Ran into a few problems last night while shooting a building fire

652 Views 12 Replies 6 Participants Last post by AdamantGuitarist, Jun 23, 2008

AdamantGuitarist

Discussion Starter · Jun 21, 2008

Yesterday morning around 12:00am, a church right up the street caught fire, and I'm annoyed at myself for forgetting to grab my tripod, not to mention increase the ISO. Needless to say, the quality of most of the photo's I was able to take were mediocre at best.

Once I realized my mistake and increased the ISO, I was still unable to utilize high enough shutter speeds to produce decent photo's.

I'm sure most of my problems can be chalked up as inexperience because I am a noob, but I'm thinking about buying a new fixed aperture zoom lens, rather than the EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM that I have now.

I know the fixed aperture lenses are much more expensive, but since I'm a firefighter, I expect to be in the same shooting situation many more times, so I know it would be a good investment, not to mention that it will most certainly come in handy in many other situations.

I have my eye on this lens, but since I don't have much experience buying lenses, I don't want to spend the money and find out this may be the wrong lens for what I need, so I would appreciate some advice on this decision.

One other issue I was presented with due to inexperience, was metering. I couldn't for the life of me figure out which metering mode to use to get the best results. For example, I wasn't sure if I should use spot metering and meter off of the fire itself, or use Evaluative, and meter the entire area.

Advice would be greatly appreciated.

Here's some of the photo's that I took:

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Anus

· #2 · Jun 21, 2008

well first of all yes, the increased aperture (f2.8 vs f3.5-5.6) will give you more light and the ability to use a faster shutter. As for that lens, it's probably one of the best, if not the best canon lens out there. i have the non IS version (I alreayd have the 100-400 IS and the 28-135Is so I figured I'd save a bit of $$$) and I absolutley love it. Just remember that the IS will not help with the motion of the fire or the trees as it can only compensate for the movement of the camera itself.

As for the metering, that's a good question. That scene has a huge dynamic range (meaning a lot of very dark and a lot of very light) so it's going to be impossible to get the perfect shot. you're going to have to choose from either blown out highlights in the fire or very under exposed areas in the shadows. Personally I think I'd spot meter off something like a bright spot in the smoke and get something in the middle. you'll still have some blown out spots in the center of the fire and some underexposed spots in the shadows but it shouldn't be too bad.

Forget about doing any HDR shots because the movement of people and the fire will screw that up. The one thing to be sure of is to shoot RAW and then you can probably gain a little bit back by using the recovery and fill light sliders in Lightroom or CS3 if you have it.

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AdamantGuitarist

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 22, 2008

Anus! said:
well first of all yes, the increased aperture (f2.8 vs f3.5-5.6) will give you more light and the ability to use a faster shutter. As for that lens, it's probably one of the best, if not the best canon lens out there. i have the non IS version (I alreayd have the 100-400 IS and the 28-135Is so I figured I'd save a bit of $$$) and I absolutley love it. Just remember that the IS will not help with the motion of the fire or the trees as it can only compensate for the movement of the camera itself.

As for the metering, that's a good question. That scene has a huge dynamic range (meaning a lot of very dark and a lot of very light) so it's going to be impossible to get the perfect shot. you're going to have to choose from either blown out highlights in the fire or very under exposed areas in the shadows. Personally I think I'd spot meter off something like a bright spot in the smoke and get something in the middle. you'll still have some blown out spots in the center of the fire and some underexposed spots in the shadows but it shouldn't be too bad.

Forget about doing any HDR shots because the movement of people and the fire will screw that up. The one thing to be sure of is to shoot RAW and then you can probably gain a little bit back by using the recovery and fill light sliders in Lightroom or CS3 if you have it.

Excellent. That's the lens I'm going to get then.

Ah, yes. I didn't even think to meter off a bright spot in the smoke. That would basically be the same principal as a sunset. You wouldn't want to meter off the sun, or the ground, but an area to the side of the sun. That makes sense.

Yeah, an HDR would be out of the question. I do however always shoot RAW, and I do have CS3, so I'll be sure and play around with the recovery and fill light.

I'm sure this wont be my last question, and as always I appreciate your advice. Thank you.

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tracer bullet

· #4 · Jun 22, 2008

On the lens linked, 2.8 is nice but I'm not seeing the need for IS, especially if you would be able to ever use a tripod. Looking at the EXIF info you were anywhere from 28-135mm, with a few around the center of that. I'd consider a 50mm 1.4, or a 50mm1.8. You'll get a length that you have been able to use, and the wide aperture wil even trump the giant, expensive drain pipe you're looking at. Not to mention at a tiny fraction of the cost.

Agreed the metering situation is impossible. You just have to choose the lesser of the evils, keep trying and see what works and then stick with it. Use the histogram if you haven't already, so you can tell which end of the range you're on.

Look into a monopod too, not as good as a tripod of course but a lot better than hand-held and also a lot smaller and lighter and easier to carry with you.

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AdamantGuitarist

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 22, 2008

tracer bullet said:
On the lens linked, 2.8 is nice but I'm not seeing the need for IS, especially if you would be able to ever use a tripod. Looking at the EXIF info you were anywhere from 28-135mm, with a few around the center of that. I'd consider a 50mm 1.4, or a 50mm1.8. You'll get a length that you have been able to use, and the wide aperture wil even trump the giant, expensive drain pipe you're looking at. Not to mention at a tiny fraction of the cost.

Agreed the metering situation is impossible. You just have to choose the lesser of the evils, keep trying and see what works and then stick with it. Use the histogram if you haven't already, so you can tell which end of the range you're on.

Look into a monopod too, not as good as a tripod of course but a lot better than hand-held and also a lot smaller and lighter and easier to carry with you.

Well, I may not always have my tripod with me, so I would much rather spend the extra money and get IS, so I'm not completely dependent on a tripod in low light.

As for the 50mm, having the capability of using f/1.4 or 1.8 would be fantastic, but it's not going to give me a very large focal length. The ability to get close-ups would be preferred. I'll also be using this lens for much more than just building fires, so I feel I'm going to need a lens with a greater focal length. I will eventually pick up that 50mm f/1.4 lens, though. That's on my list of things to get.

I need to remember to use the histogram. That's something I always forget about.

I'm also eventually going to pick up a monopod. That's something I've been thinking about for a little while now. Will definitely come in handy.

Thanks for the advice.

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Anus

· #6 · Jun 23, 2008

BH has a rebate on that lens right now.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/234444-USA/Canon_7042A002_70_200mm_f_2_8L_IS_USM.html

And I have this monopod.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5495-REG/Bogen_Manfrotto_682B_682B_Monopod_Black_.html

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AdamantGuitarist

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jun 23, 2008

Anus! said:
BH has a rebate on that lens right now.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/234444-USA/Canon_7042A002_70_200mm_f_2_8L_IS_USM.html

And I have this monopod.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5495-REG/Bogen_Manfrotto_682B_682B_Monopod_Black_.html

Nice! I'll have to hurry up and get the rest of the money together. Looks like it will be over July 19th. Thanks for the heads up.

That's a nice looking monopod. I'll probably have to pick up a new tripod as well because I don't think my cheap one will be able to support the camera with the new lens. It barely supports the camera as it is.

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tracer bullet

· #8 · Jun 23, 2008

I haven't tried this but may be interesting: http://forums.anandtech.com/message...ORDFRM=&STARTPAGE=1&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear especially if you can combine an ebay sale with a rebate somehow.

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Damian

· #9 · Jun 23, 2008

Everything has been said that needs to already - Just want to add a minor correction - It's a 'constant' aperture lens, not a 'fixed' aperture.

If you talk to photo-ey people, they'll look at you funny.

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SpyderMan03

· #10 · Jun 23, 2008

Wow, great pics. If you could get a copy of some of them to the fire department that worked the fire I'm sure they would appreciate it. As a fireman I can attest that most of the pictures we get are after the fact. We're usually a little busy to take pics while the fire is really putting on a good show.

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stilwrks

· #11 · Jun 23, 2008

I would check with the local news media, they may want to use the pics! They look good to me, save for a little out of focus in one!

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AdamantGuitarist

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jun 23, 2008

Damian said:
Everything has been said that needs to already - Just want to add a minor correction - It's a 'constant' aperture lens, not a 'fixed' aperture. If you talk to photo-ey people, they'll look at you funny.

I stand corrected

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AdamantGuitarist

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jun 23, 2008

SpyderMan03 said:
Wow, great pics. If you could get a copy of some of them to the fire department that worked the fire I'm sure they would appreciate it. As a fireman I can attest that most of the pictures we get are after the fact. We're usually a little busy to take pics while the fire is really putting on a good show.

I thought about it, but one of the guys in my company already handles that job on the fire scenes. I saw some of the photo's he took, and they were better than mine :happysad:

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