I’m going to a music festival Friday-Sunday, and I have passes to be in the photo pit for three songs. My grandma is sending me with her Nikon d3300 to take pictures, but I’ve never really used a camera before, aside from my cell phone. I’ve practiced taking pictures of my cats for the last few days, but I’m sure there’s some settings I will need to adjust for the concert. I have two lenses; an 18-55mm, and a 55-200mm but I only have space to bring one. Does anyone have any tips for me? Should I just ditch the camera and use my cell phone?

  • SCphotog@alien.topBEnglish
    0·
    10 months ago

    Both of those Nikon lenses are kit glass, so they’re going to be 3.5-5.6 or so… dynamic across the focal range. 3.5 at the wide end and 5.6 at the long end - give or take a stop, but I’m pretty sure that’s accurate.

    Not ideal for a concert really but if they (op) stretches the ISO out and manages to get the exposure without running the shutter down too slow, might end up with a few keepers.

    • chari_de_kita@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Thanks for the information! Most of what I know about concert photography is from Todd Owyoung’s site and talking with other photographers at venues. Shot for about a year on my f4 24-120mm kit lens that came with my D750 until I could scrape together enough for a Tamron f2.8 70-200mm since it was way less than the Nikon one.

      Shot a 3-day festival with multiple stages using just my 70-200mm in the middle of summer and did okay. At least with a daytime outdoor stage, having a wide aperture won’t matter as much as it will with an indoor or nighttime performance in my experience.