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digital camera for concert use
Matt Tudor:
I'm looking to get a camera. I know very little about digital photography but I've been reading a lot, and playing around with the few adjustable settings on my wife's point and shoot Sony. I've seen some very good photos floating around here time to time and thought this would be a good place to ask for advice
My primary reason for wanting one is for use at shows, trying to document what we do, in terms of set-up and staging before the gig, and what our sparkys do for looks and effects during the show. Some of the pictures may end up on the website eventually, to give an idea of what we can do to clients looking at the space. Some of the pictures will just be filed so we have some documentation of what we did, should we want to do it again. It also helps new student designers see what's possible. My wife's point and shoot does OK taking shots under normal lighting condition, but during events with either very dark, very bright, or flashing light, I just don't get good quality pics.
Since I've seen good concert shots here, some of you guys must know how to get it done and I would appreciate any advice. Are there certain features or options that I should be looking for? Or questions I should be asking a salesman when I finally get to that point? I'm headed to Barnes and Noble this weekend to find some books.
Budget right now is between $500-800, is that reasonable or should I expect to spend more?
Thanks
Matt
Bennett Prescott:
Here's a great thread from the new old LAB: http://srforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/m/371656/0/
And a followup:
http://srforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/m/522147/0/
Taylor Phillips:
You need an DSLR camera here. You can get decent pictures with a point and shoot, but you really have to know what your doing and even then it's quite difficult. I'll go to a concert with my nice point and shoot camera and take 100 photos and have just two or three that are usuable for anything. The problem with point-and-shoot digital cameras is that they use tiny sensors. The tiny sensors can't gather very much light, so when you're in a low-light setting like a concert where you have to crank up the sensitivity, you get extremely noisy (grainy) images. The larger the sensor, the less noise, and thus the better picture. If don't turn up the sensitivity, you'll end up with blurry pictures because you'll have a much slower shutter speed. The other thing you need to look for the maximum aperture on the lens. Camera lenses will say things like 18-55mm f/3.5-5.8, that's the standard kit lense for an entry level DSLR camera. The 18-55mm is the focal length of the lense at its widest (zoomed out) and most telephoto (zoomed in) points. The f/ numbers are the maximum apertures at those points. The aperture is measured as a ratio, so the smaller the number, the larger the aperture. The larger the aperture, the more light gets to the sensor. In low-light photography, you don't want an aperture smaller than f/2.8. That means you don't want the f/ number to be larger than 2.8. You want it to be smaller. When the f/ number is small, and thus you have a large aperture and more light coming in, you don't have to turn up the sensitivity, and you can use a faster shutter speed.
As to the camera make/model, all of the SLR cameras made by the major manufacturers are good. I haven't compared them in a while, but I think a while back the best low-light entry-level DSLR was the Pentax K-x. Canon and Nikon will have better support and their new models might outperform the Pentax. All of these brands offer a 50mm f/1.8 lens for quite cheap. It is not a zoom lens, so if you want to get closer or farther away you'll have to walk, but low-light pictures will look worlds better than if used the bundled zoom lens.
Brad Harris:
+1 on Taylors response.
In addition to a fast lense (smaller f/ number). A fish eye is great for site visits, usually 1-2 shots will give you a whole room view of places up to small arenas, and then use a longer lense (40-200mm) for shots that you don't want distortion (showing irregular beam spacings and verticals come to mind).
All of my bodies i've bought off of Kijiji for 1/3-1/2 of thier original price, same with a few of the 'cheaper' lenses (but I don't know if I can wait long enough for the D7000's to start showing up there :P )
Also there are a few point and shoot cameras that have quite abit of control in manual (shutter and f/stop), but by the time you spend $350+ on those, you could get a nice used Nikon/Cannon/Pentax body and kit lense for the same price.
And if you can't decide, look at Ken Rockwells site. He has quite the collection of reviews on pretty much anything Nikon and Cannon (along with Pentax, Leica, Sony/Minolta).
Gareth Marsh:
--- Quote from: Taylor Phillips on February 02, 2011, 05:07:32 PM --- In low-light photography, you don't want an aperture smaller than f/2.8. That means you don't want the f/ number to be larger than 2.8. You want it to be smaller. When the f/ number is small, and thus you have a large aperture and more light coming in, you don't have to turn up the sensitivity, and you can use a faster shutter speed.
--- End quote ---
One thing to note though is that a large aperature (small 'f' number) will also give you a shallower depth of field. If you want a lot of depth of field ie. the backline/truss right through to the pa hangs and screens, you will have an upper limit to your aperature setting.
In this case you have to compromise. You either need a camera that is quite low noise (DSLR cameras are better than compacts, and the higher the resolution the more noise you get - for the same chip size) or you will just have to up to ISO and get more noise. Overall comparing shots from compacts to SLRs the difference in clarity it quite obvious.
Shooting in RAW mode will also help, although you then have to process each shot. There are also some pretty good noise reduction programs available.
If you want good reviews of most cameras, look at http://www.dpreview.com/
HTH
Gareth
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