What do you think? I'm thinking the noise levels are absolutely fine. Better than I expected.

Was quite far away from the stage this time (lazyness).

The trouble with small venues is they're sooo dark. Was surprised I managed to get anything at all actually! May still get the Sigma 30mm 1.4 at some point.

There are a few more. Not sure if some of them I shoudl have cropped or not... cropping seems the obvious thing to do but then sometimes I think you get more of a sense of the venue with more of it included. Anyway...

[Nixarma]

Hi Christian,

Small venues are, indeed, challenging to photograph in. One has to combat crowds (and huge pits in some of the shows that I go to), ugly monochromatic lights (reds are possibly the worst for photographers!) and all the mics, stands and cabling on stage.

You should find the Sigma 28 or 30/1.4 to be quite useful. I have found the FA 35/2, FA 50/1.4 and FA 77/1.8 to be absolutely indispensable for gig work. In fact, I go with those three lenses and no other. (Of course, the FA 31/1.8 and FA 43/1.9 should be good as well.)

Looking back at my concert pix, I have not shot above f/2.4 and most of my shots are either at f/1.7, 1.8 or 2. Stopping down further can help add some motion blur which can be quite effective in conveying the energy of the show.

B&W conversions can be quite useful in bringing the main subject(s) into focus. It also allows you to burn out the distracting elements in a frame with greater ease than doing it in colour. Pix 2 and 4 could benefit greatly from this, IMO.

Here are some of my photographs from gigs:
1. Zenfolio | Nikhil Sarma | Noctilucent (K100 + fast lenses)
2. Zenfolio | Nikhil Sarma | Lestat's, Apr 20, 2007 (K100 + fast lenses)
3. Zenfolio | Nikhil Sarma | Scenes from a Cafe (Mostly from my DL days)

[Christian]

Thanks Nixarma. Yeah I really should have got the 30 1.4 .. prob instead of the 18-50... I never used to use zooms much really anyway. just thought 2.8 might be enough. I guess it will be in lighter venues and it's a handy walkaround lens.

I'll order a 1.4 soon. Shame it's a bit big in size. In the meatime I might attempt using my 50mm M 1.7 but not sure I'll be any good at focusing manually in the dark. Shame I lost my 50 1.7 autofocus lens!

[Sailor]

Hi Christian,



B&W conversions can be quite useful in bringing the main subject(s) into focus. It also allows you to burn out the distracting elements in a frame with greater ease than doing it in colour. Pix 2 and 4 could benefit greatly from this, IMO.

Here are some of my photographs from gigs:
1. Zenfolio | Nikhil Sarma | Noctilucent (K100 + fast lenses)
2. Zenfolio | Nikhil Sarma | Lestat's, Apr 20, 2007 (K100 + fast lenses)
3. Zenfolio | Nikhil Sarma | Scenes from a Cafe (Mostly from my DL days)

As you know, Nikhil, I'm a big fan of your B&W conversions. I also dig (and that's the right word) the shots of the Eleonor England gig.

Jer

[Nixarma]

Thanks Nixarma. Yeah I really should have got the 30 1.4 .. prob instead of the 18-50... I never used to use zooms much really anyway. just thought 2.8 might be enough. I guess it will be in lighter venues and it's a handy walkaround lens.

I'll order a 1.4 soon. Shame it's a bit big in size. In the meatime I might attempt using my 50mm M 1.7 but not sure I'll be any good at focusing manually in the dark. Shame I lost my 50 1.7 autofocus lens!

1.7 should be enough. Even when I shoot with the 50, I try to use it at 1.7.

Oh, I forgot! Set your EV to -0.5 step. You will be able to recover the detail in your RAW converter or just by using curves. This will gain you some additional shutter speed. All my photographs from the black metal show and Eleonor's gigs were shot that way.

Regarding the M 50/1.7, the focus indicator might be useful... though, it IS hard to manually focus under those conditions.

[Nixarma]

As you know, Nikhil, I'm a big fan of your B&W conversions. I also dig (and that's the right word) the shots of the Eleonor England gig.

Jer

Thank you very much, Jer! That's really nice to hear

Eleonor's a wonderful jazz vocalist and she is backed-up by an excellent band (the pianist used to play for Ella, Sarah Vaughan, the Johnny Carson orchestra and many other big names!)