taking shots during dark indoor concert

[steal_your_face]

greetings group,

I'm off to see Phish in the near future and am looking to taking oodles of shots. My last batch of concert photos turned out beyong horrible.

i have the A70 powershot and the specs i've got for it ar e

iso 400 (top speed)
f-stop 2.8
shutter speed 15-1/2500 sec range

my question is: with my max iso being so low, will a fast shutter speed make up for it?

am i on the right track with this, or am i setting myself up for failure. any help is much appreciated

thank you
justin

[CyberDyneSystems]

You will need a SLOW shutter speed,. (the longer the shutter is open the more light can get in)

You can do either of two things,.

ISO @ 400 set apeture priorty to f/2.8 (letting in the most light) and let shutter speeds fall where they may to get you proper exposure. With these settings you will most likely get some photos with motion blur depending on how bright the stage is lit. But some times a motion blur can be nice!

ISO@ 400 and set the shutter priority to 1/125 to stop motion blur. Most of the time 1/125 is all you need to stop the motion. In this case blur should rarely occur,. instead you will sacfrifice LIGHT,. some images may be too dark,. others may be pleasingly moody and if the lights get too bright than the aperture can close down as needed on its own to prevent overexposure.

The second is usually how i shoot in the theatre,. unless I ma in fact looking to get a nice motion blur,.

[CyberDyneSystems]

p.s.

Steal_your_face,

......got any pics of Motorhead?

[steal_your_face]

nope, no morothead pics here..

thanks for the help...i've got the first row in the balcony so hopefully the blue will be negligible

but i DO want the 2.8f and not the 4.8 right

[steal_your_face]

anybody else got any recommendations

[RichardtheSane]

I have some concert shots on my website that i suspect are similar to what you hope to achieve.
I was using 1/20th-1/60th of a second as F3.5-F4.5 ISO 800 for the majority of the shots and they came out ok.
I should think if you set to ISO400 and F2.8 you will get the best results possible.
If you are not close enough to the stage that it fills the frame then set centre weighted metering if your camera has it, as matrix will try to compensate for the darkness around the stage and blow out the stage itself.
Oh, and turn off the flash!

CDS, next time Moterhead do my local I'll pop in and shoot a few for you

[Yance]

You are testing the limits of your camera with concert photos. I'd do it strictly with high speed film, maybe you should borrow a film camera with a 200mm? At slow shutter speeds you are going to have to deal with camera shake and also subject movement. Usually those two things in combination wreck good photos unless you want an art shot. Sorry, man

[steal_your_face]

thanks for all your input

yea, the place i'm going doesn't allow cameras, so i'd have to stealth it, which means i can't bring out the 'big toys'...

i'll be on the first row in the upper level, so i'll have the wall to set the camera on...

thanks again on the centre weighted metering..i'll see if i can set that up

..and i'll post a few of the good ones, if i'm lucky to capture it well

--justin

[RichardtheSane]

Stealth it eh - did that with my 10D a couple of months back
A very good reason to double check the flash is turned off!! It would be like a magnet for security!

[AcesHigh]

Motorhead Nice, I didnt knew there were metalheads in this forum. Anyone likes bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Dio, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Rush, Running Wild, Accept, Saxon, Judas Priest, etc?

[steal_your_face]

thanks again...

am i missing any other pertinent information..

btw i've got a live rush show from 2000 on disc if anyone would like a copy let me know

[RichardtheSane]

AcesHigh wrote:
Nice, I didnt knew there were metalheads in this forum.

Trust me - there is at least one

[dog010]

I've shot some shows with my G3 at 1/40 @ f3.0 which is nearly what you'll get with the A70 I think at full wide angle. If you're too far away, try switching your metering system to spot mode as this will limit the meter to the AF frame so you'll be able to pick a mid level bright spot to guage from.

I don't know how AF will cope in this situation so if you're some distance away you might be better off sticking it on infinity MF and leaving it there.

Good Luck and Have Fun,

[bladerunner2000]

AcesHigh wrote:
Motorhead Nice, I didnt knew there were metalheads in this forum. Anyone likes bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Dio, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Rush, Running Wild, Accept, Saxon, Judas Priest, etc?

Well, here is another one.