mrmax Posted December 4, 2015 Share #1 Posted December 4, 2015 Advertisement (gone after registration) I haven't had as much time as I would have liked with the Q and I will be attending a once-in-a-lifetime concert on Sunday night. It will be dark of course, but I feel the Q would be a great fit for the occasion. I have seen a lot of great low light images in the Q thread, but my results are extremely grainy. Could anyone share some hints/tips for shooting and processing in this light? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted December 4, 2015 Posted December 4, 2015 Hi mrmax, Take a look here Concert - need low light help. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Peyton Hoge Posted December 4, 2015 Share #2 Posted December 4, 2015 It depends on what the stage lighting is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wda Posted December 4, 2015 Share #3 Posted December 4, 2015 mrmax, I would experiment at home with reduced lighting levels and set your basic parameters. Choose your desired maximum ISO and minimum shutter speed. Practice using spot metering. So much can be done before the event to determing a starting point. You have a fast lens which is good; but the wide angle lens might include darker area in the fringes of the stage which might distort your exposures. Hence use Spot metering. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangorange Posted December 4, 2015 Share #4 Posted December 4, 2015 I agree with the spot metering and you might also want to reassign the zoom button to AEL, this way you can use the spot meter to get a desired exposure and then lock it in case you want to re frame the shot. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmax Posted December 4, 2015 Author Share #5 Posted December 4, 2015 Thanks wda & dangorange, both good ideas. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
makarchmer Posted December 5, 2015 Share #6 Posted December 5, 2015 mrmax - Wishing you good luck on your concert shoot. I think that you got some good ideas here. I've only had my Q for a few days, but I did take it to an event where there was very little lighting. I found that I was fine through ISO 6400 (or even 8000). I like to use Auto-ISO in such situations, but unfortunately, the Q only allows specific max ISOs. You can pick either 6400 or 12500, but nothing in between (as far as I can tell). So I'd stick to ISO 6400. You should get very usable shots. Also remember to use a wide enough aperture. With the 28mm focal length, an f/ value of 4.5 gives a lot of depth of field. I don't know how far you will be from your subject, but suppose you will be 20 feet away. At this distance, if I read the charts correctly, everything from 10 feet through infinity should be in acceptable focus. Even an f/ value of 4 will give you a very good depth of field. Good luck and let us know how things come out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
beauport Posted December 5, 2015 Share #7 Posted December 5, 2015 Advertisement (gone after registration) Regardless of the camera used, exposing correctly is necessary, even if that means a fairly high ISO. Noise is greatly increased from poorly exposed images. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clactonian Posted December 5, 2015 Share #8 Posted December 5, 2015 I can't post it on this forum but HERE is a link to one of my older images taken at a concert. The image is cropped for composition and I was pretty close to the stage but nevertheless I think it shows that you don't necessarily need the very high ISO settings to achieve your goal. I took a spot reading on the face of the front girl. Noise is pretty well controlled even on 6Mp old sensor technology. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted December 5, 2015 Share #9 Posted December 5, 2015 Regardless of the camera used, exposing correctly is necessary, even if that means a fairly high ISO. Noise is greatly increased from poorly exposed images. ISO does not determine exposure. It is amplification of the signal (including noise) generated by the exposed sensor. Often it is better to choose an exposure that matches the subject and handle the brightness in postprocessing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted December 5, 2015 Share #10 Posted December 5, 2015 Quite apart from light and exposure, 28 mm will only get you general stage shots - if you are close enough, otherwise you'll have just a light blob in the distance. Longer fast lenses work better. With the Q, try and get VERY close. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
beauport Posted December 5, 2015 Share #11 Posted December 5, 2015 Jaapv, perhaps I did not explain very well on exposing. I intended to make clear that correct exposure aids in making an image less noisy and that it may require using a high ISO to achieve a correct exposure. You're quite correct, ISO in of itself is not an indicator of good exposure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NERICSSON Posted December 6, 2015 Share #12 Posted December 6, 2015 Make som trial exposures initially, based on that go manual is my tip. Rapid changes in light will often fool your meetering... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iduna Posted December 10, 2015 Share #13 Posted December 10, 2015 mrmax - Wishing you good luck on your concert shoot. I think that you got some good ideas here. I've only had my Q for a few days, but I did take it to an event where there was very little lighting. I found that I was fine through ISO 6400 (or even 8000). I like to use Auto-ISO in such situations, but unfortunately, the Q only allows specific max ISOs. You can pick either 6400 or 12500, but nothing in between (as far as I can tell). So I'd stick to ISO 6400. You should get very usable shots. Also remember to use a wide enough aperture. With the 28mm focal length, an f/ value of 4.5 gives a lot of depth of field. I don't know how far you will be from your subject, but suppose you will be 20 feet away. At this distance, if I read the charts correctly, everything from 10 feet through infinity should be in acceptable focus. Even an f/ value of 4 will give you a very good depth of field. Good luck and let us know how things come out. I share the above mentioned Settings. I have my Q only for a short time but tried it a lot in bad light situations. First: you should consider that people on a stage are moving. To freeze them you need 1/250 sec. or if lucky 1/125 minimum. Second: you should not fumble with ISO, let it at Auto ISO. Noise is no problem up to 12.000. In LR you can handle the rest of noise easily. The sensor of the Q will capture the contrast quite well Third: one should consider that AF light might disturb the musicians or or the audience. This depends on what type of concert you are visiting. In a classical concert one should behave very decently. in Pop concert this should be no issue. In critical situation a manual focus is easy with the focuspeaking, really no big deal here with the Q: no noise no disturbing light. Fourth: if you want a close-up your position should be in the fron rows. Plan your arrival at the location that you have enough time to check out the on-location situation. Good luck, enjoy your camera and come back with nice results! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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