Help needed Quick

[stacy]

My daughter is in a dance recital tonight.I have a D200 and a 70-200 lense.The room is dark the stage is lit at practice i turned up the iso but still was getting slow shutter resulting in blury shots and dim lit. No flash is allowed to be used. Any help on set up would be great.Thanks Stacy

[korman]

I assume you daughter isn't part of the Bolshoi or the Viennese State Opera Ballet Company, so do what all the other parents will do: Mount the biggest flash you have, sit in the third row and flash away.

The no-flash requirement is pretty ridiculous for that kind of event, and if the organisers are only half serious, they would provide proper stage lighting. We're not talking about high art here, the event is for the children and the parents, who love to take home a pictures of the event. And even in the unlikely case that one of the kids misses a beat because of a flash, the history of dance won't be rewritten.

Korman

[Eero Makela]

If you have a fast lens like a 50mm f/1.8 that would help

Set to max ISO of either 1600 or 3200 on the D200 and set speed to 1/30 or so.
You can always lighten them up in photoshop later (to some degree)

[stacy]

Thanks 2.8 is fast as I have.ill do what I can

[korman]

I tried the high ISO approach, but the results weren't really satisfying, my camera generates quite a lot of noise at those ISO settings.

My rule of the thumb for my children's recitals is, if there isn't enough light to get an image at f/3.5, 1/50th and ISO 400, I use a flash. Most parents use even worse equipment than I do, so I won't be the the first. I've never been accosted or got complaints.

In most cases, I think that prohibition against flash photography comes from ignorance by the organisers. Interestingly enough, those events that have make their own pictures always use flash.

Korman

[Stercus Vultus]

Originally Posted by stacy

Thanks 2.8 is fast as I have.ill do what I can

It's probably all over by now (not enough preparation time, stacy; you left it too late) but, in addition to the useful comments above, I would shoot RAW, get good denoising software, and see what I could salvage in post production.

[KmH]

Plus the D200 has a menu option for high ISO noise reduction in camera. (For future reference)

[SyCo]

Another post event footnote. You can reduce noise in post production but you cant fix blur. If you can't get a correct exposure without flash, opt for under exposure at a faster shutter speed, rather than motion blur.

Would you like to share how it went, and how the pictures turned out? It's a common situation, I think many people could learn from your experience.