Concert on Friday

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Elaine66

Senior Member
I'm going to a gig on Friday night and am taking my Nikon D5100 hoping I will be allowed to take some pics. It's a small venue. I don't have a speedlight which is disappointing so will be just me and my camera. I have the 18-55 afs kit lens, and also the 50mm F/1.8 lens also. If you were going, what lens would you take (or both?) and what are the best settings? I want clear pics and am constantly battling with different settings. I would ideally like to cheat with some advice from you guys on settings possibly without using the flash?
Thanks in advance.
BTW I am going to see a ska band called chainska brassica :)
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
Flash generally does not look as good with stage lighting. Also stage lighting is brighter than most people think. How far away are you going to be from the stage? If to far then be sure to use spot metering and then look at the first couple of shots and go + or - with the exposure compensation to get the exposure correct.
It you are not to close then use the 50. If you are close then you may have to use the 18-55 so you can get the entire group in. Y0u are going to have to decide that when you get there.
 
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DraganDL

Senior Member
Since you are about to shoot without an additional light (and, like Don stated - the flash tends to "kill" that "stage atmosphere"), you will most probably going to need as fast a lens as it gets. So, the 50mm f1.8 is going to be more usable in the particular situation. But, bring the kit too, because you will maybe have to shoot at wider angles, sometimes (to capture more of the background/foreground)... Keep in mind that this 50mm does not have a vibration reduction, so try to "steady" your position (either bring a tripod/monopod or try to rest your hands against some firm object like a fence etc., while holding the camera and shooting). Shoot mainly in "aperture priority mode" (using the smallest values - smaller numbers) but take care also that the ISO value does not "jump up" too high and that the shutter speed value doesn't get too low (avoid very long exposures)...
 
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