What do photographers mean by “low light,” and why are my indoor shots still blurry with a 50mm f/1.4?
Asked 2/8/2013
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I’m learning low-light photography with a Nikon D600 and a 50mm f/1.4. In good light the results are sharp, but in dim scenes—such as a bar at night, candlelight, or other indirect/distant light—my photos are often blurry and dark even when shooting wide open at f/1.4, around 1/60s, and ISO 3200–6400. Autofocus also struggles unless I use AF assist, and autofocus fine-tuning improved things somewhat.
What do photographers usually mean by “low light”? Is there any practical way to think about it, and why doesn’t a fast f/1.4 lens automatically solve the problem in very dim conditions?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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Well, one reason we buy f/1.4 lenses so we can take photos handheld, or of moving subjects, at sufficient shutter speeds, say 1/60th or faster, where with a kit lens we'd have to bump up ISO or use a shutter speed of 1/8th of a second, or use flash. So indoors, or at dawn or dusk outdoors for example.
Looking at the Wikipedia article on Exposure Value I'd say this corresponds to an EV in the range of 5-7 or so.
I'm not sure that will help you get better results. What exact problems are you having? If you're shooting in poor light, the f/1.4 gives you a few stops, but it isn't magic - if you are still underexposing, you'll get noisy images. Are you getting good results in good light?
Originally by user4191. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4191
13y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
“Low light” has no single fixed definition, but photographers generally mean scenes where available ambient light is too weak to comfortably focus or get a usable handheld shutter speed without raising ISO, opening the aperture, adding light, or using a tripod. Indoors, dusk, bars, candlelight, rooftops at night, caves, etc. all qualify.
An f/1.4 lens helps because it lets in more light than slower lenses, giving you a few extra stops, but it is not magic. If the scene is very dim, you can still end up with:
- shutter speeds too slow for handholding or subject movement
- autofocus failing or hunting
- underexposure and noise from high ISO
At 50mm, 1/60s is only a rough starting point; it may still blur from subject movement or missed focus. In very dark scenes, the real solutions are to add light (flash/continuous light), use a tripod with longer exposures for static subjects, or accept higher ISO/noise. A practical sign that you’re in true low light is when your camera struggles to achieve autofocus without assist illumination.
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