Focus Settings for Concert Photography?

[bonou2]

Hey all,

Just finished a 12hour shoot for some young bands comming thru, what i am a bit miffed about is that my new D200 (i know it was the user...lol) didnt focus as well as my D70s (i used both cameras). What setting (using mainly Spot mettering) should i have had on my D200? I was alternating between C,S as well as AF-C set at Focus, AF-S set at Focus again. I supose what ia am asking is what settings should i be using for moving subjects such as singers on stage in low light?

Any one with expirence?

Noise was much better than i thought as well. I will post a few in the Critique forum later today!

Thanks for your help!

Dan

[PiroStitch]

Were they dancing or playing instruments?

Usually I use manual settings and adjust my shutter and aperture accordingly to suit the lighting and style I want for the pic.

If it's fast moving, you can use AF-C and see how you go. Otherwise feel free to use AF-S, but there can be times where you may miss the focus entirely.

I think to freeze dancers and movement, 1/250 or 1/400 isn't out of the question depending on the lighting conditions.

[ipv6ready]

I had a similar situation at a Sneaky Sound System gig, though it wasn't compared to two different nikon bodies. Luckily I had a laptop with me and I started taking pics during the sound testing and transferred it to my laptop for a closer look and I was not happy. At this time I was using Aperture priority and program mode, as I was gong to study the exif on the P mode and see what was good.


At the time I was using two D100 one setup with a Sigma 24-70mm ex f2.8 and a Sigma DGST 500 flash. The other a Nikkor 50mm f1.8 and SB80Dx.

I found the camera had a hard time focusing. So I set up both to full Manual mode ISO400, +0.7 exposure comp, shutter 1/250 to 1/30 and f5.6. The flash to full power. I had about 75% decent shots that I could use in capture to change any that I could save.

The only thing I changed throughout was change the shutter speed to get the effects I wanted. Freeze or slight movement.

I am not sure if the above is correct thing to do. But I don't get paid for these and I do it for fun and they Sneaky were just happy to get some shots. And some of the shots were good for a memento.

But if you are doing a paid gig I presume there is a correct thing to do, technically speaking.

It would be nice to hear what some of the expects say about this regards. PS: it was way before Sneaky got on to the charts and they were playing at the Cabana Bar.