Help Concert Photogrphy

[wando]

I'm going to photograph my church's young adult concert this saturday and I'm pretty confused on how I should approach it.

The only low-light photography i've done was this weekend at a smaller church event, here's the gallery
http://s93272729.onlinehome.us/WarungGaul/

It seems that the 50mm f1.8 I used was too short, I was thinking about renting either the 70-200f2.8 or 135mm lens for this saturday what do you think??

[stratos]

i would go for the 70-200 is if u could rent it, cuase i think taht would do the job for sure ( imo )

[SuzyView]

Got fot the 70-200, it's really great indoors and from far away. Just have a monopod ring for it in case you want to keep it steady without a flash. Some concerts don't allow flash.

[taygull]

When you rent it get the one with IS, it makes a huge difference. Learn to read your histogram and don't be afraid to bump the ISO to 800 or 1600. I'd suggest shoot in AV Mode wide open and watch your shutter speeds. Your gonna want them at least around 1/125 or greater with the IS. I have had good results as low as 1/60 but would never go below 1/200 without IS.

Oh and these are setting using no flash. I'd be careful with flash as it ruins the mood of the image and most places won't let you use it.

I hope this helps.

[Croasdail]

I think you could get away with the 100 f2 and do just fine. Your talking a lot cheaper lens the the zoom and optically a lot faster. If your limited by light, you would be surprised how slow f2.8 is. You could take your existing lens in there and set it to 2.8, just to see what kind of reading you get back. It would save you a lot of money if it too dark. Also worth the look is the 135 f2.0 L... .a peach of a lens but double the price of the 100 but half that of the zoom. Good luck with it. Cheers.

[wando]

I'm not going to buy any of these lens, just renting them for the weekend. I cant decide between the 135 f2.0L or 70-200f2.8L (the IS is not available) both are the same price to rent.

[DwightMcCann]

Geez, Wando, if I knew where you lived and you lived close to me I'd loan you all the lenses you could want ... why don't you put your location in the UserCP? :-)

[wando]

haha, thx dwight but i lived pretty far away from you. I already rented the 70-200 thx for all the help guys. I'll post some photos after saturday

[DwightMcCann]

haha, thx dwight but i lived pretty far away from you. I already rented the 70-200 thx for all the help guys. I'll post some photos after saturday

Yup, a touch too far! :-)

[johnstoy]

"Some situational experience in the near darkness of a Church.>"

I had the opportunity to photograph the Chancellor of Ireland as personally requested by his host, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC, some twenty seven years ago. I knew flash was not permitted.

This was during a ceremony at the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Having arrived 90 minutes before, I checked the church lighting with a light meter and determined that I could only use my fastest lens with an f stop of 1.4.

Fortunately my family business was within running distance (streets were closed to traffic for the Parade), and was able to retrieve several additional rolls of highest speed films on the market.

The entire ceremony was by candle light. The Harp player accompanied the choir in the near darkness, as the NYC and NYS Officials greeted the Chancellor.

I took close to 120 pictures in the few minutes alloted. The substantial results were appreciated by mine superiors and elders.

I certainly would check with the church first, regarding the lights and scrutinize the location right at the exact point where the photographing will occur.

If your gallery reflects the Church concert setting, than how dark will it be during the concert is the question, you want to know.

John

[arnieg]

I would go for the 24-70 lense .I photograph a lot of Bands .The lense is excellent in small venues with low light,plus you get a fairly wide angle. 70 200 is better at larger Venues.it is hard to get a group shot with it when your shooting close to the stage.