SXSW shooting.

[Nocturnus]

Will my 24-70 f/2.8 be good for the club type venues most bands will be playing at SXSW? My other choice would be my 70-200, but don't know if that will be fast enough. I was thinking about shooting iso 1600 and using P mode on my Rebel. that or iso 1600 in Av mode tring to shoot around f/5.6.

[eurotrash]

5.6 @ 1600 i dont think so.

most of those venues are small small clubs with red walls and yellow light.

did you get creds for the whole time?

[Nocturnus]

taking pics inside shouldn't be a prob. never had anyone stop me before, esp with alot of the venues being free admission. but i guess they could change the rules, i havn't done anything with sxsw in ~4 years now

[satyr]

I second that f5.6 @1600 on a rebel is probably not going to work well at all.
the 1600 part is about right for most clubs. The rebel is a stretch though. (just not as good at 1600 in low light situations as is could be. but that's just my limited observations the few times I've shot next to someone with a rebel)

To be honest f2.8 is about the limit for shooting small clubs. I tend to lean towards fast primes myself. but if they have some good light I've been able to get away with using a f2.8 zoom.

The focal length depends how close you can get and what kind of shots you want.. whole band.. one musician at a time or closeup on the face etc.

[eurotrash]

5.6 @ 1600 wont work for stopped action in that kind of light no matter what camera you are using. and most of the good shows during SXSW nowadays require a pass.

[Nocturnus]

i'm not worried about good shows. i'm just going to the small clubs like I did in the past. I've shot stuff @ Emos before on my old Maxxum 5 with a 70-210mm f/4 @ 1600 and didn't have any real problems and Emos is not the best place for lighting either. I might go down to 6th this weekend and hit up some places and take some test pics, just to see how it is.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

It was a few years ago since I shot at SxSW but I shoot regularly in Dallas in similar type venues and you will have a challenge in shooting these shows.

I would go with the fastest lenses that you have and you can forget about shooting at 5.6 pretty much unless you just luck out.

As to shooting at the venues forget about the Austin Music Hall and Antones-won't be able to get a camera into those places- may be able to get one into most of the other venues but be prepared to be stopped at the door at some and turned back, so just go to another that is camera friendly.

You should be able to use flash in some of the places so if you can get near the stage make use of the flash.

Just be prepaired for a lot of your shots to not work out for you, most likely the performer moving too fast on you. If you like Folk music they are the most condusive to nightclub shooting followed by blues, pop rock, some techno and a few others hardest to shoot are Metal Heads and Punk Rockers jumping all over the place!

Aren't wrist bands something like $200 this year?
http://2006.sxsw.com/music/showcases/

[OversighT]

http://2006.sxsw.com/register_to_attend/

WOW! It's 'spensive now. They don't list the wristband price, but it would not surprise me that it would be $200.


T.