Unusually, I decided to photograph a recent concert at the Cri’Art. Unusually, because as a general rule, the lighting is crap (all coming from behind) and the lighting technician is so doped out of his head, he spends most of the performance just playing with the lighting control faders with no real effort to create a cohesive ‘plan’.
I decided, against this very negative backdrop, to test my « one lens » project at a concert. The equipment was simple, a Nikon D3s and the 85mm f/1.8 AF-S – this is a very ‘luminous’ lens – not the ‘fastest’ 85mm – there is an f/1.4 but at 1300€ I think I’ll pass thank you. Combined with AutoISO I thought I had a good chance of capturing something.
As this is not my normal « go to » concert lens*, I was using the experience to learn how it handled, in particular, the depth of the depth of field ‘wide open’ at f/1.8. Most concert artists move around a lot, and with V**** terrible lighting, I had to be able to stop the action, but also have sufficient DOF to render a usable image.
En concert au Cri’Art le 22.11.19 
En concert au Cri’Art le 22.11.19 
En concert au Cri’Art le 22.11.19 
En concert au Cri’Art le 22.11.19 
En concert au Cri’Art le 22.11.19
I’m happy enough with the results, but despite the optimistic title, I doubt I will be going back to cover any more concerts – the lighting is rubbish.
- My ‘normal’ lens for concert work is the 24-120 f/4 – not a fast lens in any respect, but I know it so well, and can anticipate the depth of field at any particular focal length, it makes it very easy to use. With autoISO set at 8000 I generally manage to capture what I want.