Settings for stage performance.

[Camm]

I've taken some stage pictures but it turned out to be disastrous. I'm using canon G2. Is this good enough for taking such photos? As most of the performance is indoor, as such, the shutter have to be slower than normal. so I set it to lowest at 1/60. Aperture 2.0. ISO 400. Is this the right settings?

I can't set the shutter any slower than this as the movement will cause the pic to be blur. But if I set shutter higher, pic will become dark.

Really at my wits end. I've seen alot of good takes in this forum. What's the settings you guys normally set? Pls give me some tips on how i can improve. Pls dun ask me to upgrade to dslr :nono: no money ;p

 

[yamcake]

First Thing: post in wrong forum. Should go to the discussions board, not the galleries..

Anyway, i believe those pros you see they use lenses what have longer focal length, ie. 300mm?

And they use external flash. I believe that your G2 don't really have a powerful enough flash ba... can attach an external flash right? got hot shoe slot.
Setting wise is alright... F2 at 1/40 (should be attainable, do some "hand trainning" ba..

 

[gundugundu]

In most cases, flash is not allow..
Setting depends on the lighting condition on site. Usually for concert in SIS, I shoot at iso 800 - 1600. 70 - 200 mm zoom at f 2.8, shutter at 1/160 -1/320.
Try as much as possible to expose for a nice skin tones.

 

[imaginary_number]

There is no "right" setting actually, it all depends on situation itself. One way to get a higher shutter speed is to shoot RAW, underexpose by one stop and then bump it up during the post-processing stage. Ideally, you should be near to the stage to avoid using longer focal lengths. In addition, you've got to hold the camera steadily, which isn't as easy if you're using the LCD.

This e.g. was taken using a G5 @ 238mm, F3.0, 1/160 ISO400, handheld.

At the end of the day though, a DSLR coupled with a good lens will always yield better results.

 

[gundugundu]

There is no "right" setting actually, it all depends on situation itself.

Absolutely true :thumbsup:

Shooting raw does give you greater flexibilty to fine tune your images. Try as much as possible to get your exposure spot on to avoid having to do so much post processing work. :sweat:

 

[oeyvind]

true, there's no point asking for settings, because there's no real answer just set your camera to M mode and watch the light and react.

I shot in RAW as I wanna control the noise that's it, but with modern DSLR like the 20D, JPEG is fine!

Nothing will save a badly executed pix, i.e. severely overexposed/underexposed pix.

 

[cookiez]

Can also try to use continuous shooting mode....out of 3 or 5 frames, there
must be 1 that is usable.

 

[mervlam]

Can also try to use continuous shooting mode....out of 3 or 5 frames, there
must be 1 that is usable.

how true can that be???

If your settings are unsuitable in the first place, i dont see how using continuous mode can help.

mind explaining why you come to that conclusion?

 

[mervlam]

Absolutely true :thumbsup:

Shooting raw does give you greater flexibilty to fine tune your images. Try as much as possible to get your exposure spot on to avoid having to do so much post processing work. :sweat:

So does using Fujiflim Press 800, which is pushable and it has very good film latitude.

 

[cookiez]

how true can that be???

If your settings are unsuitable in the first place, i dont see how using continuous mode can help.

mind explaining why you come to that conclusion?

Settings are by experience, so no wrong or right or fixed rule...I find that if
shooting in single frame, a slight hand shake will ruin the whole pic but in
continuous shooting, there is always 1 or 2 frames in focus and without
motion blur. Dunno about others, but for me, it definately works.

 

[gundugundu]

So does using Fujiflim Press 800, which is pushable and it has very good film latitude.

That's a great film to use.
I do avoid using film as usually the concert ends late at night. I'll head straight home, single out shots, edit them & send them out to my client the same night. The schedule is tight, of course one can always find a lab to work with on such occasion but be prepared to pay extra $$$ :sweat:

 

[mervlam]

Settings are by experience, so no wrong or right or fixed rule...I find that if
shooting in single frame, a slight hand shake will ruin the whole pic but in
continuous shooting, there is always 1 or 2 frames in focus and without
motion blur. Dunno about others, but for me, it definately works.

That's because you didn't AF correctly.

 

[cookiez]

That's because you didn't AF correctly.

Yeah, at least u salvage 1 or 2 shots rather than none, right ?

 

[mervlam]

Yeah, at least u salvage 1 or 2 shots rather than none, right ?

i never have such a problem when shooting with film, where the number of frames you can take is limited.

 

[cookiez]

i never have such a problem when shooting with film, where the number of frames you can take is limited.

I also never have much problem when using film. No under/overexposed,
motion blur or OOF problem. And using of flash results were much better
than without flash. But when using digi cam, I encountered all the problems
listed above. So ultimately, I still feel that film is better than digi cam for
concert photography.

Camm, my apologies if this is getting OT.