fren of mine asking me to help to take picture of her soon to arrive baby. One of the conditions is that no flash is allowed because it may interfere with the development of the baby's eyes.

The only big aperture lens I have is the 50mm f1.8. I'm wondering if that is big enough.

Additionally, comments/suggestions on how to take the pics welcomed as well.

(posted from iPhone)

You'll need 50mm f1.4 or 30mm f1.4.

I though of buying 50mm 1.8 for this shooting too.

50mm 1.8 not enough for indoor house lighting to get speed of 1/30 -1/60 at BELOW ISO400?

Can D40/D60 with this lens able to shoot 1/125 with ISO800-1600?

Please advice

And if the baby is sleeping, a tripod would help. In fact you'll get very nicely exposed pics with just ambient light.

50 f/1.8 is enough ler to shoot indor.. even u can see brighter result than the actual scene.. go and try shoot...

f1.8 is enough. I use a f1.7 and it is quite sufficient. I usually stop it down to f2.2 or f2.8 even. Just remember to open the curtains to the windows or maybe switch on the room lights to help things out.

Well...a bounced flash light will not hurt... it will give the same effect as ambient light as far as I'm concerned. It's the direct flash which is bad.

i even use 70-200mm f4L assisted with 580ex2 speedlight to shoot babies that day. no prob arising. if u r using canon. set the picture style to faithful to get that high key picture.

Well, if its the request not to have flash, then I think a 1.8 is enough. As long as there is enough ambient light in the room. total darkness, then sorry la

Alternatively, a D3 will also help As someone mentioned, if the baby is sleeping and newborns usually are, a tripod will help.

this sounds like a job for a 50mm f1.2 lens

Which body are you using? Because depending on the body, you could use high ISO which will give you more exposure too.

DOF would be very thin at f1.2... useable DOF would be around f2.8 and above, since we're talking about photographing a baby here. Most of it would be close range shots. DOF is affected by distance too...the closer we get to the subject, the thinner the DOF will be.

myjunk is using a Canon? Use higher ISO then. I think ISO800 wouldn't hurt. If it's for print outs at 4R (or even 8R), noise will not be noticeable.

Yeah.. canon 400D. Max ISO I can go is 800 before noise becomes un-bearable (perhaps I should take using my newly acquired Canon 1Ds Mark III which I got in Spore?) I'm not using a 40D lah, if 40D, I saw viking2K's can go up to 1600 w/o much noise.

The issue with the 50mm 1.8 is that it's not sharp at 1.8. Have t stop down to 2.2 or higher. Unlike TheVOIP's 85mm 1.2L which is best sharpness!

The request is NOT to use flash. (at least direct flash) Bounced flash _may_ be okay, but it depends on the parents. (dgrebel, some parents are more cautious about this compared to others so, it varies)

The other lens I have is the 2.8L but I've tried it and even when using flash and 400 ISO indoors, it just barely passes the (photographer's) mark.

SO, the plan is

1. Pinjam Viking2k's 40D
2. Pinjam TheVOIP's 85mm 1.2L
3. Pinjam Valho's 50mm 1.4

kakaka!! kakak!! (dream......)

better I invite them to take the pics.

You should certainly use the Canon 1Ds Although I am not sure the parents will be too happy when u tell them the pics are all in ur head.

oh 17-55/2.8 IS

easy, make yourself a black bounce card like this.
this is the point of using a black card. it wont irritate other people
when you use it. just put it on the front ( as the usual bounce card put
on the back ) to prevent other people which is at the front sees the flash.
instead all the light will be force to the ceiling and bounced. like this.


try it!

it'll impossible without flash IMHO, unless you step it up EV+ for better exposure.

Apologies to Myjunk . Tumpang a bit your place to seek advice because I looking for lens for baby portrait too.

adewhite
And if the baby is sleeping, a tripod would help. In fact you'll get very nicely exposed pics with just ambient light.

If baby sleeping means eyes closed, flash is not an issue.

razuryza
50 f/1.8 is enough ler to shoot indoor.. even u can see brighter result than the actual scene.. go and try shoot... wink.gif

[/I]Thanks, will try it. Contact the shop and he willing to let me try first when stock arrive.

shootkk
f1.8 is enough. I use a f1.7 and it is quite sufficient. I usually stop it down to f2.2 or f2.8 even. Just remember to open the curtains to the windows or maybe switch on the room lights to help things out.

Average what ISO and shutter speed you get at f2.2-f2.8 indoor?

dgrebel
i even use 70-200mm f4L assisted with 580ex2 speedlight to shoot babies that day. no prob arising. if u r using canon. set the picture style to faithful to get that high key picture.

With flash or bounce flash will scare the baby and maybe make the baby face turn blue. Parents will chase after myjunk....make sure to leave your car engine running.

Baby

My 18-55 VR only able to get ISO1250 at 1/30 with very well lighted indoor.
Face ok with slightly over expose but shadow at hands and sofa get very bad noise, have to remove noise.
If baby not quiet susah to get sharp photo.

Thanks to all sifus

Heh its not impossible. Depends on the equipment. With the D3, you can go to ISO3200 and more! And tripod will let you shoot at lower shutter speed so you can eliminate the use of flash.

A newborn should be lying down, and not running everywhere or crawling. So, even if the baby is not asleep, you can still use a tripod. As the baby will be in one place. Even if the mother or father carries it, then you can still tell the mother and father to hold it in such a way that the tripod can be positioned to take the best shots.

I believe the use of a tripod coupled with a good lens for low light such as the 50mm f1.4 or 1.8 will give you good pictures.

if FF body + f1.2 lens no need talk edi la.. huhuhu

the problem here is TS is using crop factor body oni..

shiney gave the correct advise oredi from his past experience

A bounce flash is of course ideal but if parents insist on no flash?

I dont see why a tripod can't be used. I know about Shiney's baby pictures, they were the same as yours wat! But those are rather grown-up babies that will run and crawl everywhere.

But we are talking about a newborn here. One that will most likely lie in the crib or in the parents arms. And they are usually quite wrapped up. How much movement do you expect from the baby?

But if parents allow bounce flash, go ahead.

Yes, newborn baby not moving so much. Sleeping most of time. By the time eyes open will cry for milk already. If allow maybe myjunk can take pic during milking to share with us.

it's always show and tell. bouncing the flash would mean less distraction.

show the parents first the difference between 3 setup:

1) low iso + 50mm f1.8
2) low iso + 50mm f1.8 + bounced flash
3) high iso + 50mm f1.8

then let them choose. i bet they dont want grainy pics from the crop factor body at high iso.

zio is right, if the iso range is not an issue
since its best not to use any flash at all, since the parents want it that way.
my experience is nothing to compare with

its a mark III right? it should not be an issue.

mark 3 ape ni shiney? TS using 400d lah!

owh really? tired lah just end badminton session
i thought its mark 3? gaahh, zio is still right anyway.
he's da boss

lol what? since when im the boss?

TS has.. a Mark III shirt. Does that count? I am not a big fan of flash, bounced, direct or diffused. So, if tehre is an option to explore non-usage of flash, I usually go for that, hahaha.

But it will be easier to bounce the flash rather than worry about tripod setup.

haha... watever lah..

Stop spamming lah ?

who's spamming here? u?

I do not go higher than ISO400 and the shutter speed is around 1/80 to 1/50

Not really. Even with the eye closed, direct flash could still hurt the optic system. It's like closing your eye under direct sunlight, you'll still feel the light if you get what i mean.

You better not play around.. later baby's eye got problem, then the parents will come back look for you.

yeah better safe than sorry. Sigh I guess
I will have not much choice since I don't have the needed lenses

wooo... flash got effect on baby...

i better stop taking picture of my baby with flash then...
scary thought

kuman