Has anyone ever shot a concert?

[Steve Smith]

Pushed XP2 sounds like an ideal film for B/W concert photography.

A black and white concert sounds like a great idea!


Steve.

 

[guangong]

It all depends. If a rock concert I doubt if it makes any difference because noise from the stage would make the noise from any kind of camera unnoticeable. For smaller jazz or classical settings where I can be relatively close my preference is a camera with a leaf shutter such as a Retina, Rolleiflex, Rollei 35, even a Super Ikonta B, so that patrons sitting next to me are not annoyed. All my photography is with the consent of the artists. For somewhat larger venues I use a Leica with a 90mm Summicron, again taking care not to annoy those sitting close to me. I write off larger theaters because my seats are too far away and photography is usually prohibited. Met Opera has special platforms installed during dress rehearsals for their staff photographers. Who can compete with that?

 

[narsuitus]

Assuming I have a fast lens, what developer and film would be the most appropriate do you think?

Here are the films I used. I have no idea which films are still available.

Kodak Tri-X 400 (B&W)

Fuji Provia 400F (slide)

Kodak Ektachrome 400 (slide)

Kodak Portra 400NC (print)

Fuji NPH 400 (print)

Kodacolor 400 (print)

Fuji Superia 400 CH (print) (the fourth color layer works wonders with fluorescent lights and stage lighting)

Fuji Superia 800 CZ (print) (the fourth color layer works wonders with fluorescent lights and stage lighting)

Agfa Vista 800 (print)

Fuji Superia 1600 CU (print) (the fourth color layer works wonders with fluorescent lights and stage lighting)

 

[narsuitus]

Assuming I have a fast lens...

Here are the fast lenses I used on my Nikon F2 or F4:
Nikon 24mm f/2
Zeiss 28mm f/2
Nikon 35mm f/1.4
Nikon 50mm f/1.4 auto focus
Nikon 85mm f/1.4 auto focus
Zeiss 135mm f/2



Fast Prime Lenses by Narsuitus, on Flickr

 

[narsuitus]

When shooting concerts with a lot of quiet passages, I used a rangefinder with 35mm f/1.4 and 90mm f/2 lenses.



M6 Rangefinder by Narsuitus, on Flickr

 

[narsuitus]

Also, how do you meter? Matrix metering? Center weighted? Spot?

Spot metering is my first choice if the lighting is high contrast and changing rapidly.

Center weighted is my second choice.

Matrix is my third choice.

Average is my first choice for video.

An incident meter reading is my first choice if the lighting is uniform and consistent.