Denny JetTone Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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PRE SCRIPT -- I just went back and read the original post and I should have paid more attention when reading it initially -- I know blutch and know his concert and portrait work, each of which is outstanding!!
IMO (and, of course, everything that I say is only my opinion) and for the "look" that I'm going for, ISO over 1600 is rarely necessary. The lighting that I deal with among several venues is not much different than anyone will have anywhere in the USA. Although, I know that blutch is often engaged to shoot classical concerts that are performed in churches -- challenges there without stage lighting or spot lights, trying to shoot unnoticed anywhere in the house, and quiet passages in a live space with a noisy shutter. end of PRE SCRIPT
Hi, blutch and All,
New member here, so please forgive any missteps or social indiscretions. Occasional lurker but I joined just to be able to participate in this particular discussion.
I shoot concerts and shows, almost exclusively. D800 with 200-400 f/4, 80-200 f/2.8, mostly. 24-70 f/2.8 and 17-35 f/2.8 in certain circumstances. Very rarely a Rokinon 14mm. I'll sometimes use a D7000 with the 80-200 or the 17-35 from the wings.
IQ is paramount.
I hate the shutter noise on the D800 -- reminds me of slamming the hood on a '53 Buick. I can get away with it most of the time on non-classical gigs but, occasionally during a softer piece, I'll have to time a shutter stroke to land on an accented beat in the music or shoot a quick series during a forte passage -- otherwise I use a camera muzzle (without the lens cover) when I need to be vewy, vewy quiet.
I've rented a D810 twice when I needed two full-frame bodies with me during a concert. LOVED them. IQ slightly, but noticeably, better than the D800, and the quieter shutter is almost reason enough to get one.
I rented a D750 when they first came out in order to evaluate its usefulness in the way that I see and shoot -- IQ was obviously down from the D800. And, I'm not (usually) trying to pull something out of nothing -- there are lights somewhere on the performers, so the super-duper low-light performance of the D750 ended up not meaning anything to me. I'm not trying to attain even lighting across the stage or to bring up the background shadows but to take advantage of whatever lighting (sometimes disappointing but nothing that a higher ISO would solve) that there is.
I shoot manual, almost always at ISO 1600 -- rarely go to 3200 or above. And, I don't need the NBA/NFL/BIF 11 fps, so the D800 serves my concert shooting very, very well. Just checked data on some challenging gigs -- occasionally go to 2000 and 2500 -- found one shot (pulling a bass player out of a cave) where I went to 3200.
All that said, and after some PM'ing with blutch, I'm half ready to rent a D750 for three concerts (six separate acts) over 10 days
in a terribly lit (they think that it is artistic) venue later this month.
Would have been interested in trying a Sony ar7II body but I can't find an adapter just yet that would communicate with my lenses at the level that I could feel comfortable, but ... http://www.ebay.com/itm/191745125210?rmvSB=true. We may soon see.
That's it.
Denny
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