Hello, interesting photography query

I own a canon 600d. I am going to be taking photos of a zumba class soon. The dance classes take place in very dim light with flashing coloured lights. What is the best setting on the camera to shoot high speed action at low light? I tried using the sport setting and it completely didn't capture the atmosphere and colours of the room as the flash was too bright.

Thank yoo! x
 
The best thing to do is get a fast lens (f/1.8 or faster). I would assume there is going to be a lot of motion, so to avoid blurry images, you'll need to shoot at a high shutter speed (1/500 is a good place to start). However, high shutter speeds require a lot more light.

Depending on the amount of light, you'd likely need to shoot at a high ISO too. With that camera, I would try to avoid shooting at anything over ISO 800 to avoid a lot of noise.

Best mode is Manual. Try setting the ISO to 800, use the widest aperture you can, and then do some test shots beginning at 1/500 and see what will give you a good exposure.

Also, since the flash will only sync up to 1/250, that still may cause some blur, but will help freeze the action. You just may need to put a color gel over it to balance the color with the available light. My guess would be that you need a CTO gel, which will make the light from the flash more orange to better match the lower color temperature of indoor lighting. Just depends on the lighting.

Hope that helps.
 
Thank you so much for your advice! Currently the fastest lens I have is a 50mm 2.8 which I'll have to use for the time being. Will take all your advice on board and see how i get on :D I love this website!
 
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