Gig photography...

3dcandy

3dcandy

3dcandy

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Rugeley
I've been meaning to update my old Canon 400D body for a while, and whilst doing some gig photography on Saturday it really started to bug me...
What route do you guys suggest to go down for a decent body (Canon) and lens setup for gigs, but bearing in mind I do motorsport etc. as well??

Got some good photos, but also found the body slow, hunting etc. on my 50mm F1.8 II lens...

Processed for a grainy look
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Again processed with grainy b&w in mind
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Colour this time...
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Last one
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Any tips also greatly appreciated...
 
A recent x0D series body would give you improved noise handling and probably better focus points than your 400d. It would also up the burst mode which could be tempting to use to capture the right shot. Some PP in LR or PS could probably reduce the existing noise to acceptable levels, and noisy images can work very well in B&W vs colour, depends what works for the image you've got.

The 50 1.8 is poor in low light for snapping focus, it hunts a lot. I have the 85 1.8 USM and its streets ahead of my nifty once light levels reduce. You could also consider the 50 1.4 USM which will give you the same focal length but improve focusing capabilities.

If i was splashing any cash i'd opt for a lens first and see how that improved things with your current body. Also consider picking up a 2nd hand body from Wex, Mpb or Icegroup as well before investing in something new. Big savings to be had and some places offer 6 and 12 month warranties on bodies so very little risk as well.

*disclaimer* not a pro-tog, nor a gig photographer so all above in my very amateurish opinion :)
 
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I quite like the second image as it seems to be exposed and focused rather well. The others however lack detail which could either be the ISO being too high for the camera, or the focus and shutter speed were out. Hard to say! The lighting in these venues is a nightmare though. Did you use spot metering btw?
 
no spot metering on the 400D...
ISO was sky high (800 or 1600) as otherwise the 400D wouldn't focus at all!
I know I need a newer body...that's a given.
 
I'd also echo that the lens has a lot to do with it. The 50 f/1.8 is slow at auto-focusing, so trying to shoot moving people in low light is going to be difficult, especially if shooting wide open where the margin for error is even greater.

A lot of gig photographers won't necessarily shoot as large an aperture as that, however they are relying on cameras which have good ISO performance.
 
Oh indeed - no don't get me wrong I've got some decent shots, but they could be better...I've made them noisy as I prefer that to a real clean smoothed off look for these photos, but again, that's personal preference.
High ISO isn't the 400D's forté at all..thus my need for a new body
 
I mainly do gig photography, and crippy hands permitting have another this weekend.

I only started doing it with the 60D and while it was okay, the frustrations of not having fast lenses other than the sigma 50mm 1.4 at the time along with the hunting in low light with other lenses and average noise handling, made me go out and get a loan. I splashed out on the 5dmk3, 35L and 85L. I've recently added the 600ex rt flash to the pile and I haven't looked back.

It's worth looking at the sigma 35mm if you've got the cash too, currently that's as good/better than the 35L
 
Even with fast primes you will still get the problem of the coloured lights oversaturating and messing up the skin tones. In those situations I would use a strong flash bounced off a nearby wall or the ceiling and a short shutter speed (1/30 or slower). Most people don't recognize bounced flash in pictures as usually the only kind of flash they'll see is an ugly straight-on one.

Not bad shots anyhow. I think your framing could be improved. For eg. in the first photo, everything is too centred. I would have had her head be more towards the left of the frame and a bit more of her hands and microphone showing in the right.

Your camera is showing its age though and unfortunately you have to invest seriously to get fast and accurate AF. One thing you could do is add a speedlight. Even if you don't want to use the flash, the in-built focus assist on them will help your camera focus. Personally I use a Nikon D5200, Sigma 17-50mm f2.8 and Metz-44. Altogether about an £800 investment right now. Does the job really well but there are some quirks that make me want to go back to mirrorless.. (specifically the OMD).
 
Inazuma said:
Even with fast primes you will still get the problem of the coloured lights oversaturating and messing up the skin tones. In those situations I would use a strong flash bounced off a nearby wall or the ceiling and a short shutter speed (1/30 or slower). Most people don't recognize bounced flash in pictures as usually the only kind of flash they'll see is an ugly straight-on one.

Not bad shots anyhow. I think your framing could be improved. For eg. in the first photo, everything is too centred. I would have had her head be more towards the left of the frame and a bit more of her hands and microphone showing in the right.

Your camera is showing its age though and unfortunately you have to invest seriously to get fast and accurate AF. One thing you could do is add a speedlight. Even if you don't want to use the flash, the in-built focus assist on them will help your camera focus. Personally I use a Nikon D5200, Sigma 17-50mm f2.8 and Metz-44. Altogether about an £800 investment right now. Does the job really well but there are some quirks that make me want to go back to mirrorless.. (specifically the OMD).
Click to expand...

Oops that's what I forgot to mention. I use the AF assist on the flash. It's very good for low light/dark scenes. Also you're right about the lighting issues. If you're not using a flash which you probably won't be as most gigs don't allow it, chances are you'll be converting a lot of shots to B&W. One of the bands I regularly cover uses purple/magenta/blue/green/red lighting a lot and it completely drowns out detail in colour shots.
 
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Settings: M manual focus, sometimes P and play with shutter speed etc.
Have thought about a flash, but at moment believe I'll get more bang for buck with a newer body as this one is really getting past it...
Next time I think I might hire a lens if I know I'll have access like this gig

Forgot to say I cropped tight as there was an annoying flash from the mic stand...
 
One thing you should note if youre continuing with Canon, I believe all Rebel (T series) use the same sensor so will have the same image quality.
 
ElDude said:
I mainly do gig photography, and crippy hands permitting have another this weekend.

I only started doing it with the 60D and while it was okay, the frustrations of not having fast lenses other than the sigma 50mm 1.4 at the time along with the hunting in low light with other lenses and average noise handling, made me go out and get a loan. I splashed out on the 5dmk3, 35L and 85L. I've recently added the 600ex rt flash to the pile and I haven't looked back.

It's worth looking at the sigma 35mm if you've got the cash too, currently that's as good/better than the 35L
Click to expand...

Do you use a zoom aswell?
 
Jimmy1983 said:
Do you use a zoom aswell?
Click to expand...

I generally stick to primes for everything, with the exception of wide open areas outdoors in summer when I've used a 70-200. The venues I do are too small for that lens and it's only an F4 so wouldn't be much good anyway.

The gig I'm doing tonight is one I've never been to but I'm planning on using 35L, 50mm Sigma & 85L. I'm quite keen to try the sigma as I think I've got the MA sorted on the 5Dmk3 now.
 
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Burst rate is pretty useful for low light, not only for capturing the moment, but also increasing the chances that something will be in focus for dodgy conditions or moving subjects.

It looks to me like focus isn't quite nailed in most of those shots, rather than excessive noise of lack of sensor detail. I believe the 400D has a similar sensor to the 40D, and I never felt held back by a lack of detail or ISO performance on my 40D. I even got some decent gig shots with mediocre lenses.

If it were me, I'd try a better lens before replacing the body, there's always the Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 which gives lots of aperture, top notch IQ and doesn't cost the earth.
 
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