Well - my daughter had her play yesterday (Shakespeare’s Scottish Play - I can now say Macbeth as it is over - an old thespian superstition, anyway ...)
I was excited and yet apprehensive on how the K100D and my Sigma 18-125 DC 3.5-5.6 lens would fair. I was just off stage left and within 20 feet of the stage.
I used AV & TV mode – shot raw – and my experience came through with flying colors All I can say is thank god there was a professional there with some equipment (I think it was a Canon 20 or 30D with a very very fast and quiet Telephoto Lens) . He was of course showing off his collection after the show and there were some very impressive shots. We bought a couple and will likely purchase a few more once they have the collection up on their web site. (But he won’t sell the jpg ‘s !!! I like to create DVD slide shows – so scan them in bugger)
When I got home – I was totally disappointed (but not surprised). I would have done much better bring my Lumix PS camera (as even with an ‘aperture’ of f16-f22 the shutter speed is likely 1/250 + and a huge DOF) . Some of the shots were light well enough (stage lighting was sometimes bright) and I did get a couple of good shots (less than 10 of the 60 or so I took). I was not too concerned about exposure as I had plan to PP that. Where I really screwed up was shutter speed. For the majority of the shots it was way to slow. Thus any movement was a huge blur rendering the picture ‘recycle bin worthy’. I should have been paying more attention.
Now I release the professional displaying all his post production pictures has as much money invested in his gear as I do on my vehicle , I was wondering what the ‘professionals’ here thought.
She has another play coming up. I can get relatively close to the stage. I know my PS will do a decent job when the stage is well lit (certainly better than last nights attempt). Can the lens I have do a decent job if I manually bump the shutter speed? (The 125mm seemed to be enough range). What other zoom lens would be better suited and more importantly does not break the bank? Should I just give up on this – take the PS – and enjoy my K100D for better light scenarios? I could use a prime however not sure 50mm would be enough and of course don’t want to and can’t change lens – and finally it goes without saying no flash is allowed.
I think I know the answers to these questions ( $,$$$.$$)but others may have some ingenious work arounds .
Last edited by daacon; 04-25-2007 at 06:27 AM.