Need tips to shoot in low light restaurant

<p>I joined corporate party as guest with my Sony A6000 for snapshot, in one low light restaurant. Group picture with external flash were good but wide angle whole room picture was poor when: 1) External flash couldn't reach that far; 2) Bump up ISO returning in terrible noise ; 3) people in the room keep moving and talking, blurry images under 1/30 shutter speed ;<br>

As few more party coming, appreciate any suggestion helping me to take panoramic whole room picture under these critical situation, or it's mission impossible for mirrorless A6000 ? I have one pic attached. <br>

Thanks. </p>

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<p>in the size you posted, the noise doesn't look too bad. most post-processing software can help w/ noise reduction or there are separate noise reduction software (like Topaz Denoise, Noiseware, etc). What if any are you using?</p>

<p>Thanks Howard. <br>

I didn't touch up the noise at all. I only have PS CS6 but don't want to spend too much time on snapshot editing. Well, what I need to learn is how to deal with such difficult situation - no flash, low light, wide angle, social butterflies running around..... Is it only high end full frame bodies can handle it ? </p>

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<p>I only <strong>have PS CS6</strong> but <strong>don't want to spend too much time on snapshot editing.</strong> Well, <strong>what I need to learn is how to deal with such difficult situation</strong> - no flash, low light, wide angle, social butterflies running around..... <strong>Is it only high end full frame bodies can handle it ?</strong></p>

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<p><strong> </strong><br>

A lot of the final resultant image <strong><em>is in the Post Production</em></strong>; and also in <strong><em>the amount of work that you put in:</em></strong> the answer to your question is NOT all about using a different camera.<br>

<br>

The EXIF of your images states F/3.5 @ 1/60^th S @ ISO3200; what I would do in that situation with your camera:<br>

<br>

Capture raw<br>

Manual meter and expose for good background detail (noise is more noticeable in the darker areas especially if the shot is underexposed) <br>

In that lighting level (I think your shot is a little underexposed) I probably would have used ISO6400 and the Shutter Speed around 1/80^th s ~ 1/100^th s <br>

Learn good Post Production techniques to suit.<br>

Maybe use an add-on Noise Reduction Programme (as Howard suggested)<br>

<br>

WW <br>

</p>

<p>really up to you, if you think spending $$$$ on a FF and/or fast lens (faster than the 3.5 you have) camera will work vs. learning to spend some time reducing noise, go for it.</p>

<p>You could even just pull the raw or jpg into CameraRaw in CS6 and use it's noise reduction.</p>

<p>Additionally, let’s say, just for one example, you buy an EOS 5DMkIII and an EF 24 F/1.4MkII USM (total about US$5,000) and you make the same ‘snapshot’ capturing JPEG file to use SOOC (straight out of the camera). And let’s say for example that you want to use that very fast lens wide open so you can minimize the ISO to reduce the noise (and you also want to use a fast enough shutter speed to freeze those ‘social butterflies’) - so for that scene you’d be shooting about: F/1.4 @ 1/100^th s @ISO1600.<br>

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THEN – EVEN If you took the trouble to nail the exposure and also took the time to get the correct IN CAMERA JPEG <strong>processing</strong> for the shot, the JPEGs straight out of the camera from a 5DMkIII used at ISO1600 would be very nice – but I expect that looking closely you might still be dissatisfied – looking closely enough into a SOOC digital file, there will always be Post Production tweaks that can enhance it. . . . using the example camera and lens above – you might be annoyed by the Chromatic Aberration that you discover and want to fix that.<br>

<br>

WW</p>

<p>OP I agree with the above posters. Even if you spend a huge amount on better kit there still won't be enough light and your images will still be noisy. I have a full frame 5DIII and when I shoot in pubs and restaurants my images are also noisy. Improving them in post however is trivial. Shoot in RAW, load into ACR/Lightroom, move the noise reduction sliders until happy, then apply a basic preset and you are done. two minutes tops.</p>

<p><br />After reading all posts, I have more confident and comfortable with my Sony A6000. I thought I miss some essential setting on my mirrorless. In next event, I will shoot in RAW and fix it with LR. <br>

Thanks all. </p>