Position:Home>Visual Arts> Fujifilm camera good enough for concert photography?

I think most of the people that would answer this question probably own a DSLR and shoot concerts (myself included), so I shall try and give you some positive, objective advice instead of saying "forget it, not possible with your camera"!.

1) Shoot in RAW mode if possible, yeah they take up more space but if this is your first time shooting in an unfamiliar enviornment and perhaps maybe not confident, RAW saves the day most of the time!. You won't be able to recover a bad photo with decent results using JPEG as you would with RAW images!.

2) With a focal length on that camera being 38-380mm effectively, you've got a good telephoto and wide lens in the one!.!.!. you're pretty much set here, and possibly have an advantage over DSLR users in that you don't have to change lenses to get wide or telephoto pictures!.!.!. you've got a leg up!
However, it's still advisable to get reasonably close (like front row, below the stage between the band & the crowd)!. This means you don't have to zoom all the way in and test the limits of your hand-holding ability to avoid shakes!.

3) Sometimes bands playing outdoor play under a large canopy and depending on where the sun is positioned can sometimes deceptively lead to very contrasty or dark pictures of the band, even though the sun is shining bright!. If this is the case, this would mean that your shutter speed may have to drop below 125th of a second and if you are going to be zooming in at full range (380mm) your camera will be very susceptible to handshake!. To alleviate this, buy a monopod with a head which is easy to manipulate for landscape & portrait shooting using a camera like yours!. Not to mention, the monopod also makes holding the camera for a long period of time a lot easier on your hands & palm - though your camera is probably not as heavy as a DSLR!?

4) Try and incorporate the crowd in some of your pictures!. You have a good telephoto ability and sometimes it looks nice shooting while you're in the crowd with hands in the air blurred out and the band on stage and a tight composition!. My other favourite shot is going ultra wide and placing the camera face-up between the band and the crowd when you are front-row, if you have a wide-enough lens or the camera close to the ground without much obstruction it creates a nice shot - i do this using my fisheye lens which is fairly wide, try it out!.!.!.

5) Don't shoot in 'AUTO' mode, especially if the conditions are going to be contrasty, this is going to throw your camera's automatic exposure off-gaurd and usually results in under-exposed shots when shooting bands playing outdoors in sunshine under a canopy or shade with backlighting!. My advice is shoot manual!. Use partial or spot metering, meter for the face (or the bits (guitar, instruments, etc) you want to expose correctly) , adjust Tv setting first to set it above a respectable hand holding capability, then aperture until you get correct exposure, then take the shot!. Good thing about using manual is the camera can STILL get the metering wrong and you can continue making adjustments in speed or aperture to compensate!.

If you're still nervous about going full manual, go for shutter or aperture priority modes, but try and stay away from auto!.!.!.unless your camera IS actually good in contrasty conditions (most cameras get fooled)!.

6) Have PLENTY of batteries & memory on stand-by!

7) ENJOY it! Sure you're working but you've got the best seat in the house and if you like the band, even better!

Good luck!Www@QuestionHome@Com

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I would be too!.

I have to guess that you showed them a lot of your other concert work and they were impressed!.

And you know how to deal with shutter lag, shoot at the highest resolution and all the other issues that may arise with a small sensor, about 15 times smaller than a typical DSLR!.

My main concern would be how many AA batteries I would want to carry with me!.

When I shoot concerts, I usually end up with over 600 images and the constant auto-focusing and sometimes checking my shots using the LCD, the batteries can be used up quite fast !.!.!. one of the primary reasons I have a battery grip on my camera !.!.!. two Li-ion batteries can last up to over 2000 images on my newest DSLRWww@QuestionHome@Com

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unfortunately if you shoot highest rez I don't think your finepix will hold many pics!. it's a good camera, but if you are using alot of zoom to get your shots you may have to be concerned about camera movement!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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