I've looked at the UNESCO and Chartres Cathedral websites and can't find an answer to my query: Is photgraphy without flash permitted inside the Cathedral?
It is obviously different everywhere in Europe, e.g., permitted in St. Peters, prohibited in the Sistine Chapel, permitted in England's York Minster, prohibited in St. Paul's in the City of London?
Jim,
i was there in 2012 and photography WITHOUT flash was permitted.
also i always ask since I've found that no everyone places a sign in an obvious place.
happy trails.
Its permitted in St Peters because there are no paintings to be damaged by the hundreds of thousands of flashes they would get. All art inside St Peters is mosaic. Can't speak to the others.
Good, logical answer, Stan. It's understandable that paintings could well be damaged over time by flash photography and I repect that. I also respect that, for churches, or certain locations in churches (e.g., the Sistine Chapel--which may be, technically, in the Vatican, but not in St. Peter's), there are restrictions and, sometimes, prohibitions, based on religious issues, i.e., respect for a house of worship. What I don't respect is tourists who give all tourists a bad name by ignoring those restrictions; churches and museums, unlike, say, government buildings, are places into which we accept invitation, and we ought to graciously accept the conditions of our admittance.
Jim,
Amen.
The limitations in the Sistine Chapel have nothing to do with respect; they are about money. The rights to photos of the Sistine Chapel were sold to a Japanese company. The first time I was in the Sistine many years ago there were no photography restrictions.
We were there last week. Yes, you can take photos inside. Flash wouldn't help much anyway, except maybe with the choir screen. If you want to take your own photos of the windows, i'd recommend you bring some sort of tripod or support, so you can do longer exposure without the shake. IMO better to just purchase professional photos.
lilkidneys,
Thanks for the heads up. I've not had exposure problems of windows in the past, including that seemingly far away rose window in the York Minster, as long as mid-day to afternoon daylight exists outside. For interior shots, particularly in churches, I've found the image stabilization built into my Nikons, Panasonics and Canons to be quite adequate to maintain sharpness at reasonable ISOs. Generally, of course, museums are usually pretty well lit and are greatly easier than churches. Is the Chartres Cathedral particularly dark in its interior?
Hi, Jim
Yes, the interior was pretty dark. But if you are photographing the windows, then you have some light in the background.
But the other "stuff" inside the church is pretty dark.
