shooting very fast movement in low light

minxi

Hi there guys. I am seriously in need of your help and advice. I have a bellydancing show coming up and I want some tips and tricks on how to freeze the movements. I had a rehearsal last night, but the photos all came out really blurry. I am a new T2i user and would like to know more about the camera and which settings to put it on for the show. I tried all the different settings but everything still came out blurry. I only have the standard lens so far. The lighting for the bellydancing show is colorful and at some stages very very low light. What should my shutter speed, ISO etc be? I have to shoot continously because everything is really fast and I don't want to miss a great shot. Also if I shoot with the flash on, after each shot it takeS about five seconds before I can take the next one. The camera says busy. Please please please help me guys. This is very urgent!!!!!!

PBked

Hi,
To freeze movement you need a fast shutter speed. Set your T2i to TV (shutter priority) and select a fast shutter speed (at least 1/500). Leave your ISO set to auto. At your next rehearsal, check that the camera can achieve exposure. If it does, then turn the thumbwheel to increase your shutter speed until the camera can no longer achieve exposure and then turn back one step.
If exposure cannot be achieved at 1/500, then decrease the shutter speed in small increments.
Remember that your depth of field will not be great at a wide aperture setting, so set your focus point to centre point only to avoid the camera focussing in areas other than your belly dancer.
The amount of noise in your photo will depend upon the value of the ISO, but you may have to consider noise reduction in post editing.
I cannot give you a list of settings for your situation as there is no magic formula, so I hope this general advice is of some help.
Good luck,
PBked