Just how important is IS for concert photography?

Ukkor

Ukkor

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David
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Well ive finally made up my mind that the Tamron 17 - 50 will be my next lens, however i am still unsure whether the IS will be worth it at this focal length. Now the main reason for wanting to buy this lens, is because I am venturing into the world of concert photography next year, and already have a couple of gigs lined up.

My 17-85 kit lens is obviously not going to be on use for this, so the Tamron is the obvious choice (on my budget), but i would just like to know if you think that it is worth paying the extra for the VC tamron, for concert photography.

Any help appreciated. Cheers
 
It'll be a bit useful, but not very, especially at 17-50mm length, because the subject is (usually) moving, and IS only reduces the effect of your hand shake. Brace better, crank the iso if need be or switch to a prime, and you should be fine :) Better to spend the extra on a 50mm 1.8 that you can have in your back pocket just in case the lighting's really gash instead of VC imo :)
 
itsdavedotnet said:
It'll be a bit useful, but not very, especially at 17-50mm length, because the subject is (usually) moving, and IS only reduces the effect of your hand shake. Brace better, crank the iso if need be or switch to a prime, and you should be fine :) Better to spend the extra on a 50mm 1.8 that you can have in your back pocket just in case the lighting's really gash instead of VC imo :)
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Thanks for that :) The idea of also getting a 50mm 1.8 never occurred to me before (shows how much i know!), so that is defiantly something i will keep in mind.
 
I use the Tamron, provides good results for the cash on my 40D. IS to me is not really important in music photography IMHO, just be prepared to up that iso, primes can also be good, but unless you have to use they can be limiting esp. if all you have is the first 3 songs and don't have a second body.

Examples on my site, link in sig.
 
If you've got the option of getting IS, then get it, but as other people have said if the subject is moving it wont help. One other thing that you might want to think about for your next lens is that 50mm might well be to short, if you are shooting from the pit then getting a 200mm 2.8 zoom is awesome.
 
no VC required. nice lens though, but 2.8 is fine for some lighting...not enough for dark gigs. so a 1.8 would do you nicely too :)
 
Hawker said:
If you've got the option of getting IS, then get it, but as other people have said if the subject is moving it wont help. One other thing that you might want to think about for your next lens is that 50mm might well be to short, if you are shooting from the pit then getting a 200mm 2.8 zoom is awesome.
Click to expand...


The 200mm 2.8 zoom is already sorted, use it for my sports so no harm in trying to use it at some gigs
 
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