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Gear / Technical Help => Photo / Video Recording => Topic started by: bgalizio on February 16, 2009, 01:12:39 PM
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I am new to concert photography (wife and I got a Canon Rebel XS for Christmas). While I've been reading on tips for low-light photography, I have not found any tips for this situation: We generally see quiet, sit-down shows where you could easily hear a pin drop. Audiences are generally very respectful and attentive. How do you shoot in those situations? I've afraid that milling around and the shutter sound will be distracting to the attendees.
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first thing would be to share what type of lense you plan on using
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While I'm sure not ideal for low-light, the Canon XS came with:
18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
75-300mm f/4-5.6
I'm sure there will be a million suggestions to get a different lens - not going to happen at this time.
I should mention that I'm referring to small venues (<500 people, usually around 150 people). Some would be theatre seating, some folding chairs.
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if you can hear a pin drop on these shows, are you certain you want to use a [D]SLR camera? It will be pretty loud and bring a lot of attention to yourself.
I don't know anything about your lens' or camera but for low light photography, I know it takes a steady hand and wide aperture.
Good luck!
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if you can hear a pin drop on these shows, are you certain you want to use a [D]SLR camera? It will be pretty loud and bring a lot of attention to yourself.
I don't know anything about your lens' or camera but for low light photography, I know it takes a steady hand and wide aperture.
Good luck!
During some shows, yes, you can hear a pin drop at times. It all depends on the audience and the venue.
This brings me to my original question - what do you do in these types of situations? I'm not opposed to forgetting about the camera, as it would be a side-project anyway. But these are generally the types shows I see.
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if you can hear a pin drop on these shows, are you certain you want to use a [D]SLR camera? It will be pretty loud and bring a lot of attention to yourself.
I don't know anything about your lens' or camera but for low light photography, I know it takes a steady hand and wide aperture.
Good luck!
During some shows, yes, you can hear a pin drop at times. It all depends on the audience and the venue.
This brings me to my original question - what do you do in these types of situations? I'm not opposed to forgetting about the camera, as it would be a side-project anyway. But these are generally the types shows I see.
as per your question, there is no way around the rebel xs shutter slap. If it is indeed "pindrop quiet" and you are concerned about being a distraction, then I would suggest not using it.
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Look into a decent point & shoot, something with 10x optical zoom. You can get a decent one for 100-125 and you don't have to worry about the shutter slap. I know it defeats the purpose of having a good SLR but if it's that quiet, the other patrons will appreciate you leaving the SLR at home.
Saw one of my favorite players a couple of times a few weeks ago. First night at a small sit-down listening room. There were several folks with SLRs there and you can hear some of the shutters on my recordings, those within about 30 feet. The following night was a private party and only one SLR was there. The host asked the photographer to only take pics between the songs. The recordings of that performance came out better than the ones from the previous night.
If you do take the SLR, be very selective about when you take pics, preferably between songs. You'll lose a lot of good photo ops but the other patrons won't be as disturbed as they would be if you shoot during the performance.
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Look at see if your DSLR has a quiet mode. Also depending on how your camera works you can shoot in mirror lock up (which is what causes much of the noise). I am not familiar with that Canon so I can't help more than this.
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Bob here. I shoot in a wide variety of venues. When noise and shooting in general become a distraction to other patrons in a quiet, somewhat formal situation I find waiting until the last song (encore) and then moving up to the foot of the stage (or as close to it as you can) and taking low shots with apeture wide open for dim lighting and closed down somewhat for spotlit or bright stage settings. You may even get away with flash but I only resort to that when previewing shots I've taken without flash have not worked out.House security is usually busy at that point, Improves your odds of non-confrontaton. Keep shutter speed as fast as you can get it and still have enough light to freeze movement.
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I have been asked to shoot during classical concerts with SLRs:
1) press the shutter during the fff
2) camera on tripod wrapped in a heavy dark duffel coat. There are/were even lead/rubber lined blimps made for cameras for this purpose.
that way I am more of visual than aural distraction.
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Look into a decent point & shoot, something with 10x optical zoom. You can get a decent one for 100-125 and you don't have to worry about the shutter slap. I know it defeats the purpose of having a good SLR but if it's that quiet, the other patrons will appreciate you leaving the SLR at home.
What he said. A P&S will also get you through a pat-down, where you'd be stopped with a larger camera.
Even the most silent DSLR will have mirror flap. There was a good thread about this some months ago:
http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,96536.msg1286242.html#msg1286242
On dpreview, you can find a lot of opinions about which camera is the quietest. For P&S, the FZ50 has gotten great feedback, with the added advantage of a long zoom range:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1033&message=29050543
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We generally see quiet, sit-down shows where you could easily hear a pin drop. Audiences are generally very respectful and attentive. How do you shoot in those situations?
If that is true, you don't. Shoot that is. There's nothing that pisses me off more than some dumb@ss (not saying that's you, just saying) that disrupts the show by slapping their mirror or just generally brings attention to themselves via the act of photography. And I say that as someone who loves to make photographs of jazz and at times classical/chamber music.
Depending on the situation and type of music and specific piece, the best thing you can do is wait until the absolute loudest part of music, the climax of a piece if you will, and only snap off a frame at a time during those moments. If you are talking about chamber music, you should be very careful, because again, you DO NOT want to be THAT guy. Or maybe I should say, PLEASE don't be that guy -- people did not come to a show like this to be distracted by you. The truth is, for classical/chamber music, most venues do not allow photography during the performance, and when they need professional photography, it is arranged beforehand and done during dress rehearsal, not during actual performances for these very reasons. This is why you pretty much NEVER ever see any photography happening at national/world-class symphonies, not by pros, not by anyone. Beyond dress rehearsals, the few exceptions might be outdoor venues.
It is true that some SLRs have "silent modes," typically the ones that have live view shooting. However, that only minimizes the number of mirror slaps/cycles, you'll still get a least one in there no matter what, plus at that point, you've basically lost what little autofocus you had in low light, you're holding the camera in an awkward way that's more likely to produce shake, and you also now have your LCD blasting away, which is annoying to others in and of itself (I generally disable review completely in these situations, so no LCD at all).
One other comment worth mentioning beyond the point-n-shoot, which will probably just produce crap anyway, is a good old fashioned film rangefinder. Most people have completely forgotten about those puppies, if they even knew what one was in the first place, but slap in some 1600-3200 speed film and you can make some decent shots -- and depending on the rangefinder, some of them are nearly silent (there's no mirror, heh), and because it's 35mm film, you're essentially getting as good if not better resolution than your digi rebel.
And one final comment from someone who has been in this exact situation many times, don't forget that even if it's impossible to not disturb the musicians and audience during the performance, you can sometimes make great candid shots during applause. It might not be a "performance" shot, but I've made plenty of really great photographs of the musicians smiling and soaking in the appreciation of the audience during those moments of applause (and it's so loud at that point, you can just fire a stream of shots no problem). And most audience members won't notice in those moments, or if they do, will nonetheless appreciate the fact that you waited until then to shoot.
Anyway, that's one man's opinion/experience. Good luck!
BTW, here's a good example (http://www.baytaper.com/2008/06/15/a-far-cry-live-at-the-de-young-museum/) of photos from dress rehearsal, audio from the actual show, heh... (There's actually a shot or two from behind the soundproof glass of the soundbooth during the performance. And if you're wondering about the audio source of that show, it was made with only a meter split omni pair of AKG482s DFC 9' high in the sweet spot running into an R44 at 24/44.1.)
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Excellent comments. I think I'll have to play it by ear (and the audience). But, I definitely don't want to be THAT GUY, as I've been bothered by THAT GUY before. Shoot during applause, or not at all, sounds like the way to go.
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you should look into getting a 50mm f1.8
cheap but effective entry level low light lense
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/12142-USA/Canon_2514A002BA_Normal_EF_50mm_f_1_8.html (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/12142-USA/Canon_2514A002BA_Normal_EF_50mm_f_1_8.html)
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for high quality work, nothing beats a rangfinder like a leica... But if you're in the digital world to stay, the panasonic cameras work well in the silent mode. I use a LX1 (same camera as Leica dlux(?sp?) and a lumix.. my other still digicams are all Nikon, and pretty noisey.