Camera Settings For A Dark Gig

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jtphoto93

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Jake
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im starting to photograph lots of bands but still havent found a really good setting for taking photos in a dark energetic gig.

If anyone has a good set of settings for ISO shutter speed etc could you help me out.

I have a cannon EOS 300D and a Fujifilm Finepix S5800.

thanks:)
 
Before we can answer, what lenses do you have for the 300D?
 
just the basic one which came with the camera atm. but going to by a new one soon.
 
thankyou daigliesh thats really helpful :)
 
widest aperture you have in Av mode push the iso as high as you have to to get shutter speeds in the 1/125 ballpark.
Shoot raw and bodge it later
center AF is probably the only one that will work, but it might struggle a little

forgot - pray for good light :D
 
thanks everyone :) yeah im saving up for new lenses. maybe some link to some good ones would be helpful. and yeah david i will defo pray for good lighting at gigs :)
 
tamron 17-50 f2.8 is a good alrounder and v sharp (200 ish S/H)

canon 50mm f1.8 is a very good low light and portrait lens (80 ish new)
 
thanks david :) ill probably go for the cannon as its cheaper cause im only a student. but ill post some photos tomorrow of the gig i photographed last night and u can say what you think and how i can improve
 
jtphoto93 said:
thanks david :) ill probably go for the cannon as its cheaper cause im only a student. but ill post some photos tomorrow of the gig i photographed last night and u can say what you think and how i can improve
Click to expand...

it's a good way to experiment with DoF and a massively cheap way into the world of fast glass
 
Same as with any dark venue/fast movement subject:
You'll need a fast shutter speed to freeze movement, a wide aperture to get as much light into the camera as possible, probably meaning that you'll have to increase ISO to achieve both those prerequisites...
What you have to do is compromise.
Do you: accept blurred subjects from slower shutter speeds, slightly underexposed images or high noise/grain from the increased ISO?

Or just buy a camera that's designed to cope with all of that?

If the stage lights are any good, then you shouldn't have too much difficulty with it being too dark as the main action will be well-enough lit for most modern cameras. The biggest problems will revolve around the constantly changing exposure values as the lighting changes throughout the set.
 
another issue you may find is a lot of venues wont allow you to being a dslr in with you having a pres pass, as there calssed as pro equipment.
although Ive snuck mine into a few!.....just be prepered to do what i called guerra shooting....also when you edit your images you may find some work better in B and W id there very noisy.
 
yeah thanks civicboy i found that i cant take my digi slr unless i get a proper pass. but atm i have got a few passes. and yeah i do alot of editing on the photos after the gig to enhance and i do prefer black and white. i do alot of black and white film work with my pentax camera :)
 
gig photos!!! hard work!
the 1.8 is certainly the way to go
push the ISO and shoot in raw.
then recover the noise later using software because unless you have £2-3k to spend on digital camera equipment it's going to be tough
 
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