Shooting Choir Concert

30D with a Nifty Fifty and a Tammy 17-50 f/2.8 to shoot nephew's choir concert this week. Which lens should I shoot with? I'm pretty sure I can shoot with a flash and I will need to throw a few elbows to get close to the action--any tips?

I was there last year and we got stuck in the back but we'll get there early this year. The stage is set-up in the cafeteria and only the stage is lit.

da_teacher wrote in post #2389012
30D with a Nifty Fifty and a Tammy 17-50 f/2.8 to shoot nephew's choir concert this week. Which lens should I shoot with? I'm pretty sure I can shoot with a flash and I will need to throw a few elbows to get close to the action--any tips?

I was there last year and we got stuck in the back but we'll get there early this year. The stage is set-up in the cafeteria and only the stage is lit.

Okay, this is what I do all the time at church. If there is anyway you can take your camera and get there before the day of the concert or at least when no one is there, you can take your lenses and see what works best. I would go with the fastest lens you can get away with (i.e. Nifty) set to 2.0 (probably a bit sharper) and set ISO to 1600, but since you are fixed with the 50, you should probably go with the tammy because you may want some group shots and as long as you spot meter off the kid you are shooting, your shutter should be ample at 2.8 and ISO 1600 (I have yet to need 3200 for a concert). If you can get your ISO to even 800, that would help even more.

Have a great time and the best to your family performing. Merry Christmas.

I have tried using my 50mm and have not had much luck with it in the past. this year I own the 24-105 f4 L IS and it did a MUCH better job. Any possibility of you renting a lens for the day?

Maybe your event will actually have lights on over head. At our event they turn the lights out and use bright spot lights and you end up battlling blown highlights and underexposed areas in the same shots...

Nifty. And chimp the histogram the first several shots; unless you're very close up, you'll probably have some of the off-stage area in the frame and that'll encourage your camera to overexpose the choir in the center.

Jon wrote in post #2389905
Nifty. And chimp the histogram the first several shots; unless you're very close up, you'll probably have some of the off-stage area in the frame and that'll encourage your camera to overexpose the choir in the center.

Just a couple more thoughts...

I suggested spot metering off of his nephew using the spot meter, but I didn't mention to switch to manual after that. What I do is spot meter (even partial spot metering works well enough for me for sometimes the spot meter will over expose if it picks up dark parts of the face!) for the first couple shots off the people I am shooting (assuming they are in the same light for the duration of the shoot), look at the exposure that yields the people properly exposed per the histogram, then change to manual based on what settings exposed right, then go from there. I usually end up from the church with 1/160, f/2.8, ISO 1600 with my 24-70 or 70-200, both 2.8s.

As long as he gets his nephew properly exposed, it won't matter about the rest of the stage because some will be exposed over and some under. With this, focusing and composing the shots are the only aspects to consider. If the lights change often, then aperture prior on the widest aperture is the best route, IMHO.