If you are new to photography, learning a little about how different lenses effect exposure will serve you well - especially if you're about to fork out a large chunk of your hard earned cash on some swanky camera gear.
There are several different aspects of lens specification to consider and each will have a bearing on the conditions you can obtain good results in and the condition of your bank balance after purchase!
To start, I'll explain what to consider when looking for lenses for music photography (or any other demanding low-light situation)
Maximum aperture
The maximum aperture of a lens is denoted as a ratio to the focal length of the lens (e.g. 1:2.8 or f/2.8 - where 1 or f is the focal length, and 2.8 is the diameter of the aperture). Basically, the lower the second number, the brighter the lens. Brighter lenses allow shooting at higher shutter speeds in low light, and is one of the most important things to consider when choosing a lens for concert photography.
Unfortunately, the scale of brightness is not linear (so f/4 is not half as bright as f/2). Below I've provided a scale of f/numbers with each value to the left being twice as bright as the value immediately to the right.
f/1.4 - f/2 - f/2.8 - f/4 - f/5.6 - f/8 - f/11 - f/16 - f/22 - f/32
An article, which will help you to understand the science of apertures can be found here.
For concert photography, I would recommend lenses with an aperture of f/2.8 or brighter.
For concert photography, I would recommend lenses with an aperture of f/2.8 or brighter.
Zoom or prime?
Zoom lenses form the bread and butter of most photographer's camera gear. They allow the focal length of the lens to be varied continuously within a certain range. This is extremely useful for when space is tight, and for snap judgements on the composition of your images.
The Achilles heel of zoom lenses, is their relatively low light gathering ability when compared to many prime lenses. For any concert shooting I would strongly recommend lenses with an aperture of at least f/2.8, which is generally the brightest (and most expensive) available as a zoom.
For this reason alone I tend to shoot most of my work with fixed prime lenses as their light gathering ability affords me more flexibility with exposure, plus the ability to get acceptable images in even the darkest venues.
Typically, prime lenses between 35mm and 85mm have a maximum aperture of at least f/2, which is twice as bright as f/2.8, and in most cases they will produce sharper images than zooms at these bright apertures.
The downside with primes is that a full set can be expensive to build up from scratch, even if you buy all your lenses secondhand, also using nothing but fixed lenses will lead to hundreds more lens changes than with zooms. This will take its toll on the lens mount on your camera (mine had started to become brassy within one month of buying my D200).
Shooting with primes also takes much practice. If you can't pre-empt what to shoot next, and change lenses quick enough, you will miss shots left, right, and centre. The practice is worth it, and although I have a full set of zoom lenses, I still use the fixed lenses for the bulk of my work. My zooms only tend to see the light of day at larger stadium venues and music festivals, where flexibility is paramount.
Other
Many lenses are now available that promise to rid your photos of camera shake, which can occur at longer shutter speeds. This is often referred to as VR (Vibration Reduction) or IS (Image Stabilizer). Unfortunately this will not help one bit, unless your lens is bright enough in the first place, as your subject will be blurred if they move anywhere (as musicians often do). Most of these lenses sport dim maximum apertures of f/5.6 or slower and are no use for all but the brightest gig lighting. On the other hand, certain exotic lenses (such as the Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 IF-ED VR or Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM) include this feature and a bright aperture. This can be really useful... if you can afford it!
Anyway to summarise: brighter is better, zooms are more convenient and generally cheaper and primes will produce sharper images in lower light, but you will have to persevere to get the best out of them.
I personally own a lot more lenses than I could get by with and most people will be able to take great music pictures with the zoom lenses alone. Whatever suits me best may not be the best solution for you. At the end of the day, everyone is different!
1 comment:
great post! I don 't know if I should buy a 50mm 1.4 and a 100mm f2 or a 70-200 2.8 :s
don't have money for both..
Post a Comment