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  1. Originally posted by LikeASong:Agreed. I'm after fixed 135mm lenses since a couple of days ago! I lost bids on two of them over at ebay last night, I was pissed

    Concert photography is a different animal to all other kinds of photography. Obviously aperture plays a big role (as in all photography), but also do position and autofocus speed and accuracy. And in my opinion (and I take photos of concert as a semi-professional hobby, or unpaid job if you look at it that way) fixed lenses are not very useful since you can't really move around during concerts - and that is what a fixed lens needs: movement, movement, movement. As the saying goes, fixed lenses make you grow a better photographer... and go slimmer

    That is just my $0'02 though, and of course someone might find his 35/50/60/80/135 mm fixed lens the best possible weapon to immortalize live shows - all the better for them!

    PS. Another small nuance for concert photography is that besides photos I usually take videos, and what is a video without a proper zoom on Edge during the guitar solo?
    What camera settings do you recommend for being close to stage on the floor? I have a Nikon D5100 with a Tamron 18-270 lens.
  2. Originally posted by phil_lebo:[..]
    What camera settings do you recommend for being close to stage on the floor? I have a Nikon D5100 with a Tamron 18-270 lens.
    That is a badass lens right there (if you can sneak it into the stadium ).

    Reg settings... At concerts I usually shoot in Shutter priority mode (instead of Aperture priority for mostly the rest of the photography modes). And I always try to be on the "fast" side of the exposure. I prefer to expose 1/60s instead of 1/30s, and 1/80 instead of 1/60 if possible. That way you minimize the risk of getting blurry pics due to the band moving our you not being able to hold the camera perfectly steady (something pretty common at a concert). You can fix a dark image in post-processing but there's no way to fix a blurry one! Sharpness goes first.

    I would go for ISO 400-800 (I have a Nikon D5100 too and its ISO management is pretty good, you don't get much noise until ISO 1600) and as a rule of thumb stop the aperture one or two steps down from its widest at each focal length to minimize softness. And always take full advantage of the zoom capabilities (optical zoom) of your lens so you don't have to crop your images ("digital zoom") and you can retain the full resolution.

    Even shooting in Auto will get you better results than any compact camera! The bigger sensor and the better lens will just make up for great photos Wanna see that Philly pics!
  3. Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
    That is a badass lens right there (if you can sneak it into the stadium ).

    Reg settings... At concerts I usually shoot in Shutter priority mode (instead of Aperture priority for mostly the rest of the photography modes). And I always try to be on the "fast" side of the exposure. I prefer to expose 1/60s instead of 1/30s, and 1/80 instead of 1/60 if possible. That way you minimize the risk of getting blurry pics due to the band moving our you not being able to hold the camera perfectly steady (something pretty common at a concert). You can fix a dark image in post-processing but there's no way to fix a blurry one! Sharpness goes first.

    I would go for ISO 400-800 (I have a Nikon D5100 too and its ISO management is pretty good, you don't get much noise until ISO 1600) and as a rule of thumb stop the aperture one or two steps down from its widest at each focal length to minimize softness. And always take full advantage of the zoom capabilities (optical zoom) of your lens so you don't have to crop your images ("digital zoom") and you can retain the full resolution.

    Even shooting in Auto will get you better results than any compact camera! The bigger sensor and the better lens will just make up for great photos Wanna see that Philly pics!

    Thanks for the advice. I haven't had a problem getting that camera into any concerts so far.

    My Dad might give me his camera to use as well, which I'll be looking at today. He's always up to date in the latest and greatest photography stuff.

    I never thought of shutter priority. I always did manual and controlled everything, but might change it up. I have two concerts in the red zone, so if one doesn't come out good, the other will.

    This is one of my favorite and imo best pictures I've ever gotten of the band.

    Looking forward to tomorrow to get some more.

    Thanks for the help.
  4. Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
    That is a badass lens right there (if you can sneak it into the stadium ).

    Reg settings... At concerts I usually shoot in Shutter priority mode (instead of Aperture priority for mostly the rest of the photography modes). And I always try to be on the "fast" side of the exposure. I prefer to expose 1/60s instead of 1/30s, and 1/80 instead of 1/60 if possible. That way you minimize the risk of getting blurry pics due to the band moving our you not being able to hold the camera perfectly steady (something pretty common at a concert). You can fix a dark image in post-processing but there's no way to fix a blurry one! Sharpness goes first.

    I would go for ISO 400-800 (I have a Nikon D5100 too and its ISO management is pretty good, you don't get much noise until ISO 1600) and as a rule of thumb stop the aperture one or two steps down from its widest at each focal length to minimize softness. And always take full advantage of the zoom capabilities (optical zoom) of your lens so you don't have to crop your images ("digital zoom") and you can retain the full resolution.

    Even shooting in Auto will get you better results than any compact camera! The bigger sensor and the better lens will just make up for great photos Wanna see that Philly pics!
    I don't totally agree with you. But a lot depends on the room you're shooting in. The light in a brightly lit stadium is easier, than a dark cozy club.

    If you have a new(er) DLR then try to push de ISO to 1600 or 3200. Use the brightest lens you have available. I usually shoot in manual, with my aperture at 2.8. A basic rule for your shutter speed is to shoot slower than 1/focal length. So when using a 200mm lens, shoot with 1/200s or faster (1/250, 1/400 etc). Good luck!
  5. A lot depends, and a lot is in context. Like Pim says, for newer cameras you can push the ISO to 3200 easily.

    On the other hand, I usually shoot with ISO 200, or 350, it all depends. Same with Pim I always shoot manual so it's constant tweaking, especially at a concert the dynamics change all the time. Light increases, decreases, changes position etc. You have to adapt quickly and accordingly.

    With regards to fixed vs zoom lens. I switched to a fixed lens and I like it much better than a zoom lens. Main reason? It's faster. It can focus much faster which is crucial at a concert where everything moves very quickly. Plus with 24MP it's easy to crop afterwards. The only exception as Sergio says here is indeed video, where you can't zoom. But a prime lens for concert photos is something I like much more than zoom. I expect most photographers who take their work a bit serious to shoot RAW and edit afterwards anyway so cropping is then an easy one to do.

    All in all, all the 'exposure triangle' (aperture, ISO & shutter) settings very much depend on the context, personal preference and your camera. You have to test it out and trial and error it also to see how your camera behaves and what the limitations are. For the main stage on the JT (since it's so light) I sometimes set the aperture to f4.0, ISO to 200 and shutter to 1/100 or 1/125. But with another camera you might have to change all of this in order to get the same photo. Or set the ISO much higher. Also, setting the aperture to f5.6 and the ISO to 1600 might give you the exact same result so it also depends what you prefer or what is easier to change during the show

    At a concert the lightning conditions are your biggest enemy so a lens which allows a lot of light helps (my f1.8 is amazing in darkness and is the standard setting when not aiming at the main stage), and your second biggest enemy is the pace in which everything changes and moves so a quick camera helps a lot as well. I always shoot in continuous mode as well in order to just have loads of photos of which one usually is to my satisfaction.

    I might write an article with the help of some others on (U2) concert photography soon, think it's a nice subject! I am just an amateur by all means but with some common sense and good equipment you can come very far.

    (also handy to know that in the US with the JT tour the camera policies are stricter than ever before, and are being enforced! 3 inch lenses are the max here, for Dublin the policy is even set to 1 inch! Some also have a maximum size on the camera as a whole so a mirrorless camera helps)
  6. Originally posted by Remy:A lot depends, and a lot is in context. Like Pim says, for newer cameras you can push the ISO to 3200 easily.

    On the other hand, I usually shoot with ISO 200, or 350, it all depends. Same with Pim I always shoot manual so it's constant tweaking, especially at a concert the dynamics change all the time. Light increases, decreases, changes position etc. You have to adapt quickly and accordingly.

    With regards to fixed vs zoom lens. I switched to a fixed lens and I like it much better than a zoom lens. Main reason? It's faster. It can focus much faster which is crucial at a concert where everything moves very quickly. Plus with 24MP it's easy to crop afterwards. The only exception as Sergio says here is indeed video, where you can't zoom. But a prime lens for concert photos is something I like much more than zoom. I expect most photographers who take their work a bit serious to shoot RAW and edit afterwards anyway so cropping is then an easy one to do.

    All in all, all the 'exposure triangle' (aperture, ISO & shutter) settings very much depend on the context, personal preference and your camera. You have to test it out and trial and error it also to see how your camera behaves and what the limitations are. For the main stage on the JT (since it's so light) I sometimes set the aperture to f4.0, ISO to 200 and shutter to 1/100 or 1/125. But with another camera you might have to change all of this in order to get the same photo. Or set the ISO much higher. Also, setting the aperture to f5.6 and the ISO to 1600 might give you the exact same result so it also depends what you prefer or what is easier to change during the show

    At a concert the lightning conditions are your biggest enemy so a lens which allows a lot of light helps (my f1.8 is amazing in darkness and is the standard setting when not aiming at the main stage), and your second biggest enemy is the pace in which everything changes and moves so a quick camera helps a lot as well. I always shoot in continuous mode as well in order to just have loads of photos of which one usually is to my satisfaction.

    I might write an article with the help of some others on (U2) concert photography soon, think it's a nice subject! I am just an amateur by all means but with some common sense and good equipment you can come very far.

    (also handy to know that in the US with the JT tour the camera policies are stricter than ever before, and are being enforced! 3 inch lenses are the max here, for Dublin the policy is even set to 1 inch! Some also have a maximum size on the camera as a whole so a mirrorless camera helps)
    Good points all around but there's one essential one:

    shoot
    in
    continuous

    always
  7. amateur, he says shooting breathtaking pictures okay. fine.

    I can't wait to test my first proper dslr-like camera during a show! it's really something I want to persue as a hobby and become somewhat decent at. thing is, I'm a perfectionist and my first show ought to turn out awful if not many more. I'll have to remind myself to keep trying and tweaking.

    @remy: you know I soak up all the related info you wanna give! an article would be neat thanks for all your input, sharing your many amazing results... and trusting me with your former companion
  8. Originally posted by phil_lebo:[..]
    [image]
    Thanks for the advice. I haven't had a problem getting that camera into any concerts so far.

    My Dad might give me his camera to use as well, which I'll be looking at today. He's always up to date in the latest and greatest photography stuff.

    I never thought of shutter priority. I always did manual and controlled everything, but might change it up. I have two concerts in the red zone, so if one doesn't come out good, the other will.

    This is one of my favorite and imo best pictures I've ever gotten of the band.

    Looking forward to tomorrow to get some more.

    Thanks for the help.
    can't wait to see your set! outstanding picture
  9. Originally posted by phil_lebo:[..]
    [image]
    Thanks for the advice. I haven't had a problem getting that camera into any concerts so far.

    My Dad might give me his camera to use as well, which I'll be looking at today. He's always up to date in the latest and greatest photography stuff.

    I never thought of shutter priority. I always did manual and controlled everything, but might change it up. I have two concerts in the red zone, so if one doesn't come out good, the other will.

    This is one of my favorite and imo best pictures I've ever gotten of the band.

    Looking forward to tomorrow to get some more.

    Thanks for the help.
    Here in Spain you won't be allowed to get in with a DSLR and a huge lens like yours, no way. If they see it they'll confiscate it and you have to pick it up back after the concert at the venue's left luggage. Same for audio recorders. The only way is to distract them with a coke can or another camera and pray that they don't frisk you...

    That pic is indeed incredible
  10. Originally posted by flowerchild:amateur, he says shooting breathtaking pictures okay. fine.

    I can't wait to test my first proper dslr-like camera during a show! it's really something I want to persue as a hobby and become somewhat decent at. thing is, I'm a perfectionist and my first show ought to turn out awful if not many more. I'll have to remind myself to keep trying and tweaking.

    @remy: you know I soak up all the related info you wanna give! an article would be neat thanks for all your input, sharing your many amazing results... and trusting me with your former companion
    It's one of the most wonderful hobbies there are so yeah You'll get better better and better, only better each time, so it definitely pays off!
  11. Originally posted by PiM1975:[..]
    I don't totally agree with you. But a lot depends on the room you're shooting in. The light in a brightly lit stadium is easier, than a dark cozy club.

    If you have a new(er) DLR then try to push de ISO to 1600 or 3200. Use the brightest lens you have available. I usually shoot in manual, with my aperture at 2.8. A basic rule for your shutter speed is to shoot slower than 1/focal length. So when using a 200mm lens, shoot with 1/200s or faster (1/250, 1/400 etc). Good luck!
    I'm now bringing a Sony RX10 with a 24-600 lens.