[shadowbecomeswhite]

Ok ... so earlier I was having trouble with my Pentax AF540FGZ running out of battery charge way too quickly. I discovered that it was flashing twice when my K10D had the red eye reduction on. The moment I turned it off, it flashes once and I have been having fun ever since. I shoot with ISO 250 and flash exposure = -0.3/-0.7 and I get good results. I shoot with the K10D & Sigma 17-70 Wide Angle in Av mode. AF is on.

Problem is that at times when there is not enough light falling on people's faces and the bar is right behind them (it emits light); the lens has trouble focusing. At times, I sway the camera left-or-right till focusing is sharp. Most times, camera says yes but then photos turn out like this: Flickr Photo Download: _IGP2180 (shortening my flickr photo purposely, NO ITS NOT SPAM, for God's sake!). What can I do now ?
Just shoot at F/7.1 and increase flash power ???

I believe some people shoot in Manual mode but I find that hard to focus with it as my eyes are not the sharpest. Moreover, people are at various distances and sometimes clubs have 3-4 rooms with different wall paint and lighting.

This same party was shot by another guy and his photos are here: Prive Entertainment Presents Soft Candy, Hard Liquor Photos Photo Gallery Pictures

I think he was using a Nikon with a 20mm street portraiture kind of lens and a dotline flash: Dot Line DL-DV60 Video & DSLR LED Light DL-DV60 - B&H Photo

I guess that's why most of his photos look super wide angle but the ambient light seems to be washed out, which I have in mine.

Kindly advise.

-sbw

[icywarm]

I shoot some stuff at my sisters wedding this weekend... I just used a super wide ap to make sure everything is in focus....




you just need to make sure of what is in the back ground to eliminated distractions in the image... this dance floor was BLACK... so focus was impossible!!!



I find a continue light source is annoying and people may not like the bright light in their face...

[shadowbecomeswhite]

Super wide ap ? pardon me, you mean F/2.8 ? Isn't that still shallow DOF.

I've used F/2.8 but the focusing problem is still there.

On the below photos did you use on-camera flash ? Coz there isn't any ambient light at all.

[icywarm]

the first one was at f/8.... yes... I used my 540... there was very little light in the room you can actually still see it on the floor... the DJ had very bad lighting... but if you dial back the flash you can light your subject and make sure the 'temperature' to the room is still in-tack..

[icywarm]

here was the room lighting... sigh... tough to work with...

[hcc]

I would suggest to use MF with a fast prime lens, and to set manually the focal distance.

Try to guess the distance of the subject, set the focal distance on the lens and shoot.

If the subject is moving and you do not need a flash (eg because you have a fast prime), you could try Hi continuous shooting. You may get a couple of good shots out of a sequence.

I had to take some shots of a water fountain in a relatively dark room a few months ago. I could not use the flash and AF was not reliable because the water was jumping and splashing all over the place. At the end, I took my Nokton 58mm f1.4 and set the focal distance manually (MF). I got some decent results and was happy with the outcome.

Hope that the comment will help.

[icywarm]

I would suggest to use MF with a fast prime lens, and to set manually the focal distance.

Try to guess the distance of the subject, set the focal distance on the lens and shoot.

If the subject is moving and you do not need a flash (eg because you have a fast prime), you could try Hi continuous shooting. You may get a couple of good shots out of a sequence.

But that would be a `shot in the dark`

I could not resist!!!! muhmuh

[lowspark86]

You could try using hyperfocal distance. Then you really only need to be paying attention to how close you stand. Works better with shorter focal lengths for a night club most likely. I see you're using a zoom, but you can pick a focal length and stick with it to try it out.

You've got the premise of that already though (shooting more stopped down with higher flash power).

I have to admit I don't do so well with those kind of situations either so I'll keep an eye on the thread for ideas.

Does the lens still have trouble locking focus even with the focus assist lamp on the 540? I don't think I've ever shot in the dark with an onboard flash when the subject was brightly backlit, so I'm actually curious!

[shadowbecomeswhite]

You've asked an interesting question lowspark86.

I think either or both of these things are happening:

(a) The AF assist light does not come on at times, when ambient night club lighting comes into the frame and goes away. I should switch to selective focusing & try hard to focus on a dark face but then its wrong when there are 5 people standing in front in an arc. Selective focusing also gives problems in the dark.

I should research of a way to force the AF assist to ALWAYS ON in a nightclub.

(b) Even when the AF assist light helps to focus, I think (need to make a note of all situations) it lies to me at times. I have a few photos where the AF is ON and camera said focus on but after the photo the focus is slightly off. Example is the photo I posted: Flickr Photo Download: _IGP2180