Steve'sDigicams

bsdman · Jan 7, 2005, 9:39 AM

I plan on going into concert photography using a D70 I have not purchased yet. Most of the venues I will be at will be smaller local clubs and bars - not a whole lot of room, and certainly not much available light. My most important questions:

1. What's the best, most cost effective lense to use in a low light,space limitedlocation? Most D70 packages come with the Sigma 24-70 f3.5-5.6 - Will this lense give me what I need? I'm not looking for the best, just a versitile lense that can produce some nice, clean andsharp images.

2. What about flash for this environment? What would be a good flash to use?

I have many more questions, but to keep things simple, I've limited them to the most important two. If you have concert experience, I would love to get some advise. Leave email address if you're feeling generous/helpful to an amatuer looking to find his way. Thanks!

msantos · Jan 9, 2005, 11:47 PM

It could be enough, however make sure to use a tripod and set the ISO to 400. I'm sure you will get good results, even with no flash.

MrPogo · Jan 10, 2005, 7:47 AM

It will be highly impracticle, if not impossible, to use a tripod whilst photographing live bands. In a big venue, the band members are likely to be moving about the stage, so with a tripod you'll never be able to get a good shot, and in a small venue there's not going to be a "photo pit" in front of the stage, so there will be many dancing people in your way.
As for use of a flash, there are two points to consider here:

1: although it will obviously make it easier to get a nice sharp shot, it will mean you won't capture the effects of the coloured lighting that is invariably at a show

2: if you decide you do want to use one, check with the band first if it's ok, as it can be highly annoying to have a flash going off in your face constantly, and microphone stands/guitars can make nasty weapons

JimC · Jan 10, 2005, 9:20 AM

For venues where you can't use a flash, I'd suggest the brightest lenses possible.

You may want to get a 50mm f/1.8 for starters, and use your feet for zoom. This lens would have a 35mm equivalent focal length of 75mm on a D70, and sells for under $100.00 from most vendors.

A lens with a maximum available aperture of f/1.8 would allow shutter speeds from4 to 10 times as fast as a lens with maximum available aperture of f/3.5-5.6 (depending on how much zoom you used with the other lens),for any given ISO speed and lighting condition.

sjms · Jan 10, 2005, 10:17 AM

on a D70 you will find above iso 400 will become noisy. the 24-70 2.8 is a good lens. depending on the lighting (with or without flash) your positioning 400 will unfortunately might be well short of what is needed to shoot above 1/60 and above prefably hand held.

http://www.pbase.com/crusader/image/33923824

http://www.pbase.com/crusader/image/33916958

http://www.pbase.com/crusader/image/33923753

http://www.pbase.com/crusader/image/33916056

http://www.pbase.com/crusader/image/33722472

http://www.pbase.com/crusader/image/35667360/original

the avg iso was 640 with a flash 1 at 200 closeup and one at 400 close up a differen large venue party at 1000 w/flash. strictly house lights and that was the equivelent to a 100w output overhead approx 4 lamps. not much to work with. strobe obviously used.

shot with a 1Ds and 1Dm2

to shoot with stage lights no strobe and handheld and to get reasonable DOF your looking into the 800-1250 and even higher range

PeterP · Jan 10, 2005, 10:47 AM

I tend to agree with using the fast 50mm, while the 1.8 is inexpensive there are also 1.4 and 1.2's available though they cost a fair bit more than the 1.8. In a dark place every bit of fstop helps :-).

The other option as sjms mentioned is upping the ISO, which for now switching to a canon 20D would allow you to do, this camera seems to work quite acceptably at ISO 800 and 1600, and can do a grainy 3200. Or wait to see what Nikon has waiting in the wings TBA next month :-)

Using both these options would get you into some decent low light imaging.

I'll assume you are planning to do thison a forprofit basis and have arranged the legalities of shooting the bands for same. :lol:

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Jan 7, 2005, 9:39 AM	#1
bsdman Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 1	I plan on going into concert photography using a D70 I have not purchased yet. Most of the venues I will be at will be smaller local clubs and bars - not a whole lot of room, and certainly not much available light. My most important questions: 1. What's the best, most cost effective lense to use in a low light,space limitedlocation? Most D70 packages come with the Sigma 24-70 f3.5-5.6 - Will this lense give me what I need? I'm not looking for the best, just a versitile lense that can produce some nice, clean andsharp images. 2. What about flash for this environment? What would be a good flash to use? I have many more questions, but to keep things simple, I've limited them to the most important two. If you have concert experience, I would love to get some advise. Leave email address if you're feeling generous/helpful to an amatuer looking to find his way. Thanks!

Jan 9, 2005, 11:47 PM	#2
msantos Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 561	It could be enough, however make sure to use a tripod and set the ISO to 400. I'm sure you will get good results, even with no flash.

Jan 10, 2005, 7:47 AM	#3
MrPogo Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 228	It will be highly impracticle, if not impossible, to use a tripod whilst photographing live bands. In a big venue, the band members are likely to be moving about the stage, so with a tripod you'll never be able to get a good shot, and in a small venue there's not going to be a "photo pit" in front of the stage, so there will be many dancing people in your way. As for use of a flash, there are two points to consider here: 1: although it will obviously make it easier to get a nice sharp shot, it will mean you won't capture the effects of the coloured lighting that is invariably at a show 2: if you decide you do want to use one, check with the band first if it's ok, as it can be highly annoying to have a flash going off in your face constantly, and microphone stands/guitars can make nasty weapons

Jan 10, 2005, 9:20 AM	#4
JimC Administrator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Savannah, GA (USA) Posts: 22,378	For venues where you can't use a flash, I'd suggest the brightest lenses possible. You may want to get a 50mm f/1.8 for starters, and use your feet for zoom. This lens would have a 35mm equivalent focal length of 75mm on a D70, and sells for under $100.00 from most vendors. A lens with a maximum available aperture of f/1.8 would allow shutter speeds from4 to 10 times as fast as a lens with maximum available aperture of f/3.5-5.6 (depending on how much zoom you used with the other lens),for any given ISO speed and lighting condition.

Jan 10, 2005, 10:17 AM	#5
sjms Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 2,735	on a D70 you will find above iso 400 will become noisy. the 24-70 2.8 is a good lens. depending on the lighting (with or without flash) your positioning 400 will unfortunately might be well short of what is needed to shoot above 1/60 and above prefably hand held. http://www.pbase.com/crusader/image/33923824 http://www.pbase.com/crusader/image/33916958 http://www.pbase.com/crusader/image/33923753 http://www.pbase.com/crusader/image/33916056 http://www.pbase.com/crusader/image/33722472 http://www.pbase.com/crusader/image/35667360/original the avg iso was 640 with a flash 1 at 200 closeup and one at 400 close up a differen large venue party at 1000 w/flash. strictly house lights and that was the equivelent to a 100w output overhead approx 4 lamps. not much to work with. strobe obviously used. shot with a 1Ds and 1Dm2 to shoot with stage lights no strobe and handheld and to get reasonable DOF your looking into the 800-1250 and even higher range

Jan 10, 2005, 10:47 AM	#6
PeterP Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,397	I tend to agree with using the fast 50mm, while the 1.8 is inexpensive there are also 1.4 and 1.2's available though they cost a fair bit more than the 1.8. In a dark place every bit of fstop helps :-). The other option as sjms mentioned is upping the ISO, which for now switching to a canon 20D would allow you to do, this camera seems to work quite acceptably at ISO 800 and 1600, and can do a grainy 3200. Or wait to see what Nikon has waiting in the wings TBA next month :-) Using both these options would get you into some decent low light imaging. I'll assume you are planning to do thison a forprofit basis and have arranged the legalities of shooting the bands for same. :lol: