On and off stage photographer. What lens?

Hey guys, I got the chance to be the photographer for a festival here in Holland.
It's a drag queen festival so lots of colors and movement. lol.
I have a D7100 with Sigma 17-70 2.8 macro.
I'm thinking on stage it's a pretty good lens, but if I were to shoot from a distance the macro part may make it hard to be sharp enough.

I'm thinking of renting a 2.8 or 1.8 or so lens that has quite some zoom and at least more focus range. Maybe up to f 28 or so, right?!?!
Does anybody have experience with festival on stage photography and off stage?
The lighting is of course bright enough and the contrast can be corrected as needed.

Thanks for reading... hope you have a tip!!

Your lens is probably very good for this venue. Do you know at what distance you'll be able to work from? The closer you are, the wider angle you'll be able to use, increasing the DOF and getting sharper shots. Now, the lighting of these things might play trick on you. I would advise using a good flash if you can work close enough. This will help getting sharper shots if only for the shorter duration of the flash and reducing the gel coloured lights usually used for these shows.

Hey thanks for the reply.
Im kind of wondering if i need a flash diffuser that can go on my in camera flash..
Just a 1 dollar ebay thing or so.
I don't want to be annoying for the pre former but i guess he or shr will be used to it.

ilonab said:

Hey thanks for the reply.
Im kind of wondering if i need a flash diffuser that can go on my in camera flash..
Just a 1 dollar ebay thing or so.
I don't want to be annoying for the pre former but i guess he or shr will be used to it.

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It all depends on the distance between you and the subject for the diffuser. Don't forget the diffuser will rob you of precious power-f-stops… If you have a chance to get to the place this festival will be held, maybe you can do some test shots that would help you a lot more than my personal advice.

Thanks, ive been there and its a kind of closed in street woth walls either opposite side.
So there should be enough light i just hope my d7100 will be quick enough to determine shutter speed by light. Im setting it on the S mode so i can choose shutterspeed and let the camera determine aperture.
Hope he will hold up. Just in case thinking about renting the sb-900 flash with diffuser may i need it.
And a more zoom lens. The nikon 70-200 f.2.8

I've shot concerts on stage and flash was not allowed

I do a lot of gig photography and in a lot of cases flash isn't allowed, if your happy with decent stage lighting then the 70-200 is a fantastic lens. But beware of your camera lying about exposure under the stage lights. I tend to set the auto-ISO settings with a minimum shutter speed of 125 -250 (depending on the band) I don't know the D7100 but I managed with a D2x with a max 800ISO for years and managed. The D700 is phenomenal for this type of thing. Good luck with the shoot, don't forget to take a lot of memory cards.

I have that same sigma. The macro only means it is very close focusing. The lens works great with everything I have used it for.

I would recommend a 70-200. 17-70 is a very nice range, but a longer lense could offer the range to use more interesting vantage points for the shows.

i'd second mauckcg's suggestion of the 70-200 f/2.8. i have the VR"I" version and it is really quick to focus! a joy to use but heavy heavy heavy