Gig photos - wide zoom or 50mm f1.8?

peckerhead

Howdy all, hoping for a few tips on shooting at a gig this weekend (in Dolans, Limerick).

I'm still just cutting my teeth on my first DSLR, an Olympus E510 with which I'm much pleased so far — picked it up from a US seller on Ebay for just over €300 delivered with the two kit zooms, 14-42mm and 40-150mm, plus a dedicated FL-36 flashgun, all in great nick.

Last week I bagged another wee bargain, an old Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 lens (=100mm on a four-thirds camera) which I'm experimenting with and which I sense is the obvious lens to use for this, since I'll be using manual exposure and focussing anyway, given the likely lighting conditions. Should I even bother bringing along the 14-42mm (f/3.5-5.6) lens? Heck of a difference from f/1.8 to f/5.6, and with a max of ISO 1600 I reckon I'll be needing every bit of light available. Thankfully, the E510 has IS which works even with legacy lenses, so I should be able to get away with lower shutter speeds than usual, if I can keep a steady hand... and I may want to get some shots of the whole stage, which with an effective 100mm focal length would mean backing right away.

Any other advice for me, other than the obvious:

(a) shoot RAW
(b) use mute mode and turn off the LCD auto-display
(c) run the files through Neat Image afterwards
(d) wear black, and bring earplugs

TIA. I've seen some great gig photos on here and am hoping you guys will help me come up with some decent stuff, since a mate is in the band and I promised to share any worthwhile shots in return for an access all areas pass... bit nervous stepping up from my old Fuji bridge!

Edit: sorry, just realised this should probably have gone in The Workshop — maybe a mod could move it?

melekalikimaka

peckerhead wrote: »

Howdy all, hoping for a few tips on shooting at a gig this weekend (in Dolans, Limerick).

I'm still just cutting my teeth on my first DSLR, an Olympus E510 with which I'm much pleased so far — picked it up from a US seller on Ebay for just over €300 delivered with the two kit zooms, 14-42mm and 40-150mm, plus a dedicated FL-36 flashgun, all in great nick.

Last week I bagged another wee bargain, an old Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 lens (=100mm on a four-thirds camera) which I'm experimenting with and which I sense is the obvious lens to use for this, since I'll be using manual exposure and focussing anyway, given the likely lighting conditions. Should I even bother bringing along the 14-42mm (f/3.5-5.6) lens? Heck of a difference from f/1.8 to f/5.6, and with a max of ISO 1600 I reckon I'll be needing every bit of light available. Thankfully, the E510 has IS which works even with legacy lenses, so I should be able to get away with lower shutter speeds than usual, if I can keep a steady hand... and I may want to get some shots of the whole stage, which with an effective 100mm focal length would mean backing right away.

Any other advice for me, other than the obvious:

(a) shoot RAW
(b) use mute mode and turn off the LCD auto-display
(c) run the files through Neat Image afterwards
(d) wear black, and bring earplugs

TIA. I've seen some great gig photos on here and am hoping you guys will help me come up with some decent stuff, since a mate is in the band and I promised to share any worthwhile shots in return for an access all areas pass... bit nervous stepping up from my old Fuji bridge!

Edit: sorry, just realised this should probably have gone in The Workshop — maybe a mod could move it?

Depending on the lighting, realistically the 1.8 will be needed, 3.5 is gonna struggle in lowlight, but if the lighting is big on the stage, is very doable, but you will be sacrificing high noise to compensate, I'd imagine you'll be sticking with the 1.8, and drop the noise down to manageable levels. Maybe use the 3.5 with the flash ( personally I wouldnt ever use flash - but AR here uses to good effect) depends on what your shooting to a degree

Promac

You'll probably want to stick with the 1.8 as said already. Flash is grand for pubs and crowds but it's totally obnoxious in a gig when you're shooting the band. You can always swap out the zoom lens for the wide shots and use a wall or something to steady the camera for a longer exposure - you might get some nice blurry crowd effects from it as a bonus.

Apart from that, just use manual mode and bracket your shots manually or use shutter priority (to make sure you're shooting fast enough to prevent blur) and get the camera to bracket for you. Your meter will probably be screwed cause of all the vastly differing light levels it'll be trying to deal with so just chimp a little at first and then use common sense. With a big enough memory card you should be able to take enough shots to cover your quota.

The Snipe

If its in Dolans Warehouse then use the 50mm 1.8 - at the front of the stage and back stage it does wanders. What gig are you shooting in there? And on what day? If I'm shooting in there myself, I will be able to show you a few things.

peckerhead

Thanks, lads. It's this one.

The Snipe

Ah yes, its on tonight! I was going to go down and cover it, but I've been called to shoot the Butterfly Ball in the Raddision tonight instead - However I may make it down for a few shots if I am; I'm sure I'll see you there and I'll give you a few tips for shooting in there (Btw, the 50mm, will mean you wont need flash)

peckerhead

I'll bring along a spare set of earplugs for ya.

The Snipe

I wont need em Still deaf after Arthurs Day :P

ThOnda

Bumpity bump. This thread got discarded (well, hidden into sub-forum), let's make it pop up on the top of the page agan

The Snipe

Just back now - so I couldn't make it down! But I hope it went well for you bud!

peckerhead

Cheers bud, just back meself.

Cracking gig, the place was packed, and photos-wise everything looks more or less OK on the LCD, despite fairly dire lighting. Actually, I found my biggest hassle was the fixed 100mm focal length. I was nearly too close, a lot of the time, and I've plenty of otherwise good shots where e.g. the tip of a guitar is out of frame. I'll have to keep an eye out for an old OM lens that's a bit shorter than the 50mm but still nice and fast.

I'll cull them in the morning, try a bit of PP on the keepers and post a few up later for some C&C.

Promac

You often get second hand canon 28mm primes showing up on adverts or in conn's etc. Should be able to pick one up fairly cheapish and that'll get you a bit more field of view.

Borderfox

Primes all the way especially on full frame, I went out to shoot some gig stuff at the local festival with a 24-70L and a 70-200L and it was great to have the flexibility of the zooms but was hamstrung by they were both f2.8 apertures, went out the next night and used the 50 f1.4 and 85L and it was much better. One lens that came in handy was the Canon 15mm f2.8 fisheye, if the performers were static enough you could drop the shutter speed to get a decent iso and capture the whole stage from close up

peckerhead

Cheers again. Only thing is, mine's an Olympus... and being a four-thirds camera, the focal length gets doubled, so, say, a 24mm would be only equivalent to a standard lens. It'll be tricky for me to get any sort of wide-angle glass on there cheaply, never mind something fast like a f2.

Have had a very quick look at my shots on the monitor now (though not done any work on them yet) - depth of field at f1.8 is zilch, so a lot of them are ever-so-slightly out of focus, which is frustrating when they're otherwise OK.

I guess this takes a bit of practice...

The Snipe

That was taken at a gig in the Warehouse with a 50mm 1.8 :P

peckerhead

Nice one. I finally got around to posting a few up for C&C here.