Hello all! I’ve been admiring all the great shots posted over the last three shows and it has me wondering what camera every one is using to take these great photos that are able to make it in through security. I’d really like to start taking some photos of concerts I attend and an curious what you’ve had luck with getting through the door and what has presented problems. Thanks in advance, any advice is well appreciated

Bjornulf once posted about shopping for a new camera during a tour (South America?) and his description of the specifications for the camera was very good. You may find it somewhere here, or more likely someone with a better memory than me will know the location and post the link.

Thanks, I’ll see if I can locate it. Anyone else have any recommendations on cameras?

there was a thread on this subject a few month back. what i can gather is dslr camera,s wont pass security, so probably better take a compact camera that has a good range of zoom in its lense, and a high sensitivity sensor for low light shots.

not sure yet what im going to do, i have a canon 400d slr and a few good lenses, filters and an external flash which i will take to warsaw but not the concert itself.

I use Sony HV20V to film. It's small enough to look like a click and point which security don't seem to mind. I know some video sent to me recently was done with a Panasonic Limux too

[www.photographyblog.com]

I can recommend the Sony HX90 as a fantastic compact camera for gig photography and it does high quality video as well.

I bought a Canon M6 with a 22mm lens.

It's looking like a regular point/shoot, but has interchangeable lenses.

Officially that ain't allowed, but most security won't be able to tell the difference.

I have a great 55-200 mm extra lens, which is so light and small that you can hide it easily (even behind the tickets in your hands / your jacket in your hand).

This combination has really nice results, but is a little more challenging than the cameras mentioned before.

It depends - if you prefer picture quality over a little more "work", I am really happy with the M6.

Cheers !

Canon SX60, great optical zoom.

i would not risk taking a lens in by hiding it behind a jacket, it might look obvious to security somethings being hidden.

Quote
majomuc
I bought a Canon M6 with a 22mm lens.

It's looking like a regular point/shoot, but has interchangeable lenses.

Officially that ain't allowed, but most security won't be able to tell the difference.

I have a great 55-200 mm extra lens, which is so light and small that you can hide it easily (even behind the tickets in your hands / your jacket in your hand).

This combination has really nice results, but is a little more challenging than the cameras mentioned before.

It depends - if you prefer picture quality over a little more "work", I am really happy with the M6.

Cheers !

THAT is great idea!

And that looks like an incredible camera... thanks for the tip.

[shop.usa.canon.com]

B&H options [www.bhphotovideo.com]

Not cheap, but I am a big fan of Canon, for 40 years. I have needed to upgrade for a long time, but the dang cameras always get better and cheaper so fast... so waiting and waiting. To this very day I am still delighted with and use my lil SD1000. It was a modern miracle at the time.

It looks like the M6 could be a great jumping point.

The HX90v with its huge 30x zoom (24-720) can indeed produce excellent results in M (manual) mode and the videos are ok in Y (yellow) mode...except for the sound that gets terrible when it's loud, like all Sony cameras I've used unfortunately (HX5,HX20) so you'll have to dub some good audio which requires tools and practice. Panasonic cameras have much better mics.

The RX100 series have a large 1"sensor for excellent sensitivity but limited range...

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IORR Links : Essential Studio Outtakes CDs : Audio - History of Rarest Outtakes : Audio

New Panasonic Lumix TZ200 covers a lot of fields when it comes to concert photo. [www.photographyblog.com]

Quote
kowalski
New Panasonic Lumix TZ200 covers a lot of fields when it comes to concert photo. [www.photographyblog.com]

Thanks for posting. I was not aware of this new Lumix. I use two Lumix cameras with some sorta good results - mostly with the larger Lumix camera though. The small compact is very spotty. However it’s easy to get past security. From memory, I think this is the LX 100. What struck me as a huge negative for concert photography is the new LX 200 is the aperture at 8.0 - this is very slow.

It's not the new LX200. It's the TZ200 which is a long zoom camera with a 1 inch sensor. I think the previous model (TZ100) has a better aperture but a shorter range.

It is more about how to use the camera than actually the camera. Of course you need a great camera, like the one I still have, see the Sao Paulo story:

[stoneslife.org]

You need to set it to manual and have proper speed and not zoom too much, because if you zoom til 15-20x then it is hard to keep the camera stable in a crowd. My rule of thumb is never more than 10x zoom and never digital zoom, always optical. And avoid taking pictures when the lights are not ideal. If you take 100 pictures then may be one or a few will be great. So you need to take a few pictures with a pocket camera.

The pro cameras are a totally different story. If you have those you work as a pro, most pictures are fine, but you work 100% as a photographer and you don't see the show, you just see the opportunities and your work. According to the pro photograpers I talk to.

Bjornulf

In the end the composition is more important than the quality of your camera.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-05-28 13:29 by TheflyingDutchman.

So bv has an HX60V, a good camera indeed, the HX90V is a bit more compact and has a very convenient pop-up digital viewfinder and a screen that folds up for group selfies.

As I wrote previously though the problem with Sony cameras are the mics, they get completely overwhelmed when it's loud so don't count on shooting videos with listenable audio with them.

The TZ200 looks interesting but it's really expensiveTZ100 is €550 now). I was impressed by the audio (and picture) in the videos posted by dnewton98 of the London I concert with his DMC-ZS50 (aka TZ70) camera [www.youtube.com] and it's only 250€ these days.

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IORR Links : Essential Studio Outtakes CDs : Audio - History of Rarest Outtakes : Audio



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-05-28 17:27 by gotdablouse.

If you take 100 pictures then may be one or a few will be great. So you need to take a few pictures with a pocket camera.


Back in the day if I had 2 rolls of 36 shots on a roll of 35mm film it was a blessing to have 72 "trys"... today I always make the joke at a show (and no one but me gets it or laughs) "Dang it!! I only have 1500 shots to go on this memory card!!" ... so I capture a bunch of video to use up the space... and when it is full I pull out another memory card... and another and a another... SD cards are a modern miracle.

I do have the HX90
Very good cam
I don't think the mikes are this bad.
Here's one of my videos :
Video

And some pics




[doctorstonesblog.blogspot.com]

Audio not bad ? Well I suppose it's "listenable" but still distorts very badly compared to any of dnewton98's videos I linked above !

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IORR Links : Essential Studio Outtakes CDs : Audio - History of Rarest Outtakes : Audio

I do only use my camera for still photos. Never sound or video. I want to see the show. Some quick still photo snaps is no problem but recording a song on video would take away the pleasure and the details of the performance.

Bjornulf

Nice photos Doc especially Mick with the guitar!

Wow, thanks for all the information and recommendations. Looks like I've got some research to do.

.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2018-05-29 10:55 by Leonioid.

Quote
swimtothemoon
Nice photos Doc especially Mick with the guitar!

Thanks !

Camera is not the most import thing, manual settings and composition is; Don't shoot automatic!
Good optical zoom is important too but have in mind, the more you zoom in, the more light you need.

Nice example:


Shot with Sony DSC-WX500
Aperture: 6.3
Shutter speed: 1/250
ISO: 800
Auto white balance

Don't forget: Enjoy the show!

Southapmpton tonight

Hendrik Mulder



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2018-05-29 12:09 by Hendrik.

Quote
Hendrik
Camera is not the most import thing, manual settings and composition is; Don't shoot automatic!
Good optical zoom is important too but have in mind, the more you zoom in, the more light you need.

Nice example:


Shot with Sony DSC-WX500
Aperture: 6.3
Shutter speed: 1/250
ISO: 800
Auto white balance

Don't forget: Enjoy the show!

Southapmpton tonight

Hendrik Mulder

You take very nice pictures, but are you always close to the stage or do you make use of the zoo function?

-



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-05-29 14:46 by Stoneage.

Always in the pit so don't have to zoom in that much and using the light on the stage.

Hendrik Mulder

As stated before - working around with your camera before saves precious time. So you have less time to look through a lens and more time to enjoy the show ;-)

I use RAW all the time and it gives much more possibilites to get rid of noise and fiddle around afterwards.