I recently set off on a new adventure and I have been doing some concert photography. It has been a great learning experience, while a bit of a baptism of fire at the same time.
I passed the 10,000 shutter actuation mark as I was sitting at the first "proper" show so while I am not a total beginner to the camera, I am not a professional and for me it is just a fun exercise. I love music and love photography, this is a way to combine the two of them. The previous 10,000 photos were not any specific genre, just a mixed bag. Sneaking an SLR into a concert is tricky these days so although I have taken photos at shows before it was normally with a little pocket-able point and shoot (and the results tended to reflect that!). I have been "into" photography as a hobby for maybe 5 or 6 years and using the K10D for maybe 3 years.
Those who have tried taking photos at concerts probably have some idea how difficult it can be - not only is the lighting poor, but the lighting can change quickly too. One second the face of the performer is lit up light a Christmas tree, the next second it is shrouded in shadow. As if that is not difficult enough, rarely do performers stand stilll and the most interesting performers are often the ones that are fluid and animated.
Poor and unpredictable lighting with a moving subject. Nice!
I have been using two lenses:
* An old Ricoh 50mm f1.7 which is MF only.
* A not quite so old Pentax F 50mm f1.4
The Ricoh obviously has to be used in Manual mode, quickly focus, meter, shoot each shot. I have been practing my MF accuracy with this lens but to be honest I still have a lot to learn. The focus certainly seems to be easier on this lens than on the Pentax lens when using MF, just due to the ergonomics of the focusing ring. As well as being restricted to MF, I am also stuck with spot metering.
What I have learned so far is to take both lenses with me to a show. I start with the Pentax lens and if that just struggles too much for focus I will switch to MF or switch to the Ricoh 50mm lens.
The Pentax lens has given me challenges with AF. Both the speed and the accuracy can be a problem and sometimes it just will not lock on at all. I have managed to get some disasterous photos with this lens, though to be fair I have been very hapy with it for the most part. Using the Pentax lens does not require me to use MF, and I also get the benefits of the options for metering. I tend to stick with spot metering most of the time, unless the lighting is spectacularly good,
Most importantly, being able to use modes other than Manual mode gives me the ability to use the TAv mode. For those not familiar, this allows me to choose my shutter speed and aperture, and then the camera will adjust the ISO to get the right exposure. This has been a god send. I doubt I would buy a camera without this mode, in fact, unless I was bored with shooting concerts. It's not unusual for me to see the ISO just from <400 to 1600 in a single "scene" as the lighting changes. TAv allows me to specigy a range and the ISO will float within that range. I wish it was more granular (I can do 100-800 or 100-1600, but not 100-1250) but it works well regardless. The K10D does sometimes struggle when being used with high ISO and noise reduction only goes so far.
For focusing, I find that the AF.S has been the most reliable. AF.C tends to hunt too much due to the dynamic nature of the subject and I have not had much success with it at all. In fact, using MF and manually hunting the focus seems to have given me more success.
The sweet spot seems to be around ISO 1000 or less and f1.6 or so. f1.4 gives an exceptionally narrow DOF, f2 can struggle bringing in enough light to keep the ISO down.
Anyone else still using a K10D in this scenario? Or used a K10D in this scenario, upgraded and interested in commenting?
Last edited by Howard2k; 10-18-2010 at 07:49 AM.
Reason: posted prematurely.