Best lense to use for live music events
 

I have a canon 500d.
Does anyone know the best lense to get for live music events?!?!!!
and the best setting to have it on.
As the default lense i got with the camera just doesnt work out for me.

Well speaking from happy ignorance I would suggest a fast a lens as possible. Also a zoom would be good as it gives you more composition options. As for settings I would try RAW to give you maximum quality as the dynamic range will be very high and it also gives you much more control of white balance. Meter off the main subject so probably need spot metering. No doubt somebody will add to what I have said or correct me.

Hello there and welcome to the forum. As Mike says, a fast lens - that's a big aperture with a small f number - will probably be essential. Also you'll probably want to push the ISO setting up on your camera to 800 or maybe even more, it depends on how much light there is in the venue. As for other settings or lens parameters, it all depends on what kind of style/pictures/effect your trying to achieve and where you are going to be located relative to your subject. You haven't given this information so it's difficult to advise.

Oh, and lens, singular, doesn't have an "e" on the end. Sorry, but it's a pet hate.

Duncan

Why did I know I was going to find this quote in this thread Attachment 6820

Suggesting he get the fastest possible lens and then suggesting that he should get a zoom is surely an Oxymoron if ever there was one because zooms are never going to be the fastest possible lenses are they.
I know it may seem a lot more inconvenient but carrying a couple of fast primes will give far better quality images than using any zoom as with fast primes he wont have to ramp up the ISO too much to attain high enough shutter speeds to freeze the action or prevent motion blur. Primes are generally lighter than zooms too so a couple of fast primes does'nt necessarily have to weigh a lot more than a single zoom.
If he plans ahead and knows exactly where he will be shooting from in respect to the artists he can choose the best focal length prime/s for the job.
For instance, if he's close to the artists, a 35/1.4 for the wider shots and an 85mm f1.2 or perhaps an 135mm f1.8 for the close ups, should deliver the goods...But if he is seated at the back of the auditorium he may have to lug a big 300mm f2.8 or 400mm f2.8 with him...

Oxymoron? No, not really. 35 L f1.4 plus 85 L f1.2 just over £2,600 against a 70-200 L f2.8 at £896. Add a 28 f1.8 for £359 and there is no contest. And/or even the lowly 50 f1.8 for £82. That is unless he is a Pro with his livelihood depending on it or has far more spare cash than me and many others. How many venues let you wander in with a 400 f2.8 unless again you are a pro with a pass? Perhaps I should have said as fast as possible within whatever his budget is.

He does'nt have to use expensive Canon AF lenses though, does he ;)
I was referring to using manual focus primes like the The Nikon 35mm f1.4 Ai-S or Carl Zeiss 35mm f1.4, FD 85mm f1.2 L and Sigmatel Multi Scalmatic 135mm f1.8...this lot can be bought together for a darn sight less than the £896 cost of the 70-200 f2.8 L, even indluding the cost of any necessary mount adapters.

Nothing like making life awkward. FD to Ef mount adaptor has to have a glass element in it to enable correct focussing which loses over a stop of light so bang goes fast lens plus, from what I have read degrades the quality too. Going for a night out with all that little lot of camera and lenses plus making do with manual focus and I think automatic exposure control as well plus losing IS is not my idea of fun. Each to his own.

For music events I recommend a wide angle lens to capture everything. Have a look at the Canon EFS 10-22mm lens for more wider angle, as to what setting it depends on the condition. For instance in outdoors 1/125 at f/8.0 or indoors same setting but with flash pointing towards the white ceiling if in low light condition.

Personal taste but I would want to capture closer shots of the artistes as well as wider shots so a tele lens or zoom would be a must for me. I would not use flash either even if allowed in indoor environs as the flash would kill the ambience of the shot, losing most of the carefully set up stage lighting.

Two very different kinds of shots at live concerts, closeups of the performers and broad event photos of the stage and the audience. For the first my choice with your camera would be a Sigma 50-150mm f2.8 zoom. For the second type of picture a 17-55mm f2.8 zoom or a 30mm to 35mm prime lens. The Sigma 30mm f1.4 is a stellar lens with fast low light autofocus and capable of producing razor sharp images.

Hi, this is my first post on here so I will try not to upset anyone too much :)

I shoot concerts quite a bit but don't claim to be a pro. So feel free to ignore or disagree with what I am about to say. Here is what I have learnt so far...

As others have said there is really no right answer to the choice of lens (no e) as it depends on many factors including:-

• Your personal style and what sort of shots you prefer. Personally I prefer failry close ups but your approach may be different.
• The avialable light in the venue
• How far you will be from the stage.
• How good your camera is at handling high ISO and how good you are at processing to remove noise caused by high ISO.
• Etc

So as others have said a fast lens is preferred. Also a lens with IS will help you uses slower shutter speeds. I have used 50mm 1.8 - often called the nifty fifty, which is small, cheap, light and gives good quality images. But I have found this very limiting for my style. I did try my 60mm f2.8 macro lens once but that was not real advantage over the 50mm. I prefer to use the Sigma 24-70 f2.8 if fairly close to the stage (maybe up to three rows back). I have used a fairly slow lens - The 70-300 4-5.6 USM IS (see here for review http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/20...report--review cost around £380) quite a lot when further away from the stage, the IS helps to comensate for the slow speed to some extent - although of course movement becomes a problem at slower shutter speeds. I have just bought a Canon 135 f2 which I haven't used yet. Think it will be good in larger venues though wehn a bit futher away from the stage. The 85 f1.8 is also on my wish list.

As to settings:-

• Always shoot in RAW
• Do not use flash unless you have been given specific permission by the band -apart from the photographic reasons it is also annoying to the band and the other paying punters.
• Don't shoot during very quiet bits of the music, again the noise of the shutter may annoy other people.
• Switch off the auto display function so that the back of the camera doesn't light up every time you take a shot to show you what you have just taken.
• Shoot at the highest ISO you can get away with. I usually use ISO 800 or 1600 but have been as high as 3200 (the latter with not very good results genrally unless you convet to B&W where the grain/noise isn't so important.
• I shoot in shutter speed mode and set to the slowest time I think I can get away with - usually 1/30th sec, sometimes slower if there is no choice or faster if the light is good. But a lot of pro concert photographers recommend aperture priority and setting the lens wide open. Try both and see what suits you best.
• Shoot in bursts of 4-8 shots. The lights tend to be changing quickly so taking bursts gives you variety of shots, and if you are shooting at slow shutter speeds it gives the best change of getting a sharp image without movement blur.
• Use the auto focus in servo mode so that it tracks the focus - gives sharper shots when performers (or you) are moving a lot.
• Check the exposure with the graphs not just by looking at the picture. Sometimes on the camera display photos look OK even though they are in reality nearly totally black when you down load them. If it is too dark up the ISO or lower the shutter speed even more.
• Take a lot of shots - and take more than one memory card to make sure you don't run out of space. The hit rate of usable/good images is likely to be low so play the odds.

As I said I don't claim to be a pro but there are examples of my shots here on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/alan-ph...93088375/show/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/alan-ph...7623880208592/
and here http://www.flickr.com/photos/alan-ph...7607385576214/ as well as elsewhere in my photestream.

An excellent reply thanks. What metering mode do you use? Spot, Partial, Centre Weighted or Evaluative? The contrast is often enormous so do any of the metering modes work better than the others and if so when?

Thanks.

I use single spot focusing (often centre spot but do change it on the go to try to focus on the eyes of the performer as much as is possible). OK I know that's not answering the question but your question triggered that thought!

I normally use centre weighted metering, as you say the contrast is usually large so none works that well. That is why shooting a lot of frames helps, if the lights are changing all the time then quite often you get one of a series with a reasoanble exposure, and working in RAW means you have some leaway.

It also pays to keep an eye on the lights - red lights are a killer a lot of the time so wait until the lighting changes to something else. But there are some bands that seem to only use red. Sometimes in looks OK but if you try to push it in RAW it gets very noisy.