Comments on: Five Tips for Shooting Concerts on Film

By: Phil B

Phil B — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 00:25:32 +0000

In the 70s and 80s I shot hundreds of concerts. I used colour transparency film Ektachrome rated at 360 then GAF 500. The difference between tungsten and daylight film was negated by the coloured lights used. Regards metering I managed to get on stage at my first ever gig and take incident light readings when the lights were at different levels. I averaged them out at around EV9, that’s 1/30th at f4. I’ve pretty well stuck to this exposure with big stages ever since. Only when I start metering do my exposures start to go off. Lights are brighter these days. Mostly thought these days I use my phone for stage shows. The way it deals with exposure is incredible. I used SLRs with a 135 f2 prime. Yep I’ve had failure but who hasnt?

By: Michael S. Goldfarb

Michael S. Goldfarb — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 15:17:49 +0000

I’ve shot lots of concerts over the last 40+ years, with everything from a Minox III-s to a Nikkormat FTn.

But my best concert shot is the one below, where I managed to work my way right up to the front of the oft-called “best” Grateful Dead show, at Cornell U 5/8/77. (Not really the “best”, though it’s definitely at outstanding show from a year when they were at one of their creative peaks.) Shot on Tri-X – not pushed, at 400 – at 1/15, wide open at f/2.8, with my Petri Color 35 (40mm fixed lens). The trick with this shot was waiting until a pause in the vocals of a slow song (“St. Stephen”) to avoid motion blur. With no vibration from the leaf shutter, it’s nice and sharp: I made dry-mounted 12×16 prints for my Deadhead friends.

http://oit2.scps.nyu.edu/~meretzkm/goldfarb/GD5877.JPG

By: Jon De Lucia

Jon De Lucia — Mon, 04 May 2020 15:15:14 +0000

In reply to Oliver. That's an amazing tip thanks!

By: Oliver

Oliver — Mon, 04 May 2020 14:38:23 +0000

On the Canonet, “half-press” the shutter & the metered aperture will be locked while you recompose. Since it is not a real AE lock, one can also use it for exposure compensation. Changing the shutter speed after “locking” won’t affect the chosen f-stop, either.
Lots of (unintentional) pro-features on this little gem!

By: Emil

Emil — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 12:01:29 +0000

Good article.
I also used to shoot many concerts when living in Finland years ago. Mando Diao, The Crash, Scandinavian Music Group, jazz festivals… beautiful memories.
I was using old school SLRs with an M42 Takumar 105mm. Films: Neopan 1600, HP5+ pushed 1stop, Fuji Superia 800.
– flickr.com/photos/robotwolf/albums/page2

By: Jon De Lucia

Jon De Lucia — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 00:32:07 +0000

Great article thanks! I am also a gigging musician and have been trying with mixed results to take photos of jazz gigs, mostly very dark clubs and restaurants. I was using a k1000 50mm f2 with trix among others, mostly just ending up really underexposed unless there were bright stage lights. I picked up a canonet based on this recommendation, coming tomorrow. I am thinking I will try this with trix pushed to 1600. What shutter would you suggest as the lowest I can go before the (relatively stationary) musicians are a blur? And I will be able to shoot 1/30 handheld possibly? Thanks for any tips on top of those already given.