[E_A_B22]

I've just been asked by a couple of friends who are in an up and coming band to go on tour with them and do their photography for the full UK tour. I'm not new to photography but for gigs I've been making it up as I go along pretty much and I've got some quite good results so far. I've been using Canon 350D for the past couple of years and it's been all over the world with me and taken 10,000+ photos using an EF 55-200mm the 18-55mm standard lens and an EF 50mm 1:1.8. This is what I ultimatley want to do and have made a little bit of money from it so far, I was considering getting an IS lens, something along the lines of Canon EF 70-200mm F/4.0 L IS and probably a Tamron 17-50 2.8 but would really appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction and help me improve my arsenal!

[gsgary]

Originally Posted by E_A_B22

I've just been asked by a couple of friends who are in an up and coming band to go on tour with them and do their photography for the full UK tour. I'm not new to photography but for gigs I've been making it up as I go along pretty much and I've got some quite good results so far. I've been using Canon 350D for the past couple of years and it's been all over the world with me and taken 10,000+ photos using an EF 55-200mm the 18-55mm standard lens and an EF 50mm 1:1.8. This is what I ultimatley want to do and have made a little bit of money from it so far, I was considering getting an IS lens, something along the lines of Canon EF 70-200mm F/4.0 L IS and probably a Tamron 17-50 2.8 but would really appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction and help me improve my arsenal!

F4 is no good for band shots, 85mmF1.8 is a good bet, i use 50F1.4 and sometimes 200F2.8

[LowLightMan]

I'll assume you don't wish to use flash. I refuse to use flash illumination for band photography - it tends to destroy the atmosphere of the ambient lighting, distract the musicians and audience, and to give uneven exposure. That said, a flashgun's red focus-assist lamp can be very useful if one disables the actual flash, although it's only effective at fairly close range.

Autofocus in low light is a challenge for most cameras, but is often reported to be particularly bad with certain lens-camera combinations. If you can, "try before you buy" to see how well autofocus works in low light with any particular lens on your camera.

70-200mm is a very useful focal length range for band shots, but I agree with gsgary - don't buy anything as slow as f/4 - in low light you will get very much sharper shots at f/2.8 because you can halve the exposure time, and therefore halve the blur due to subject motion - those musicians don't keep still!
Also note that IS won't help at all for subject motion, it will just keep the background sharp. I rarely want a sharp background and blurred subject - much more often the other way round. Additionally, an f/2.8 lens will greatly help autofocus accuracy, or give you a chance to see what you're doing if you attempt manual focus as the viewfinder image will be much brighter.
So, for band work in low light, a 70-200mm f/2.8 non-IS lens will generally give better results than a 70-200mm f/4 IS. The fact that it's twice the weight helps keep it steady too, although you might want to do some weight training if you're going to try to hold it steady for hours on end!

I don't know the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8, but the focal length range and aperture are very good for band work if lighting is reasonable.

Although zoom lenses are very helpful for event coverage, I've found that in very low light f/2.8 just isn't fast enough to get me a short exposure. The primes then come into their own. My favourite wide-angle prime is the Sigma 20mm f/1.8 - great for confined spaces in very low light, but the corner performance is very poor (this is rarely a problem for band shots, but I never use the lens for anything else!). I also had focussing problems with this lens (and the Sigma 30mm f/1.4) until I upgraded my camera (I was using a 20D, so I'd expect a 350D to be even worse). Try before you buy.

Your 50mm f/1.8 will be useful, and I agree with gsgary's suggestion - the Canon 85mm f/1.8 is fabulous,. However focussing at such a wide aperture with a long lens can be tricky as Depth Of Field is so small. Generally, only the centre focus spot on a camera is good in low light. It's very tempting to use focus-recompose with this centre spot, but this technique is inaccurate at close range. With care, and lots of shots, you should get some "keepers".

Other tips: In very low light I generally set ISO to max, again to reduce exposure time and hence motion blur. This more than compensates for the resolution drop one gets from any necessary noise reduction.
Shooting RAW is also very helpful for low-light work - JPEG compression artifacts are very ugly on a noisy image, and the far greater dynamic range of RAW makes it much easier to compensate for poor lighting.

[Dabhand16]

Welcome to Pixalo LowLightMan

What a great first post! Excellent advice for everyone considering this sort of photography.

[E_A_B22]

Wow, thanks a lot guys. Thats really a great help! I'm upgrading to a 40D this summer I think I'll combine it with the 85mm f/1.8 and the 70-200mm if budget will allow, I want to get myself on a photography course but again time and budget are always the deciding factors. Once again many thanks!

[LowLightMan]

Dabhand16, very many thanks for your friendly welcome and inspiring feedback. I am honoured.

E_A_B22, I'm glad if I have helped. The 40D is a great camera (I'm delighted with mine), and I'm sure you will find it a significant and worthwhile upgrade in many areas (especially sensitivity, low-light-autofocus and frames-per-second).

Which of the four 70-200mm lenses do you now have in mind (f/2.8 or f/4, IS or non-IS)? You haven't mentioned a wide lens in your latest post - you will need one for close-in work, and they give very useful exaggerated perspective shots. Are you still going for the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8? I think you will find it much more useful for band and general work than the 85mm f/1.8 if the light is reasonable.

[E_A_B22]

Going to try and go for the f/2.8 non IS and having looked at finances I think I will go for the Tamron as I've just discovered can get hold of one in pretty good condition for next to nothing from a local shop which has a very scratched and scuffed one in (not the lens but the body), but is working fine. Do you have any suggestions for wide angle? Like I said I'm not that new to photography but for the past couple of years I've been winging it and getting pretty good results, I just lack the technical knowledge as yet.... mainly due to not knowing anyone with experience to give me some guidance, as such any and all advice is massivley appreciated!

[gsgary]

I don't like using flash for band shots but sometimes it works if the bands don't mind
this is with flash shutter speed @ 1/15 with the 50mmF1.8 and one of my favourite shots so don't discard this lens

[ChrisRabior]

You're at the mercy of the lighting at the venue. Most big stages that coddle to national acts will have AWESOME lighting, and you can get away with f/4 if they actually light up the stage to what they're capable of.

MOST venues, you need to rely on faster lenses and higher ISO to get the result you want. I have a 50mm f/1.8, but find I don't use it much. It doesn't focus accurately or quickly enough for me. Eventually I'm going to get a 50mm f/1.4, and when I need it I can borrow an 85mm f/1.8.

For concerts, I find my range to typically fall within 18 and 150, so the sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 and 50-150mm f/2.8 would make an AWESOME pair for shooting concerts.

[E_A_B22]

Cool thanks, I'll take those two into consideration.

[Tessa]

i've been asked to shoot a gig in a few weeks,
i spoke to a few people about how to shoot it, i was actually advised to try sticking it into black and white and have it on a high iso, would anyone agree with this? or should i just shoot it in RAW and chage it later!?:S

[Dabhand16]

I would not advise shooting in the camera's black and white mode EVER. If you want mono, convert in PP.

Most people on here shoot RAW, so I would support that. Your other settings will depend on the lighting and your lenses.

There is a really good guide on shooting gigs in a post in this thread here.