Concert photography with M8

[erl]

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The reality, in my experience, is that superfast lenses such as the noctilux which I have, are often not optimum for a lot of concert shots by virtue of their narrow depth of field. OTOH, some shots, not the majority, will benefit from exactly that. The other problem with f1.0 can be with an active, live (by that I mean a moving as in feet)subject, f1.0 is damned hard to nail convincingly. I speak with more than 15 years of doing it. Of course, there are many forms of concert/ theatre etc and variations must exist. I am trying (stupidly) to generalize.

[Maarten]

In November last year I could shoot Lianne la Havas from the third row in the audience. I used my Summicron 35mm Asph. with IR cut filter.

I used Capture One 7 to develop the dng files and was very pleased with the improved quality. I worked at ISO 320 with 1/125 at 2.8 to have sufficient DOF.

Because of the people in front of me I held the camera above my head. With some practice that worked fine.

 

Maarten

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[david strachan]

You are shooting at good speeds and apertures with slowish lenses. And so are the other posters with their "slow" lenses.

Contrary to some, the faster Nocti's of any make or cost, are just not needed. Truly excellent images are testament above...just taken with average lenses....and no image stabilisation.

 

Keep up the great images, one and all.

 

cheers Dave S

[erl]

You are shooting at good speeds and apertures with slowish lenses. And so are the other posters with their "slow" lenses.

Contrary to some, the faster Nocti's of any make or cost, are just not needed. Truly excellent images are testament above...just taken with average lenses....and no image stabilisation.

 

Keep up the great images, one and all.

 

cheers Dave S

 

Dave, your observation(s) re the earlier posted pics are valid, however not so true for other types of performances. Maaren's subjects are what I call 'static'. ie. they stay in the one spot more or less. A lot of stage performers move extensively round the stage (most of what I shoot) and higher shutter speeds are demanded, if frozen movement is required. Often, extended DOF is also needed so Nocti's don't work then either. The only solution is often to bump the ISO up.

 

OTOH, Nocti's are superb for short DOF with high shutter speeds and moving targets which demand 'pull focussing'. Very difficult and much practice is mandatory. I can achieve a high success rate doing this, but losses do occur.