Limited lighting motion shots

[qdial]

I am relatively new to this and am wondering if anyone has any advice on this? I am getting better and better, but I still cannot figure out how to grab good stage shots from over 20 feet. Without solid lighting, they are coming in blurred and it seems next to impossible to manually focus over that distance in a dark concert hall. I usually shoot at 1/40 and sometimes 1/20 depending on what kind of lighting is being used. Does any one have any suggestions based on the output?

My gear: Canon 350D - Quantaray 55-200mm 1:-5.6 | Canon EFS 18-55mm

Examples





When I get inside 20 ft with the same lighting setup I can get the following



Obviously lighting is a major issue, and at the moment i don't like using my flash as I feel it disturbs the atmosphere and can disrupt performance. Any suggestions on what i can do?

I greatly appreciate it!!

[Arnor]

Hi Robert,

You need faster lenses. f/5.6 is pretty slow and the 18-55 is f/3.5-4.0 if I remember correctly. This is why we have lenses like 70-200mm f/2.8 (not that I have it<g>) You can also ramp up the ISO. I also use the 350 and I find it's ok at 400, usable at 800 but 1600 get's noisy, but then you can use noise-ninja or NoiseWare Pro to reduce or remove the noise. For a cheap lens, I went with the 50mm f/1.8 which you can pick up for about $75-85. No high end glass, but works nicely and it's cheap enough to get just to play with;)

Best regards,

[shawn patrick]

Yes, I agree with Arnor. You least expensive improvement will be with the 50 1.8 lens. After that if it were me I would look into the 85 1.8 as well. I have that one and love it for low light use. Those would both get your shutterspeeds up to 1/125 or faster. They should also be a little easier to focus.

[Wes]

I agree with what's been said with regards to needing a faster lens, but would also like to know what ISO you're using. Bump it up as high as possible and deal with the noise in post.

[DavidsStudio]

These may give you some ideas;

concert-photography

Mirarchi

live-band-concert-photography

Hope it helps and best to you.

David

[Redmouse]

This is pretty old but it might give you an idea or two.

Link.

Go light, shoot fast.

[qdial]

Thank yall for the advice!!! I am looking online now to grab a faster lense, hopeuflly I can grab some better shots once I have it!

Thank you!