ISO/low light band gig help!

Hey everyone...I am looking into purchasing a new camera here within the next week. I currently have the XTi and find that it's not cutting it well for my new area of interest for photography - concert photography. I can't seem to get that decent of a shutter speed and when I do, the quality is not good because of noise.

I posted in the main camera section of this board on whether I should get a 40D or a 5D, and i've decided to go with a used 5D after everyone's help! My only question is though, that a 5D goes up to ISO 3200..is that going to be enough of a jump up to get me decent shutter speeds? I will be shooting a lot in local bars (lighting can get pretty terrible in those places).

The reason I ask this is because my zoom lens is the 70-200 f/4. I did a shoot last weekend and shooting on Av my shutter speed was 1/10 with f/1.8
The only lighting available was a few spot lights above the band, plus a few windows in the back (it was dark outside though). I was having a hard time getting the lens (50mm 1.8) to even focus in a lot of places. I tried the camera on auto and it used ISO400, 1/60 which is cool, but it made me use flash (ew).

so my main question is, is ISO 3200 enough or am I doing something wrong shooting manually?

I'm new to this so sorry if this question is stupid, but i'd appreciate any help/advice! I have another gig coming up on the 21st and would love to be able to get a decent shutter speed without having to use flash!

thank in advance!

It's more the f/4 lens than anything else if you're only getting 1/10 for a proper exposure. An inexpensive option might be one of the 'nifty fifty' lenses we hear so much about 'round these parts. It would certainly give you a bigger lens opening.

dave

the 1/10 was with the nifty fifty....set on 1.8. i didn't even get out my f/4 lens at that shoot because i could barely get anything with f/1.8.

Crayons15 wrote in post #7326025
the 1/10 was with the nifty fifty....set on 1.8. i didn't even get out my f/4 lens at that shoot because i could barely get anything with f/1.8.

you will find that sometimes no matter what you do, the venue and it's lighting is just so absolutely horrible... a nifty fifty, ISO 3200, 1/10, f/1.8 won't even cut it. At those times, I put the camera away because it wasn't meant to be.

Noise is ok in the concert photography biz. Thats just the way it goes. Don't be afraid to max your ISO and go for it. You will find that every venue is different, some have killer lights and you'll shoot ISO 800 with awesome shutter speeds and apertures of f/4 or better, and then you'll have the dingy bar that sucks more then a saigon whore on a saturday!!

hahaa thanks londonblue. i guess i will just have to deal with flash in order to get pictures in some cases. boooo

Crayons15 wrote in post #7327124
hahaa thanks londonblue. i guess i will just have to deal with flash in order to get pictures in some cases. boooo

be creative with your flash... and don't get thrown out!

i need to get an external flash. so far i have just the on board one (for the xti, if i get the 5D i wont but you get the point haha) and i hate the on board one! lol

it's just small local bars so i dont think they will care about the flash. i asked the band and they said it didn't bother them

I shoot alot of low light local gigs, I use my 5D with the 50mm f1.4. It's awesome, I never need to go over ISO 800, I always set my WB to incandesent as it brings out true colours in low light. I can then shoot up 1/200 with perfectly clear images. I never use flash as it kills off alot of the ambient light plus you need to get used to not using if you are ever contracted for a bigger show that doesn't allow it. Anyway, the 5D is an awesome piece of kit and I would strongly recommend it. But the 40D has the faster shutter count which could end up being an advantage, I needed to upgrade to the 1D mkIII for the speed and now I can grab some killer shots since I have 10 frames from the 1 second I shot at to choose from.

So basicly, might be best for you to save for the 5d mkII as it's well priced. I'd imagine that being one of the best cameras for the job.

thanks jonny, unfort. i really can't afford the 5dmkII right now. i wish i could bc i'd get it hands down, but i just can't spring it.

right now i'm looking into the 50D and the 5D instead of the 40D.