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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> Need help with a lens for local band photography
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AuthorThread
 11/19/2004 01:23:24 PM · #1

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums here, but I have been watching the challenges for quite awhile and I'm very inspired by what I've seen. I became pretty interested in photography a couple of years ago. I ended up buying a Fuji FinePix S602Zoom and I have to say that I've learned quite a bit with it. I'm wanting to get a new Nikon D70 camera, but I am uncertain as to what lens would be best with the type of photography that I do. I normally do photography of local bands. There is an example of what kind of outcome I am looking for below. I took this picture of my boyfriend's band and I was pretty amazed at how clear it came out. I hate using tripods while photographing and I don't like to use flash. I want the stage lights to play a big part in my photos, but without a tripod and a flash it's kind of hard to get a clean image. I'm usually up in front by the stage, so I don't need a lot of zoom, but I do get caught in the back of the crowd sometimes. I'm just kind of wondering what kind of lens would compliment my style of photography. If anyone has done some band/concert photography and could give me any tips on a lens and also with camera settings, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

//www.digiverve.com/gator.jpg

Heather
 11/19/2004 01:26:52 PM · #2
A 50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 (more expensive)
 11/19/2004 01:27:04 PM · #3
You want to use as small an f-number as possible, so the Canon 50mm f/1.8 would be very good (edit: except your camera is Nikon, lol, but an equivilent lens anyway), because it lets lots of light in so you can use shorter shutter speeds, and you can also blur out the backgrounds which are not always very nice on stages. The 50mm may be enough, or it may not. I use my 75-300mm f/4-5.6 for my band photos. You can see a few of them here: //konador.com/dna/gallery

Message edited by author 2004-11-24 17:20:05.
 11/19/2004 01:33:02 PM · #4
everything Konador said (for venues)

won't they let you on stage to shoot from the side? In the crowd with expensive equipment would suck depending on the type of concert.

:-)

11/19/2004 01:38:49 PM · #5
Hi Heathernoll,

I am one of the LA based-photographers for We Are Scientists (an excellent band out of NYC if you want to check out their site: //www.wearescientists.com). I don't think they have my photos up there yet though since I only started shooting for them in August and they are too busy to work on their site.

Anyhow, here's what i have/do (and I get some great shots):
Canon 20D SLR on 400 when I use a flash and 800 to 1600 when I do not
External flash (to reach the drummer in the back (use compensation on the external flash when necessary)
Lens: 28mm to 80mm for full stage shots with all the band members
Lens: 70mm to 300mm for close ups of their faces

I keep the large lens in my pocket and only switch to it after I have taken 80% of the shots I am going to take for the night (using the 28mm to 80mm).

I use the 75mm to 300mm for about one song and take about 25 shots.

I switch back to the 28mm to 80mm before or right at the last song to get their 'energy' in group form.

I make sure NONE of those bright lights are shining where they hurt my eyes at all... if so, they'll hurt the photo too. I often will use a lens hood when the lights are unavoidable.

Keep your camera's shutter speed around 125 and f5.6 and 8.0 for some really great color and clarity. If you are having trouble getting enough light in, then open your aperature more, but I highly recommend those two aperatures with your external flash. For in-camera flash, same thing... but you may not be able to get the drummer easily enough without over-compensating the flash (if your camera can do that).

Good luck and post photos when you can! I'll try to post some of mine on Sunday if I have some time!
:) Arie
 11/19/2004 01:47:13 PM · #6


Canon 200 mm F2.8 ISO 800

For group shots you need something like 35 mm f2 ,for individual shots 85 mm at f1.8

Here is nice one !

Message edited by author 2004-11-19 13:55:23.
 11/24/2004 05:19:22 PM · #7
shoot btwn 800 and 1600 iso, and if you don't want to use a flash it can actually help to exercise your wrist to improve camera steadiness at speeds like 1/15, 1/30, and 1/60. a 50 mm 1.8 would be a great lens to use. I do band photography and it's the next lens I get. If you have the opportunity to get on stage with the band or super close, the nikon 10.5 mm fisheye is great too. It's pretty fast, and the advantage to the fisheye is that it's almost always in focus, unless you are like really really close. It also can make the action look exxagerated. I love how it looks personally. If you want to see some shots i took with the 10.5 fisheye, and also the d70 kits lens (18-70 3.5-4.5) you can look here Http://www.phdmidcoast.com/shows I did use the flash for most shots, you can tell which ones, but have had good ambient light shots with the fisheye. These pics are just from this past weekend. The only drawback to the fisheye is that the on camera flash doesn't have enough range to cover the 180* field of the fisheye, so an external flash would help a lot. I need to get one of those soon too.
11/24/2004 05:26:09 PM · #8
ISO 800 and 1600? I know I couldn't do that with my 10D and expect it to look good at anything larger than a 4x6. Have you had good results shooting that high and still having good enlargements?

I know bands use my stuff on posters so 800+ is totally outta the question. I never shoot over 200.
 11/24/2004 05:32:50 PM · #9
well if you want to shoot without a flash thats what i meant. yea it will get noisier, I haven't blown up anything really, most stuff i've shot is just for use on the web. when you're using flash obviously there's a lot more you can do. I think it's just kind of a question of what you want. If you're shooting ambient light then the images will probably all have kind of a surreal feel to them and maybe subject to more noise anyways, but yea 200 would definitely be better when you can afford it!
 11/24/2004 06:02:23 PM · #10
For ambient light i never shoot over 800 (sorry, should've stated that first) unless I KNOW it's not getting blown up and then I'll creep it up to 1200 but feel guilty about it. lol
 11/24/2004 06:11:05 PM · #11
I've had this kind of thread up before. If you look in my portfolio you'll find some shots of my old band that I did. I used the 50mm 1.8 nikkor for most, even the ones with the flash. You can probably tell which is which.

One thing you will want to remember is when you're using a flash is, don't leave your aperture open as someone stated in not so many words in this thread. The flash is going to light up EVERYTHING and the quick aperture will get a crisp background which can really take away from the subject, your band. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off as I had not done a concert before the one in my portfolio (will be shooting the same band again on saturday). I did get to use the 30-80mm 5.6 nikkor for some, but left the aperture wide (I'll not be doing that again) because I didn't add two and two together and realize when you have a light source such as a flash you don't need the faster lenses.

But you'll also see in some of the shots I did that there was barely enough light for even 1.8 (they are local and that's why, most national bands, or ones using posters n'things have better light shows. It also helps to know when the lights will be on and off.. The light and sound guy can and usually will help with this if you are new to shooting that band)the fastest shutter speed I could get a pic with was 1/60 and those get blurry especially when the band speeds up or rocks out or what ever.

Make sure the band gives you a wristband to move about freely, bouncers don't care if you have a camera or not.
*as far as getting on stage, you don't really need to unless you have a 'normal' lens. The crowd (in my experience which isn't much) doesn't want to crash into you or your stuff, but still beware. Besides, if there is enough people to constitute going on stage there is usually room up front for you to be. If this is the case, use auto focus and hold the camera above your head (bigger bands are not going to want you standing in front of them while they are playing.

I think the best thing you can do is get one of those lenses that are like, 500mm and 1.8 or so, and ask the sound guys if you can jump in their area. They are usually far enough back to be at eye level of the guys playing.

That's all I got.

Joe
 11/24/2004 06:19:15 PM · #12
Why not look into the new Minolta DSLR? I'm buying one almost specifically for this type of photography as the noise levels at ISO1600 and ISO3200 are relatively clean, and there's image stabilisation built into the body, making it very cheap to have a load of stabilised lenses. Minolta lenses in general are very good value for money. I've found the stabilisation on my FZ10 to be invaluable with gig photography.
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