Question by katiiiie09: best DSLR camera for concert photography?
I’m really trying to get into photographing concerts professionaly. but I really feel the need to get a new camera. I currently have an olympus e 520 and i’m just not happy with the pictures it produces in low light. So what do you think is the best camera for low light purposes? more specifically concerts? I was looking at a Nikon d60 but i’m not sure if this the greatest choice i could have?
Best answer:
Answer by Scott
I’m on the photography faculty of Brooks Institute. We have seen great performance using the latest Nikon cameras at high ISO settings, even at 1600 ISO. There is way less noise than in the recent past. All of the latest versions of Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras seem to be handling high ISO shooting very well. So, these cameras should help out your concert photography
I do not know if there is a big difference in the image quality at high ISO settings between the most expensive Nikons and the lesser expensive ones. Perhaps others can comment on that.
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The problem as you are aware of is that concert photography is usually done in a dark environment. You e520 is a beginner camera and is better suited for more friendly places.
There are several things to consider when shooting concerts,
The first is your location relative to the act. If your in the crowd there is a very good chance that your camera will be the worse for wear after the show. Nobody intends to break camera’s and even if you are as careful as can be the risk is heghtened. It’s the same as car insurance, my premiums area higher if I live in a bad neighborhood. So buying a great camera could be a mistake for that reason alone. I would rather be out a few hundred then a few thousand.
If you have some isolation from the crowd then it’s a better deal, but that is unlikey.
As far as a quality goes, there are many choices available. Not just Nikon or CAnon, but also Sony is making some nice stuff and you might strongly consider Pentax. The reason I suggest Pentax is that they are the tough cokkies when it comes to build.
Another consideration is shooting full frame or not. With full frame the sensor is considerably larger and is albe to gather more light. The arguments for full frame are easy to swallow too. A larger sensor, better build, higher quality.
Iso is always a huge concern. Small camera’s like the e520 do a bad job in dark enviroments. With full frame you gain better quality ISO’s on two levels, you have more light to begin with and the camera is just plain better.
You are are going to get great pictures at ISO 800, acceptable ones at 1600, but beyond that it will be a lot of digital noise. There is a tremendous difference between camera’s at the same ISO. You get what you pay for.
So you probalby will get a lot of noise at 800 with your camera.
The hard truth is, a D60 just doesn’t have the ability to perform under the conditions your looking to shoot at, but there are some things you can do to lesson the problems.
But some fast lenses, long and fast.
at least 100mm but a lot more won’t hurt. This way you can get colse in on the subjects that are under better light and avoid a lot of the darkness. A fast lens will be anything with a fstop of at least 2.8 or a smaller number. This is critical. You have to let as much light in the camera as possible. A slow lens like a f4 -5.6 just won’t cut it.
I’d at least go for the D90, because the CMOS sensor is giving better low light results. Combine that with a fast lens, like zoomwith a constant f/2.8 maximum aperture, and you’ll do okay.
I have a series that I did to help someone evaluate the D300′s low light/high ISO performance. Read the caption under the first one in the series and knock yourself out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/tags/isoseries/
Check out these noise comparisons, too.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond90/page20.asp
I think D90 would be better for you.Low noise ISO sensitivity from 200 to 3200,Continuous shooting as fast as 4.5 frames-per-second.11-point AF system with Face Priority delivers razor sharpness in a wide variety of conditions.
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