How to get good concert pictures?

[slackerinabox]

People do it but I can't seem to figure it out.. Shutter speed? ASA? Which should I be focusing on? Or is there a camera I should be using that magically gets great pictures without much effort?

Here are the pictures from a concert I went to last night, clearly not happy with them..
Bloc Party

 

[montanafan]

What kind of camera and lens are you using?

 

[BMdoobieW]

You need to use a fast shutter speed, a small aperture number, and a high ISO. A DSLR with an F1.4 lens would help too.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: montanafan
What kind of camera and lens are you using?

I'm using a 7.2 megapixel point and shoot with a fair amount of manual settings (a samsung nv3 I believe). I don't want to take publishable pictures, just nice pictures to share with friends, where you can make out the faces of band members (or at least their general shape, not just blurs)

 

[gamepad]

i really wanted to see them when they played in austin during spring break...

 

[Chaotic42]

They're blurry because you're drunk.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
They're blurry because you're drunk.

I wasn't drunk - yet.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: gamepad
i really wanted to see them when they played in austin during spring break...

They were quite good. I had no idea that the lead singer was black! That's what happens when you hear about all your music from blogs and not MTV.

Great show in a very odd venue (a church!).

 

[tami]

1. you're too far away from the crowd and flash doesn't reach that far
2. best is to have a large aperture opening (small f number) and shoot at a higher ISO.

it's what my husband said in his earlier post.

point and shoot cameras really can't capture the essence of low-light photography unless you use a tripod and your subject isn't moving. those two things are impossible during concerts.

 

[George P Burdell]

Originally posted by: BMdoobieW
You need to use a fast shutter speed, a small aperture number, and a high ISO.

Agreed, and it's difficult, if not impossible, to achieve this with a point-and-shoot.

To correct for human error, look into a camera or lens with IS.

 

[montanafan]

I just took a look at the specs on the Samsung NV3 and it looks like it's not you, it's the camera. The review is HERE and it says that you have a few things going against you for this type of photography. Your ISO can be set as high as 1000, but the review says that anything higher than 400 is pretty bad. Your aperture will only open up to f/3.5, and it says that at the wide end of your zoom there are issues with blurriness.

Your best bet would be to get close to what is hopefully a well-lit stage, set the aperture wide open at f/3.5, and try shots at ISO 400 up to 1000 and see what the limits are for what you'd call a clean image.

 

[slackerinabox]

Do you guys know of any point and shoot that may be tweaked for such, a good "party" camera? I remember sony touting that feature, a miss of OIS and a software algorhtym (sp?) to supposedly end up with non-blurry pictures in similar situations, but I haven't found any reviews that talk about such.

I tried a large app and shooting at high asas, both of which resulting in an over exposed image where the lights blew out the band on stage (you can see some examples of that).

 

[montanafan]

Okay, I just took a look at the EFIX on some of your photos and the problem is your shutter speed. Most of them were around 1 sec. or so. You need to get that shutter speed up.

Edited for math.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: montanafan
Okay, I just took a look at the EFIX on some of your photos and the problem is your shutter speed. Most of them were around 1/100th or less. You need to get that shutter speed up.

I thought I set the shutter speed to much faster, I'll play around with the settings some more, thanks for checking into that

 

[montanafan]

With that camera I would try something like ISO 400 (you might want to experiment with 800 though and see just how bad it is or not), f/3.5, and at least 1/125th and tried for 1/250th. The stage lighting looked pretty bright in most of those pics.

Just keep in mind that you want the highest ISO that will give you a clean image. The higher the ISO number, the more sensitivity to light, but the more grainy look to the photos. The widest aperture to allow more light in with f/3.5 being wider than f/5.6. And to reduce motion blur from the band or lighting movements, the fastest shutter speed possible with your aperture, 1/250th being faster than 1/125th. If you're close to the stage and trying to get a photo of a guy standing still at a mic with a lone spotlight on him, you could go for a slower shutter speed like 1/60th or 1/80th.

 

[slackerinabox]

Turns out that there's no manual shutter speed. Argh! I'm going to actually read the manual to see if I'm doing anything wrong. Any ideas for a work around?

 

[Safeway]

Buy a DSLR. You should be able to get great pictures with one. The down side is, you won't want to take your $2,000 baby to a concert.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: Safeway
Buy a DSLR. You should be able to get great pictures with one. The down side is, you won't want to take your $2,000 baby to a concert.

EXACTLY! And I'm not sure if i'd get in with one - most venues check for recording devices. My current camera fits in my back pocket and has the profile of a pack of cigarettes..Sneaking in a DSLR would be.. tricky..

 

[kranky]

You need to force your shutter speed to about 1/60th if at all possible. If that doesn't give you enough light for a good exposure, you're out of luck. And you can't allow the metering to average the entire shot - you need to get the metering to ignore everything but the center assuming that's where the stage (and the brightest lighting) is.

It would also be good to zoom in, but that only makes the shutter speed problem worse. If you are zoomed in, you'll probably need an even faster shutter speed to keep everything sharp.

In short, I don't think you have much chance if you are typically as far away from the stage as you were for those shots.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: Safeway
Buy a DSLR. You should be able to get great pictures with one. The down side is, you won't want to take your $2,000 baby to a concert.

There might be better P&S cameras for this, but perhaps OP would consider a used Canon G6. Even though it's 2004 tech, it supports RAW format, supports external flash, fairly wide aperture (f2.0), has decent lack of noise (according to dpreview) and has a number of lens attachments. ISO only goes to 400, but for a P&S that's fairly standard, and with RAW he might be able to overcome it anyway.

$379 from B&H in good condition.

 

[Trashman]

check out the Fuji F10, F20 or F30 digital cameras, if you check out camera @ dpreview.com in forums section you'll see those cameras excel @ low light, wide ISO up to 1600.

 

[montanafan]

Originally posted by: freedomsbeat212
Turns out that there's no manual shutter speed. Argh! I'm going to actually read the manual to see if I'm doing anything wrong. Any ideas for a work around?

I looked at the specs again to see if it gave you the option of an AV setting which would push up your shutter speed at a wide aperture, but there isn't one. The only time you can set the aperture and shutter is in the Night Scene mode and then that's only for slower speeds.

Looks like your best bet for concert photos will be shooting up close and something with little movement.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: montanafan

Originally posted by: freedomsbeat212
Turns out that there's no manual shutter speed. Argh! I'm going to actually read the manual to see if I'm doing anything wrong. Any ideas for a work around?

I looked at the specs again to see if it gave you the option of an AV setting which would push up your shutter speed at a wide aperture, but there isn't one. The only time you can set the aperture and shutter is in the Night Scene mode and then that's only for slower speeds.

Looks like your best bet for concert photos will be shooting up close and something with little movement.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: Trashman
check out the Fuji F10, F20 or F30 digital cameras, if you check out camera @ dpreview.com in forums section you'll see those cameras excel @ low light, wide ISO up to 1600.

I might have to pick up one of these as a dedicated concert companion. Thanks!

any other suggestions? anyone want to buy a used samsung nv3

 

[Jahee]

Use a tripod!