What are the best settings for my DSLR when taking photos at a concert?
My first ever question. I have recently gotten a nikon D3000 and am using it mostly to take pictures at concerts and shows. Almost all the venues are indoors, dark, with stage lighting out to the crowd. Right now I just use it on the no flash/auto setting because it does some work for you, but I know I can get better photos if i manually adjust the settings. My question is what settings should I set to take good quality pics with my DSLR? I can't use a flash and want to get the highest quality finished product. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Well you would turn the ISO up. This will make a more grainy image! The f-number (aperture) should be a lower number as this allows more light into the camera. Beware, this will cause a shallow depth-of-field (your background will be out of focus). The slower the shutter, the better, because this will allow more light into the camera. Too slow a shutter speed and the singers will be extremely blurry. Also, use a tripod for the best results. If this isn't allowed, try to squeeze your arms close to your sides and keep your hands still. Good luck!
P.S. Auto is NOT good. If you're going to use auto, might as well get a point and shoot.http://camerasim.com/ is wonderful and has helped me get out of shooting in auto.
I guess we do not have to ask you if you have a media pass for the venue and that you can take your camera in with you.
You will probably need to set the ISO to 3200 and use the fastest lens you have.
Meter for the brightest parts of the stage.
Set your white balance to incandescent to match the lighting on the stage
Shoot when the performers are in those brightest spots when then are standing or not moving much.
The first concert will be your first test shooting. After you have your images on your computer and can view some of the problems associated shooting in low light situations.
If you intend to do this a lot, consider buying the new Nikon D3200.It has higher performance in low light than all other cropped sensor cameras made at this time
Yes, first let's assume you have a legitimate media pass or you ate attending a concert where they don't care if you bring in a "professional" camera. This is generally defined as any camera with a removable lens. Do not try to sneak a DSLR into a concert or you risk having the camera confiscated (Oops! Sorry. Umm, dropped yer camera.) or being ejected from the concert.
We can't tell you any magic settings, but I will try to get you close.
I like to start by taking a spot meter reading from the performer's face. Take a test shot and look at the image and the histogram. You are going to have a bunch of pixels on the right, but you don't want a bunch on the left, indicating blown highlights. You can leave the LCD set to blink on the highlights so you can check that. You can expect any lights to be blinking, but you don't want Amy skin or (probably) clothing or background to be blinking.
You are going to have trouble getting enough light in through the kit lens or a basic zoom to get a decent exposure. I often end up using f/2.8 or f/4, if I'm lucky. This is usually at ISO 1250-1600 and image quality can suffer. Turn on high ISO noise reduction. Shutter speeds are pretty low, like 1/15-1/30, so VR is a must.
If you want to shoot around 200mm (quite likely), you will be at f/5.6, unless you have spent a couple thousand on a fast lens. Just for starters, if you can't figure out where to meter, try ISO 1600, f/5.6, and 1/15 sec. You are going to have to really work at being still at that slow a speed. In fact, set you camera for low speed continuous shooting and hold the shutter release down for 2-3 frames so the 2nd or 3rd frame is more likely not to show vibration blur.
Like I said, this is a starting point and you will have to adjust accordingly. If the lighting changes quickly, you will have to adjust quickly. In fact, you will have to learn what your basic exposure is for the concert and learn a few other settings for lighting changes, because you won't have time to keep up with metering every shot.