[praterkeith]

OK, I've read all of the stuff about getting the fastest lens and all that. I just bought an smc-a 50mm f2 because that's all I really could afford. I'm also getting a Sigma 27-70mm f2.8-... My real question is what camera settings would you recommend (I'm using an *ist DS)? How can I get my whites the whitest they can be and the blacks, BLACK! ANY tips would be greatly appreciated.
BTW, I am so happy I found this forum. It's my new homepage!

[Canada_Rockies]

OK, I've read all of the stuff about getting the fastest lens and all that. I just bought an smc-a 50mm f2 because that's all I really could afford. I'm also getting a Sigma 27-70mm f2.8-... My real question is what camera settings would you recommend (I'm using an *ist DS)? How can I get my whites the whitest they can be and the blacks, BLACK! ANY tips would be greatly appreciated.
BTW, I am so happy I found this forum. It's my new homepage!

First, switch to RAW if you have not already done so. That way you can manipulate your white balance later.

Second, crank up the ISO to the highest before you don't like the noise any more. As an old film shooter (I mean geriatric) I find the noise from my K10D to be really, really, really good compared to the grain that comes from pushing Tri-X to 1600.

You have already purchased the expensive stuff - those nice tubes with glass in them.

[MJB DIGITAL]

If I was going to try and actually do that in my own concert photography:
MJB DIGITAL on concerts

definitely shoot in RAW if you are asking questions about how if it is important shots. if its not a pro assignment or a class assignment, then get a drink immediately when you show up. 8)
oh yeah, and start having fun.
GET EARPLUGS!!!
I was shooting a wedding saturday and you should have seen her face when i pull earplugs out of my bag 8D

OK OK down to the question
I would shoot a tad cool and under expose by a tiny smidge.
thats just how i would start if i was going for the image you describe. then i would start exploring the light.
for instance:
what about, if they have a green light, shoot a TERRIBLY green portrait of a musician. then later in photoshop, make a black and white out of the green channel. thats the kind of stuff i like to do.

but most importantly.
get earplugs. then you can think by yourself in the club and just shoot and be happy and protect your ears so that you can talk to your grandchildren. 8)
don't worry, you can take out the earplugs to pick up a babe.
have fun

mitch

[nanok]

mjb: very nice, i am green with envy.

to the op: i have to make do with "cheap" equipment also. fast lenses are usefull, i really want the 50-135/2.8. but for now i use the 50-200 pentax, and the 50/1.4 smc-m, occasionally. i prefer the tele because of my shooting style. with the shake reduction on my k10d, i can get some interesting stuff, even though the shutter speeds rarely go over 1/10. i also hate flash; so here are some examples of what comes out, so you have an idea:

web-sg102821

feel free to browse around. look at exif: those which have no aperture value are with the 50/1.4 smc-m, and are shot at 1.4, 2, sometimes 2.8 maybe. i find the smc-m terribly hard to focus for 1.4 and even 2 apertures (dof is razor-thin). the 50-200 seems to focus superbly every time (i know people complain about k10d's af performance in low light, i guess in this case, as the contrasts tend to be quite high, that's not a problem, and personaly i find it ecellent so far)

hope this helps

[Fototim]

I'd recomend using raw and spotmetering.
Raw will give you a bit of headroom on exposure and white ballanse.

I usually set white ballanse to Tungstein at concerts as a starting point for later WB adjustments. This gives me better controll on the exposures when using the histogram to get accurate xposure, and thereby better skinntones.

Stage photography means shooting under high contrast conditions. This means that you need to get exposure right to preserve whites and blacks. Often the contrast is higher than what the media can handle. This means that you some times will have to let one of them go.
Accurate exposure is an important sucsess factor. Often this means using spot metering, and measuring at the faces of the artists. Depending on the skin colour you may still need to compensate a bit. People with afro skin(*) usually needs about -1EV.

The histogram is your best friend at a concert. If you are not familiar with it, then learn how to use it.

I'd not recomend going higher than 800 ISO with the DS. Not in high contrast situations. And if you decide to try higher, don't underexpose. Underexposure at high ISO gives more noise.

And as others have said, don't forget to have fun.


* Sorry if this term is not politically correct, english is not my native language.