What lense is next?

Well, I have gotten the 50mm f/1.8

It works well, but I notice that it does not "zoom." I am still photography illiterate so please bear with me, lol. But I was wondering if someone can suggest a good (preferably cheaper) lense that may zoom. The 50mm f/1.8 works great if you are up close, but I need something that will work well when you are a tad further away from the act.

I also tried using my current lense at a local club, and I wasn't too far away. The lighting sucked, and my photos came out super blurry. I shot is A-Dep at ISO 1600, 1.8 aperture, and played around with the other setting and the photos were horrible. Any idea why this may be. I appologize to those who are annoyed by my lack of knowlege

Brandon, what is your other lens?.. and what are it's f stop values? What were the shutter speeds you used? Slow shutter speeds will result in blurs and shakes...

The 50mm f1.8 is a prime lens...
Next primes in lines are the, Canon 50mm f1.4, and Canon 85mm f1.8 both around $330.00, there are also fast Prime lenses in the 35mm, 30mm, 28mm, 24mm, lengths... You need a prime, no slower than an f2.0...
And the fastest zooms should be the f2.8's...none slower...
Check the B & H and Adorama web site for the various lenses that are no slower than the above f values...Read about the more expensive f2.8 zoom lenses with and without IS (Image Stabilization). There are no short cuts to the lens situation... They will comprise your biggest investment in this business... I aways say, save, save, save, and buy once...You need to read about these lenses and get familiar with each one...

Download OPANDA, the EXIF reader...(it only takes a few seconds, and it's freeware)
http://www.opanda.com/​en/iexif/index.html
and study the EXIF of our photos... You will be able to right click on most any picture, select EXIF reader and learn about the properties of every photo... Again, you need to find time to do this on your own... Study this stuff...it's like going to school...there are no other short cuts.

Check for the focal length, shutter speeds, ISO settings and Aperture used, time of day, to determine what settings we use...

Brandon James wrote in post #3843511
Well, I have gotten the 50mm f/1.8

It works well, but I notice that it does not "zoom." I am still photography illiterate so please bear with me, lol. But I was wondering if someone can suggest a good (preferably cheaper) lense that may zoom. The 50mm f/1.8 works great if you are up close, but I need something that will work well when you are a tad further away from the act.

I also tried using my current lense at a local club, and I wasn't too far away. The lighting sucked, and my photos came out super blurry. I shot is A-Dep at ISO 1600, 1.8 aperture, and played around with the other setting and the photos were horrible. Any idea why this may be. I appologize to those who are annoyed by my lack of knowlege

First off, A-Dep probably isn't the setting you want to use in concert situations. According to the manual: In this shooting mode, you cannot freely change the shutter speed and aperture value. If the camera sets a slow shutter speed, hold the camera steady or use a tripod. Granted I haven't used A-Dep, but Av is probably the better choice.

As for lenses, what did you mean by "work well when you are a tad further away from the act". Do you want to zoom in from further away? Or focus better on a full stage shot? Your blur issue may have had more to do with the A-dep setting than lens. Like John mentioned 85 1.8 is probably the next cheapest step. Not a zoom, but will get you closer than the 50.

Good advice here.

The very nature of concert photography dictates fast lenses, especially if you're shooting in smaller clubs. Unfortunately, they don't come cheap.

I use two "L" lenses when I shoot; a 24-70mm f/2.8 and a 70-200mm f/2.8. Neither was cheap. But, you could look at the Sigma alternatives. They're still a few hundred bucks, but they're great lenses, nonetheless.

Fast primes are definitely good to have but, if you want the versatility of a zoom, the Sigmas might be a way to go...

i'm not aware of any lens cheaper than the 50 f/1.8...so you're gonna have to readjust yr budget.

you could take a look at the 100 f/2 lens, as it seems to fit your criteria pretty well, aside from price. zooms are convenient, but only if there's enough light to use them. only you can figure out if your normal shooting conditions support their use.

This is really good info ... thanks all!

The 24-70 and 70-200 are wishes for me but I'm hoping to be able to get the 50 f1/4 soon.

I did a lot of work with Tamron 28-75/2.8. I think a couple of pics taken with that lens have been published in a major newspaper (Finnish) and a (minor) magazine. I probably should just put this recommendation to my signature.

To original poster, I'd basically just suggest you'd try to get some pictures first that you yourself like before going lens shopping. I'm only suggesting this since at the time you have enough experience in capturing sound concert photos you also have more knowledge of what you need. For instance, definitely try Av mode.

Also, while I expect this will sound just babble from "the guy who likes noise, black-and-white photos and other artsy-fartsy stuff", I'd like to say that it is rather educating not being able to zoom. With zoom, people almost always end up with basic, safe (= dull, uninteresting) compositions.

Now, if you excuse me, I have some noise to add to some photos --->

kmb wrote in post #3865376
Now, if you excuse me, I have some noise to add to some photos --->

Bring the noise!

On a serious note all great advice above - don't be afraid to experiment with the settings on your camera - shoot Av, Tv and I'd suggest M at times when you have more experience. Learn about EC when using Av or Tv modes and finally shoot RAW as you can do a lot more in post processing.

Don't give up on your lens just yet... learn with it and then when the time comes you will be better placed to decide what is best for you.

Yes ... I have to start experimenting with those mods as well ... I think I've been using the P mode?

So ... which is setting is the preferred setting in concert photography?

Thanks for the suggestions.

I don't shoot concerts, but I do a lot of low-light theater performance shooting which has pretty much the same needs. I started off using Av mode with the largest aperture I could get and ISO 400, but I wasn't very happy with a lot of the photos at 1/60 (or slower). Here recently I've been using Tv mode instead, set to 1/90 or 1/125. You'd probably need to set the speed higher than that, for headbanging and such. Often when there's not quite enough light for the chosen shutter speed, I'll get an interesting photo anyway (whereas when there wasn't quite enough light in Av mode, I'd get a blurry mess with the slow shutter speed it used). I'm using ISO 800 by default now, switching to ISO 400 or 1600 when I know the lighting is going to be particularly strong (or weak). It's taken me awhile to actually trust that my Digital Rebel will have good results at high ISOs, after the previous years of experience with both crappy 400 speed print film and an Olympus point and shoot digital that had horrible noise levels at just ISO 400.

I've been using the 24-70 f/2.8L and 85mm f/1.8 lenses. Next on my list is the 50mm f/1.4 lens (soon), and after that'd I like the 70-200 f/2.8L IS and 135mm f/2.0L lenses (that'll be awhile). And maybe the 28mm f/1.8 at some point. Any lens slower than f/2.8 seems fairly pointless to me for this type of work.

Hey Brandon, did you hear that?

I also use the Tv mode... And adjust the aperture as the shutter speed "designates" (it's my judgment call)... Spot focusing is also my favorite way to go...

I hope you are taking notes on all of this stuff... Cheers...

johnstoy wrote in post #3843627
study the EXIF of our photos... You will be able to right click on most any picture, select EXIF reader and learn about the properties of every photo...

How can someone do that with pics that have been posted up to the site?

I'm using a PC with I.E. 7.x and the only property I can see if I right-click a photo is the URL of the hosting website.

If I'm missing a plug-in or something, I'd love to know what it is

Opanda is a good browser plugin, or if you are using Firefox 2.0 or higher, there's one which alan raskin wrote which works.

^^^Thank you very much, Narlus: Opanda d/loaded, installed and working like a dream!

Good find

johnstoy wrote in post #3867938
Hey Brandon, did you hear that?

I also use the Tv mode... And adjust the aperture as the shutter speed "designates" (it's my judgment call)... Spot focusing is also my favorite way to go...

I hope you are taking notes on all of this stuff... Cheers...

Me too!