Hi all, so my wife and I decided on the G3 w/ kit lens to upgrade from a P&S. We got it in and were snapping some pictures of our 6 month old niece indoors only to discover that many were coming out blurry. Now I know that the kit lens is not even close to a low light lens, but before I tell my wife that we need to go spend $350+ on a good low-light lens I want to make sure there aren't some settings that I need to try first. As a newbie, I have it on iAuto+. If there is simply nothing I can do, what do you recommend? I know the 20mm is loved here, but I want to double this as our camcorder and I've read that it's not great for video??

Blurry photos in low light generally happen because your shutter speed is too slow to capture the action without motion blur. The problem is you can't just increase your shutter speed to fix it, because faster shutter speed also means light reaching the sensor for a shorter period and you'll get underexposed photos in low light.

To get around this, you have a few options:

1) Increase your ISO sensitivity so the sensor is more sensitive to light
2) Use a large aperture lens, so more light is allowed in
3) Add light (flash, lamps, natural light)

In this case, until/unless you pick up another lens, your only real option in terms of settings would be increasing the ISO. I'm not sure what the default is on the G3's Auto-ISO (I've long since changed mine), but you should be able to go up to 3200 and still get usable photos. They'll be noisy, but 3200 on the G3 is tolerable to me if the alternative is not getting the shot. You can go up even a step further to 6400 ISO but that will definitely be noisy and grainy. One caveat is that iAuto mode forces iISO, so you would need to use a different shooting mode to get the full benefit of increasing ISO.

For low light where motion blur is a problem, you can experiment with shutter priority - this will set the shutter speed and the camera tries to adjust the ISO and aperture to expose the photo correctly. You'll need to learn how to make use of the light meter and/or histogram on the G3 to make sure that you're getting a good exposure. Don't worry, this isn't as hard as it may sound - really just amounts to making sure the reading isn't in the red area on the light meter

Secondary option without buying a lens is to add light. If you can't add indoor lighting or natural light somehow, you're stuck with using a flash. The in-built flash will be very harsh without bouncing it off a wall or ceiling, so I'd recommend the Demb Pop-Up Flip It as a cheap solution. This was recommended to me in another thread and I picked one up a while back. It's not perfect, but for $25 it was definitely worth the investment. All it does is use a small mirror to bounce the flash upward off a white bounce card, which will allow you to direct the flash more upward or forward as desired so you get softer, more diffuse light.

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It was me that recommended the Demb product. I have the basic model. Stock, it works quite well on my GH2 on-board flash. I extensively modified it to work on my Olympus FL-14 external flash. It should work nicely on the G3.

Yep, thanks again for that - it does work nicely on the G3 with the built-in flash

It's not perfect, but it at least makes the flash usable, and it packs nice and flat in my camera bag so I don't mind carrying it around if I need to use a flash for something.

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“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” -- Dorothea Lange

Definitely excited to see what difference this makes. I'm pretty certain that the highest ISO I saw was 800, I'll have to change the default and see what results I can get with that. This is raising my spirits, I must admit I was a little bummed when my new investment was producing blurry photos when trying to take pictures of a 6 month old. (I bought this to take great pictures of my kids). I do understand though that these cameras only reach their full potential with better lenses. I just have no clue which focal length I want to purchase. I will mainly be taking pictures of kids and pets indoors, and the Panny 20mm sounds perfect, but I will be taking lots of video so it sounds like it's a no go in that area.

Also, try not to zoom - the more you zoom in the smaller the aperture becomes so the less light can come in.

For each step in ISO, you can approximately double shutter speed. So if you're at ISO 800 -> 1600 your shutter speed will double, and again from 1600-3200. To give you an idea of what's possible, you can check out this thread that was bumped up recently: MFT Low light Images thread ISO 1000-6400. I've posted some of my recent G3 and GX1 images there taken at ISO 3200/6400 - those are "best case" photos but you can get a rough idea of what the noise looks like in a good high-ISO file from the G3.

As far as lenses, I didn't comment since I don't shoot video so I couldn't advise on that part. But I would say don't be in a huge rush to buy lenses until you know what you like and don't like. Especially so if you're still using iAuto mode most of the time and aren't fully familiar with the basic mechanics of exposure. Recommended book btw is Understanding Exposure - fantastic book that made me a better photographer 5 minutes into the first chapter. Can really help you figure out the how & why of missed shots due to exposure or motion blur etc. The Scott Kelby Digital Photography series is very useful also for "tips and tricks" type info rather than details of the "why".

All that said, from a stills perspective the 20mm f/1.7 is a great "standard" focal length fast prime lens, as is the 25mm f/1.4 (which is my preference of the two unless price/size are primary concerns). One thing to consider is the 20mm is known for slow(er) autofocus, which may be an issue for kids photos. Either one pairs very nicely with a kit zoom for a 2-lens basic kit and I was very happy with a 14-42 zoom and 20mm pancake combo for the first year or so of shooting my GF2. You can do an awful lot with a simple pair like that.

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500px | flickr

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” -- Dorothea Lange

"...even a cheap external flash that bounces"
You mean one in which the head of the flash unit tilts and swivels. "Bouncing" the light output is the net effect.

I've been strongly considering the Yongnuo YN-560 II Speedlight Flash with CowboyStudio NPT-04 4 Channel Wireless Trigger.

If taking pictures of your baby indoors was your primary reason for buying the camera, you should have included the price of a lens or flash in your budget.
The kit lens is good outdoors where there is plenty of light, but indoors it's about useless.

Even with a bright lens you might still want to make sure you have plenty of available light. Try placing the baby by the window.

We've gone through the exact same scenario. We had our first child in August, and bought a G3 in December. Even though we've never used anything but a P&S before, we thought that buying a nearly $600 camera and leaving it on auto would be better than having a P&S on auto. Our first real use of the camera was Christmas with family, and it was terrible. The reject rate was so atrocious I put it away and pulled out the TZ3.

I'm still what I'd call a novice photographer, but I've spent a lot of time on forums, reading books, and experimenting with the G3. Here's my summary of how you can improve in the short term:

(1) Take the camera out of iAuto immediately. I'll go so far as to state that it's flat out broken indoors. Unless a scene is brightly lit, the pictures come out dim and blurry. I don't mean pictures of fast moving objects. I mean all pictures. I don't know how iA on my 2007 TZ3 can have worked so reliably all this time, but iA on the 2011 G3 is completely unusable. It was so bad I thought I had a defective camera. The good news is that the camera is fine.

If you want to use the G3 like a P&S, put it in Program and set ISO to Auto. Not iISO. Use the built-in flash indoors until you learn more about manual settings, but beware of the shadow the kit lens will cast if you're close to the subject. Baby moving too fast and getting some motion blur? You can use Scene mode and set it for Sports.

(2) The biggest difference between a P&S and m43/DSLR, at least for me, was DOF and focus area. I was used to pointing my TZ3 at a scene, seeing a bunch of green boxes make a lock, and everything in the frame was in focus. With a larger sensor, you need to be cognizant of the focus area and DOF. At first I was using 23-point focus or single focus with the largest box possible, thinking everything in the box would be in focus. However, what it really meant was that ANYTHING but not EVERYTHING in the box could be in focus, and often the background or foreground would be sharp and the subject out of focus. So now I use single point with a small box, or face detection when appropriate. For deeper DOF stop down aperture and use flash and/or raise ISO indoors. The kit lens only opens up so much, so in that respect it will behave a bit more like a P&S than a faster prime lens will.

Once these things become familiar, you'll be taking much nicer pictures than you could ever get with a P&S given the same conditions.

However, as was mentioned above, if your main interest is capturing photos of children indoors, an external flash and better lens are something to consider. We keep the G3 in the family room with the 20mm. I had some trouble with the 20mm at first due to the shallow DOF, and my wife still does. I usually stop down to 2.8 for deeper DOF to accommodate baby in motion and don't worry about natural lighting, I use the flash to keep the shutter speed as close to its 160 max (with flash) as possible.

My wife is still in the "Program mode and flash always open" stage, whereas I'm now using S/A/M modes and using natural lighting where possible and flash where necessary. If I know I'm going to be taking a lot of pictures indoors for a specific occassion, I have the Panasonic FL500. We recently took a bunch of photos of our son swimming for the first time in an indoor pool at night, and they came out well. I couldn't have gotten close to that quality with the TZ3, or even with the G3 using built-in flash.

You can find plenty of threads on the 20/1.7 vs the newer 25/1.4 for children. There are a lot of good reviews and posted pics, but I'm not inclined to upgrade since I already have the 20mm. My 11-month-old isn't going to pose for a portrait, and since I'm stopping down and using flash, the 1.4 vs 1.7 doesn't gain me anything. Also, in social situations, if you have to stop down to get the entire table in focus, there goes the 1.4 benefit. Then there's being larger/heavier and no longer fitting in the wife's purse, and possibly casting a shadow with the built-in flash which the 20mm doesn't do. And finally, the cost. It does focus faster than the 20mm, and may have better IQ, but the 20mm is still a very nice lens all around.

I can't give any insight on video. We have a Panasonic TM90 for video. I may look at consolidating once the G5 and GH3 are reviewed.

I hope I've been of some help. You should definitely be able to pull some nice photos with the equipment you have if you go from iAuto to Program and use the built-in flash indoors. A nicer lens and flash can get you even better photos, but the gain realized from new equipment will be proportional to how much time you have to learn how to use it. Have fun!