Originally Posted By: DWallach
For my purposes at the time (high school yearbook photographer), we never, ever printed larger than 8x10 (typically 5x7), so it just didn't matter at all.

For a while, the lobby displays were getting printed at 11x17, which was pushing it. We're now down to 8x10, which is much more forgiving.
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Back to the topic at hand, since you're stuck with the lighting you've got, you need to look at all the other techniques you can bring to bear on the problem. You can rent/buy brighter lenses ($$$ + heavy weight + tight depth of field).

Did that. I'm now shooting with an f/2.8 lens. It helped immensely.
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You can use a tripod or monopod to allow for a longer exposure (but longer exposures only work when the actors aren't moving much).
Too unwieldly. I'm moving constantly. My monopod and tripod stay at home.
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You can also get fancy in post-processing; Lightroom is pretty good, but supposedly you can do better with things like Noise Ninja (which has now evolved into a full-blown raw conversion program: Photo Ninja, which seems to get strong reviews).
I didn't know that Noise Ninja has evolved. I'll look into Photo Ninja.

I think my next photography-related purchase will be a D800 body. I'm currently using a D80. For the most part, it's fine, but I want an FX sensor, and I want a sensor with better noise characteristics. That it has video capabilities will make it an easier sell with my wife, who wants a new video camera. With Child #2 on the way, it's a very good possibility. smile