What Camera for Night Club Photography?

8utters said:
I used to work as a club photographer for fotoparty.co.uk, I know ALOT about this field and have plenty of experience.

You want to get a lens as wide as possible. Don't bother with a 50mm, waste of time, it's far to narrow. You will be taking group shots (often with 15+ people in it) so a 50 will be completely useless for that. Even for individual photos a 50 is still too narrow, you want to get the whole person in, not just their face. Also remember that there's often hardly any room to move about in clubs, so you need to have a wide lens.

A flashgun is ESSENTIAL. The most important part of your kit for nightlife photography.

I'd say, go for a 400D or 350D with kit lens and 430ex.

Got some tips on settings and technique aswel:

Flash
Always try and bounce the light from the celing or nearby wall. For the best lit shots, you want to bounce it off a low, white ceing. Gives a great natrual looking light from above.

A few examples of bounced flash. Both post processed in photoshop:

image02.jpg


image03.jpg


If you can't bounce it, then direct flash works really well if you have a flashgun. Also get hold of a diffuser if you are gonna be using direct flash. Attatch it and point the flash head at a 45 degree angle for the best results.

ISO
ISO is VERY important. DON'T set it low or you will just get the people with a black background - it looks rubbish and amuter. I used to shoot at about 400-500.

Shutterspeed
You want it low to ensure you get all of the background in. I shot at 1/6 - 1/10.

Apature
Wide open for odvious reasons. Bear in mind that you need to ensure you get everyone in focus so get them standing close together if it's a big group.

What company were you thinking of joining?
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I take club photography and I'd pretty much agree with this. Avoid the 50mm far to narrow especially for a non full frame camera. Plus don't be afraid too shoot with a high ISO. I usually shoot with it at about 2000.

And a flash gun is essential, pop us flash will limit you so much.
 
It's normally conventional to start a new thread rather than bump a 3 year old one.

Never mind :)
 
yingxuy said:
I used my Nikon 18-200 or Sigma 18-50 lens. AF-S/HSM is necessary, otherwise the auto focus a lot of hunting in the dark. I use the pop-up flash IP F5 and shutter speed about 1 / 100 is a fine and settings.
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Please tell me you don't got paid to take shots in a club with them settings and a pop up flash???
 
duttytd said:
Please tell me you don't got paid to take shots in a club with them settings and a pop up flash???
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Why does it matter if you does or doesn't ?

If the people he supply's are happy with the product what's the big deal?
 
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