Greetings

[Guest]

Hi Folks,

New member , just joined .
Working in Grimsby at the moment although my home is Aberdeenshire.
Trying to spend the time away from home improving my camera skills but struggling a little so came across this group whilst searching for help.

I love my EM-10 but finding it a little limited for low light portraits . Not sure if it is the camera or bad technique but suspect the latter so trying to find ways to get better results.

Cheers

[Imageryone]

Re: Greetings

Welcome to the forum, not an EM-10 user myself, but will try to help if I can
What seems to be the problem? What type of photography too ?

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Greetings

Welcome:

Low light portraits are all about getting as much detail as possible in the darkest areas of the subject. The way all cameras distribute the sensors dynamic range is biased to the white/brightest end of the range (Right Hand Side of the histogram)

Experimentation with Manual or exposure compensation, will get you there.

THIS may help for general portrait lighting.

Here are some examples of the effect on the histogram


Have fun

[Zuiko]

Re: Greetings

Depends how low the light is. What ISO, shutter speed and aperture are you typically using? You might benefit from getting a 45mm f1.8 lens, which is remarkably cheap for the quality it offers and is considerably brighter at maximum aperture than the kit zooms. Perhaps post an example of a picture you have had trouble with so that we may comment more specifically.

[Guest]

Re: Greetings

The problem I am seeing is softness in the image. I'm not sure of this is due to missed focus or a problem with the lens (Panasonic 20mm f1.7)
I am pretty sure I missed focus but after examination of the image I cant identify the focus point so that's why I am wondering.
ISO was for the most part bellow 800 so I didnt expect that to be a problem and shutter speed mostly 1/60th or less

Unfortunately the subject is a little shy and specifically asked that I didn't post anything on the net so apologies for not being able to show the issue.

I also used my Oly 45mm during the same session and these are fine.

I think I need to take a little more time and see if I can improve things but I only get the chance to shoot natural light at the weekends.

Thanks for the warm welcome and help so far.

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Greetings

A "Focus Card" illuminated by a torch can work very well in dark settings, but can spoil the moment somewhat for portraits.

I also have a laser pattern generator that can be used for focusing, but that has to be used with caution.

[Imageryone]

Re: Greetings

These are quite slow shutter speeds, did you have IS switched on?

[birdboy]

Re: Greetings

Are you using the anti-shock mode diamond next to square? If not try it.

[OM USer]

Re: Greetings

A warm welcome to the forum. I hope you sort out your photographic technique and enjoy your picture taking.

[wornish]

Re: Greetings

Welcome to the group.

[damianmkv]

Re: Greetings

the p20 isnt the quickest to focus in low light unfortunately - it can struggle and hunt. It is a great lens in good light but I sold mine as it drove me mad when i had it on my e-m10

welcome

[Guest]

Re: Greetings

the p20 isnt the quickest to focus in low light unfortunately - it can struggle and hunt. It is a great lens in good light but I sold mine as it drove me mad when i had it on my e-m10

welcome

What would you suggest as an alternative around the same focal length?

[Guest]

Re: Greetings

These are quite slow shutter speeds, did you have IS switched on?

It was on Auto.

[Guest]

Re: Greetings

Are you using the anti-shock mode diamond next to square? If not try it.

I'm not sure what that means or how to achieve it.

Apologies for multiple posts couldn't figure out how to add more than one quote to a post

[damianmkv]

Re: Greetings

I ended up with an Olympus 25mm f1.8 which is fine, they do a 17mm f1.8 too which might be better suited do you if you're after 35mm equivalent