I have been doing a lot of shooting in dark nightclubs lately and have found Auto Focus almost impossible, has anyone found a solution to this problem, using a battery powered LED light, or by adding some type of extra focusing light to their Rig. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Shoot with the flash's AF assist beam. Mount a flash on your SLR, and turn the flash firing option off. The flash's AF beam should still fire which will help you lock focus better in those dark clubs
Thanks ...Is there any other kind of bright accessory light I could use, besides the AF beam, mine is not so bright and usually only good up to maybe 2 ft.
An interesting idea... How well can you focus manually when ambient light is too dark for AF? From my own experience, if it's too dark for AF, I can't see a thing in my viewfinder.
I've got a LitePanels Micro LED video light that I use on my video kit...you could look at some of the cheaper options from companies like Bescor that still run on either AA's or outboard batteries and mount to the hotshoe. Though walking around with an always-on LED mounted to my camera sounds a little awkward and intrusive.
shatterkiss wrote:
Though walking around with an always-on LED mounted to my camera sounds a little awkward and intrusive.
Walking around a club with a big hulking SLR and a blinding flash is a little awkward and intrusive as well, so I think a little LED couldn't hurt much.
Yes Thanks, but your right, thats a lot of equipment to haul around for just extra light! I thought maybe someone was using something new, I keep hearing about all these new High tech tiny bulbs that are so powerful, but I guess not in the photo way!
mdude85 wrote:
Walking around a club with a big hulking SLR and a blinding flash is a little awkward and intrusive as well, so I think a little LED couldn't hurt much.
You might be surprised these days...with the whole Cobrasnake/LastNightsParty/DrivenByBoredom era of club photography people are becoming more and more used to seeing an "official club photographer" with lots of gear around their neck. Somehow it's less about having a flash popping off in people's faces every few seconds and more seeing a bright white LED bouncing around the room being the only source of constant light. Dunno, maybe it's just me.
I still think the best solution is the AF assist light on a camera or flash...the one on my Nikon bodies is shockingly bright and the additional from my SB-800 works really well at close range (like < 10').
Do you think the AF beam from a camera will be read, even with all those spinning lights and strobes going off? Strangly enough with all that going on I can't seem to get always get a clear shot! ....Maybe it's me!
AF assist from hotshoe mounted flash works wonders (red light). The only issue I have with it is that at least for Canon, it doesn't work in AF servo, which makes is a lot less useful in a club full of jumping people.
