Is 50mm F1.8MKII Suitable for Indoor Concert?

[Liang]

I am going to a indoor concert next month and wish to try shooting. I have few question need to ask.

1. Is 50mm F1.8 suitable for indoor concert?
2. If yes, What aperture should I use to get sharp picture?
3. I am sitting at 4th row from the stage. Is 50mm long enough?

I hope some of you can advice me.
:roll:

[c0ntr0lz]

50 would be good if it's low low light
but if the stage is going to be totally lit up then you can go higher
distance should be ok as long as you're not past 30ft

[rick barclay]

(EDIT) I did this with the EFS 18-55mm kit lens the
first week I had the camera. EXIF says the shot was at 53mm at f/5.6. It was shot in jpg mode in full auto. You'll do much better with a 50mm f/1.8.

http://flashdaddee.com/IMG_0484a.jpg

[roanjohn]

I am going to a indoor concert next month and wish to try shooting. I have few question need to ask.

1. Is 50mm F1.8 suitable for indoor concert?
2. If yes, What aperture should I use to get sharp picture?
3. I am sitting at 4th row from the stage. Is 50mm long enough?

I hope some of you can advice me.
:roll:

Try AV mode 2-2.8............under ISO 800.........or 400.

Ro1

[Olegis]

The 50mm f/1.8 should be terrific lens for concerts ! Just make sure you're close enough to the stage. This lens is sharp even at f/1.8, you can see some examples here (http://www.pbase.com/olegis/tasteofcity&page=all) (shot during a local food festival which took place at night).

[drisley]

The 50F1.8 should be perfect!
I sat in the 4th row of my first bodybuilding show, and the 50F1.8 allowed me to get shots of most of the stage. If you want tight shots of one person, then it may be a bit short.

BTW, what camera are you using?

Here is what I recommend. Put the camera in M mode, set the ISO to 400. Set the shutter speed to about 1/100s. Then, while pointing the camera at the stage during the concert adjust the aperture until the meter in the viewfinder is about 1/3 to 2/3 over center. Hopefully you will be around f2.8 as this will offer great sharpness, and nice background blur.

The main thing you want is to get a shutter of over 1/60s to prevent motion blur and camera shake. 1/100s or faster would be great.
Another thing is to SLIGHTLY overexpose if you use a higher ISO. That way you will get virtually noise free images.
If you have to use an aperture of f1.8 to get the above speed, I would recommend increasing the ISO to 800 or even 1600 so that you can get an aperture between f2.5 to f2.8 where that lens really becomes nice and sharp. If you slightly overexpose, the noise will be almost non-existent at ISO800, and very minimal at ISO1600. Don't be afraid to use high ISO's.

This is a picture (http://www.mts.net/~lftbrain/iso1600crop2.jpg)taken with the 85F1.8 which is similar in quality to the 50F1.8. I was in the 4th row, and I used a setting of ISO800, f2.5, 1/125sec. As you can see, even at 100% crop there is no noise, and this is straight out of C1 Pro with no noise reduction.

I have some pictures showing what 4th row with a 50F1.8 would look like, but unfortunately my server (fotop) is down. arghh.

[cmM]

It's good for low light, but I don't know if it's long enough. Should be pretty close if you're sitting in 4th row

[drisley]

Fotop is slowly coming online.
Have a look at this gallery (http://www.fotop.net/sharpnsmart/mabba032004).
All pictures were taken with the 300D and 50F1.8 using the methods I described above. They were mainly ISO400, f2.0, 1/60sec, or ISO800, f2.0, 1/125sec.
I was sitting in the 4th row.

[abel]

very good info. ill be shooting a concert next month and this info is great!! thanks...

ill be taking my 50mm 1.8 and prolly a 70-200 2.8 to get some nice tight shots...

[c0ntr0lz]

very good info. ill be shooting a concert next month and this info is great!! thanks...

ill be taking my 50mm 1.8 and prolly a 70-200 2.8 to get some nice tight shots...

if you're taking a 70-200 2.8 then why take the 50mm unless you're wanting a bit wider shot

[friscomgm]

I like to use Night Shot (slow sync flash) for concerts and such. Most of these were shot with the kit lens, but I did snap a few with the 50 1.8:

http://www.friscomix.com/Stray_Cat_Index.html

http://www.friscomix.com/images/Stray_Cat/mini-IMG_7343.JPG

[Jesper]

Interesting tips on photographing concerts (http://www.photo.net/photo/canon/mirarchi/concert/concer_2.htm).

[drisley]

Great link Jesper.
I totally agree with everything mentioned in that article.

[Liang]

Great input from all of you!
Thank you very much!