Compact / Camera Phones at gigs

[new2me]

I only got into photography over the last 12 months and have let it supercede my interest in live music - the amount of people who just talk talk talk throughout a gig drives me nuts!!!!!

Tonight, for a while I let all the fancy phone/compact cameras distract me at a gig in Manchester, with the mock shutter graphucs, flying captures, touch zoom etc

I only have a D200 and bought the 35mm priamrily for gigs (scuse the pun) but haven't used it in anger. Testing it at home, I'm not sure it's gonna work in low light environments

SHoud I jst buy a compact?

 

[Scarecrow]

Often at gigs, if you are seen with a dslr you will be asked to stop using it, as it is deemed to be a 'professional camera', which are a big no-no in a lot of venues.

For gigs that you are able to use a dslr, you will need a fast lens to cope with the low light conditions. By fast I mean one with a large (small number) maximum aperture. A body that can shoot at high ISO without becoming too noisy is also useful. I don't know how a D200 fares in that respect.

 

[Bristolian]

I only got into photography over the last 12 months and have let it supercede my interest in live music - the amount of people who just talk talk talk throughout a gig drives me nuts!!!!!

Tonight, for a while I let all the fancy phone/compact cameras distract me at a gig in Manchester, with the mock shutter graphucs, flying captures, touch zoom etc

I only have a D200 and bought the 35mm priamrily for gigs (scuse the pun) but haven't used it in anger. Testing it at home, I'm not sure it's gonna work in low light environments

SHoud I jst buy a compact?

The D200/35mm combo should be okay for gigs provided you cam get close enough to the artists. In those low light conditions even the worst performing dslr is likely to out-perform a phone camera or compact, both of which inherently suffer from poor noise performance.

 

[new2me]

cheers chaps, I was a little tipsy when I wrote that
I'll have to contact some of the smaller venues about getting the camera in for fresh bands

 

[ding76uk]

cheers chaps, I was a little tipsy when I wrote that
I'll have to contact some of the smaller venues about getting the camera in for fresh bands

Contact bands instead. Local bands are happy of the exposure and will happily let you shoot in most cases.