cos the bride thought it would be romantic ! It has never happened but it could.

I did do a speeches session where the groom wanted no lighting at all and my tiny Panny 3 x 1/4" chip cameras in those days were not too hot in total darkness so it might happen again!

Our speeches are all done from a lectern so I would get away with 1/25th quite easily as the speakers seldom move but knowing my luck it that light I would get a motivational or totally drunk best man who decides to pace up and down the dance floor like a tele-evangelist!

Chris

[Clive McLaughlin]

I don't shoot lower shutter speed. I also don't shoot wide open. I'm an A7s owner! :-)

[Noa Put]

Don't tell us! Show something :)