Beginner Concert Photogrpahy

Hi El and welcome to TP

It might be good if you can think about and answer these questions?

  1. What is it about the 4000D that is holding you back?

  2. In what way do you think an upgrade will help you?

  3. What do you hope, in the case of the 450D, will offer you by way of improvements to your aimed for Concert Photography?

  4. What lenses do you have?

  5. Indoor or outdoor Concerts?

Hope my questions are of some help to aid your focusing(no pun intended ;) ) on your photography journey.
 
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Box Brownie said:
Hi El and welcome to TP

It might be good if you can think about and answer these questions?

  1. What is it about the 4000D that is holding you back?

  2. In what way do you think an upgrade will help you?

  3. What do you hope, in the case of the 450D, will offer you by way of improvements to your aimed for Concert Photography?

  4. What lenses do you have?

  5. Indoor or outdoor Concerts?

Hope my questions are of some help to aid your focusing(no pun intended ;) ) on your photography journey.
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Hi thanks for the questions so basically...

My 4000D has been holding me back in ways that some equipment doesn't attatch because has a series of cameras that the hotshoe part on top of the camera just doesn't work as I've ran into these issues in college where my camera won't work with studio lighting due to hotshoe problems and the flash attachments dont work either (I've emailed Canon about this before and they don't have any solution to this which is a bit dumb lol)

I've used 450D in class before and it seems okay specially if I am paying £100 for it and a lens plus a flash.

My lenses i have are a 18-55 and a 70-300 lens that came with my camera bundle when I bought them

and it would be indoor concerts right now and possibly outdoor in the future. i shot a gig in november with my 4000d which went okay but the 4000d is pretty slow when taking photos that it wont let me take them until the red square lights up for some reason even when everything is all on manual and it took ages for it to process(?) the image to go and let me take the next one some times for five minutes at a time meaning i missed some shots.

hope that answers your questions enough
 
That doesn't sount right at all but I don't know what the problems are. The hotshoe issue could I suppose be a fault but 5 minutes delay between taking shots? I suppose a slow memory card coupled with high iso shooting and possibly in camera high iso noise reduction using a black frame could lead to a delay but not 5 minutes, that just diesn't sound right. Maybe wading through the menu, deleting longer exposure noise reduction if it's set and trying another card could improve things to a few seconds between shots at most but that won't solve that hotshoe issue.

PS.
Years back I used to take pictures at gigs with a SLR and kit lens and I'd imagine that at f3.5-5.6 you're going to be looking at a higher ISO's and/or low shutter speeds so a faster lens could maybe help once you sort your camera body issues out. Maybe you could look at a f2.8 zoom or a f1.8 prime as this could help with keeping the shutter speed and ISO more reasonable.
 
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Hi

I will hope others with more knowledge of studio lighting/flash & Canon address your first part. Likely with asking more specific questions as to what your setup was and what was happening?

As for the lenses..... IMO neither is greatly suited for indoor without flash, especially where as it seems you may be a fair distance away from the subject beyond flash distance.

In regard to your last paragraph, on the surmise that when you shoot outdoors there are no issues of long delays delays between pictures, I can surmise as follows.

It sounds like in your setting of the camera, you are using long exposure with in camera noise reduction. As far as I recall in Canon models it will take the exposure and then for an equal time take a blank frame & then combine the two to subtract the noise. Hence the long time between being able to take the next picture.
 
To echo Box Brownie and woof woof it sounds like you may have the long exposure noise reduction on, which takes a blank frame of an equal length to remove noise. I no longer use Canon so forget which menu it's in-I think one of the green camera menus. Also check you haven't got a very slow, old SD card which could be slowing the camera down when writing to the card.

Don't waste your money on a Canon 450D. It's about 15 years old now. Your 4000D should be better in every department. The 450D only has a maximum ISO of 1600 which often isn't enough for dim concerts. What is important is wide aperture lenses. Look for a cheap second hand Tamron 17-50 f2.8 £100-£150. (I'll be selling mine when I find it!) A 2.8 aperture lens will let in 2 stops (4x as much light) as your 18-55 kit lens at the long end, which is crucial for concerts.

Please don't use a flash at at concert. It's a complete no-no in most venues and really irritating for the performers. I used to do gig and music festival photography until about 6 years ago (with basic Canon kit) and know a band who refused to play at a certain venue due to their flash happy in-house photographer we all nicknamed "Flash Gordon".
 
Hi El,

I agree with Northcountrygirl in the the live music area flash is a big no no. Security at many venues use the phrase ‘3 songs and no flash’. For the interim I’d suggest faster lenses f2.8 and lower if possible, perhaps the 50mm f1.8? I look forward to seeing your shots when you’re ready. One tip a gig photographer gave me a few years ago was to find YouTube videos of the artists performance beforehand, may give you an insight, how they perform on stage.
 
The 4000D is a camera launched 4 years ago, but the the 450D was a camera launched 14 years ago, so there is a decade of development and refinement. In good conditions on a nice day maybe difficult to seperate the quality, but in difficult conditions such as low light, high-iso, low shutter speed, the difference will be noticable. In actual usage the 4000D had several extra steps of ISO avaliable to you, but the noise processing of the camera would be better on the newer camera.

I'd consider the 450D as a downgrade from your current camera.

Check camera settings. Low Exposure reduction is prossibly the culprit, and I would try turning it off, which seems the wrong idea., but IMO if your shooting in RAW it may be more effective to deal with noise afterwards in post processing - and noise is a lot easier to sort if you get your exposure right in camera.
 
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Stick with what you have and rather look for a nifty fifty f1.8. You should be able to get a secondhand one for well under £100. You can't use flash at a concert anyway. Maybe also replace the memory card if you suspect it to be slow.
 
I own a 450D and it's only usable up ISO 400 with 800 and 1600 only in bright light for faster shutter speeds. I wouldn't recommend it. Most Canon APS-C crop sensors are not very good for low light and raising the shadows in post processing. Try borrowing some fast f2, f2.8 lenses to see if that helps.
 
Lots of good advice above. Good glass, good low light capability. Research, and awareness about the limitations of the venue.

Are you just attending gigs and taking photos, or are you in with the venue management and somewhat official?
 
The EOS 4000 is one of the lower end cameras where Canon have copied Sony in bastardising the traditional hot shoe configuration. On cameras like the EOS 4000D Canon have removed the large centre contact on the hotshoe so that the camera will only work with Canon branded hotshoe flashes.
To get around the studio flashes not working you can use the internal flash to trigger the optical sensors on your studio flashes.
 
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