Shooting live music with non-metering MF lenses?

Raphy · February 4, 2008

So I'm gonna take a stab at live music photography...just for fun... and was curious if anyone sees any issues with using manual focus non-metering lenses for live music. :dunno (ie. D40 with MF 50mm 1.8, for example)... I know that musicians move aroudn a lot, but AF would have to be constantly focusing anyways... i'm more cencerned about the metering... :rolleyes

Any experiences ?

dadwtwins · February 4, 2008

Raphy wrote:

So I'm gonna take a stab at live music photography...just for fun... and was curious if anyone sees any issues with using manual focus non-metering lenses for live music. (ie. D40 with MF 50mm 1.8, for example)... I know that musicians move aroudn a lot, but AF would have to be constantly focusing anyways... i'm more cencerned about the metering...

Any experiences ?

The lighting does not change much in a setting you are talking about. The manual focus is what we all use to use before autofocus became as good as it is now. With the 50mm @ f1.8, your focus will not change too much to make it hard on you.

I would shoot a few shoots to get your general setting for the correct exposure. You should see a great preview with your LCD on the D40. i would start off setting the ISO to 800, f1.8, shutter speed at 1/60 and go from there.

Once you have a good general lighting in the shoot, leave it at that setting and shoot away. I would also shoot in raw so you have two stops in booth directions of exposure during post processing.

ziggy53 · February 4, 2008

dadwtwins wrote:

The lighting does not change much in a setting you are talking about. The manual focus is what we all use to use before autofocus became as good as it is now. With the 50mm @ f1.8, your focus will not change too much to make it hard on you.

I would shoot a few shoots to get your general setting for the correct exposure. You should see a great preview with your LCD on the D40. i would start off setting the ISO to 800, f1.8, shutter speed at 1/60 and go from there.

Once you have a good general lighting in the shoot, leave it at that setting and shoot away. I would also shoot in raw so you have two stops in booth directions of exposure during post processing.

Exposure should be predictable if you test some and chimp using both the histogram and "blinkies" to gauge your exposure. Shoot in RAW but protect the highlights. I would also try ISO 1600 if you need to keep your shutter speed reasonable.

Art Scott · February 4, 2008

Raphy wrote:

So I'm gonna take a stab at live music photography...just for fun... and was curious if anyone sees any issues with using manual focus non-metering lenses for live music. (ie. D40 with MF 50mm 1.8, for example)... I know that musicians move aroudn a lot, but AF would have to be constantly focusing anyways... i'm more cencerned about the metering...

Any experiences ?

Club or concert and what genre of music.....makes a difference at least it did to me for my style of shooting.........

As Ziggy 53 stated shoot raw......depending on the lighting you may need to compensate for backlighting......some recent concerts I attended (but did not shoot any pics at) were heavily back lit........when I quit shooting concerts were very heavy with down lights and a good amount of front lighting.....good colored front lighting......now it seems blinding white light and terrible back lighting is becoming the norm......and evey thinks he is a lighting designer.........

I used to shoot all concerts on manual focus, exposure everyting but of course my cameras were all aperture priority.....so I would normally set to shoot between f 4 and 11 and shutters around 1/30 to 1/125.....I shot everything with either Fuji 50 or 100 ........but again as Ziggy53 said....if you can shoot high ISO without the pics being totally lost to noise then that is what you will probably need.......remember to focus on the eyes if you shooting a face shot.......also if you have longer lenses than the 50 use them.....my normal concert lens has been a 70-210 of various brands depending on camera I owned at the time....now I also carry a body with a 24-70...both curent lenses are f2.8 and Sigma....they focus quick and silky smooth even in manual focus mode........

How did I decide what f-stop and shutter speed to use....this is comical.........As I entered into the venue I would start studying the lights and I would be rotating the aperture ring from one end to the other and then all of a sudeen I would stop and then do the same for the shutter....never once would I look at the camera....it was like I was being Guided from Beyond......really....I mean it....it was all intution...gut feelings....or spirit guiding....how ever you want it.........

I am having to re-learn to shoot entertainment cause film and digital are 2 very different beasts I have found.....my first several events I shot were shot at 50 / 100 iso aperture around 5.6 / 8 and shutter at 1/15 - 1/60 and there were no images ....no usable images....so I started shooting on prog..ugggh hate prog...I am not in control....so I started upping the ISO and now depending on the lights either 800-3200......so i am starting to change only because I have to:D

Good Luck and be sure to let us see the outcome.....

Raphy · February 4, 2008

Thanks for the comments, suggestions and encouragement... My 1st crack at is is tomorrow night

wish me luck !

Raphy · February 27, 2008

FOr those interested, i had my 1st crack at live music photography on the weekend... (my initial gig got cancelled :cry )...

Please let me know what you think and where I can improve. THanks !

http://www.digitalgrin.com/showthread.php?t=85898

SavedByZero · February 27, 2008

Go with a higher shutter speed to reduce hand blur or time your shots better and stick with verticals to fill the frame.

Shooting live music with non-metering MF lenses?

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