faster lens

I think I might have to invest in a better and faster lens for low lighting

I currently own and tammy 28-70mm F2.8 and a 70-200mm F2.8

I am thinking of something around ??-250mm F1.??

this is for dance and school concerts where I need a good shutter speed of 1/125sec and a low ISO

I will post some images later in the week of my first dance show(I'am quite please to way it went BUT I need a better lens)

any suggestions will be greatly received

James

I think you'll find that f/2.8 is as fast as you can get in Pentax mount zooms (that includes those from third parties and those that are out of production). In fact f/2.8 seems to be the limit for zooms on most systems so you really need a prime if you want something quicker.

Pentax did make the A*135/1.8 which still turns up on eBay from time-to-time but it isn't cheap...

thank you hefty1

A prime it is but what size is the next question as I can run two cameras one with the tammy 70-200mm F2.8

James

There is that cheap Falcon 85/f1.4 lens that RR has. Sounds like good value but at 1.4 the DOF is measured in cm.

Sigma have an 85mm f1.4 coming out sometime this year - aside from the HSM autofocus, their previous modern reimagining of a classic fast lens (the 50mm f1.4 HSM) is very well regarded indeed. Still, it depends on whether you can wait long enough for the (as-yet unannounced) release date.

is the 77 ltd the longest prime you can buy ??

Thank you Mike I think 1.4 is to small (DOF) to much of a trade off

James

Don't forget DOF also depends on focal length and focus distance.
You get a lot more DOF (more than twice) with a 50mm f/1.4 or even a f/1.2 lenses than with a 85mm f/1.4

So the wider the angle you can use the better in your case.

I think your best bet is to go for a 50mm lens.

I think it's the longest prime that is faster than f2.8.

A* 135 f/1.8 - K 135 f/2.5 - K 200 f/2.5
And that's just Pentax, don't know about the rest of the lenses with K mount

I did my first theatre dance shoot in March with a 50-135mm F2.8 on my K20D.
Even at iso3200 I found it very difficult to use. I had much better results when I switched to my old manual 50mm F1.7. Shutter speed set at 1/500 but I still had some motion blur. I played with various settings but being a manual lens means limited data stored in the file.

Best option I came up with and confirmed by an experienced dance photographer is the sigma 30mm F1.4.

Recommended camera settings are iso1600 – 3200 F1.4 1/500 but everything depends on stage lighting, dancer speed and distance from dancer. I was sitting on the edge of the dance floor with dancers so close I could have touched them.

I shoot in theatres all the time, right now it forms the bulk of my income! I dont think there is any need for such extremes of lenses or shutter speeds, I'll explain why but first here are a couple of recent shots both with a K20D using 800ISO and 1/90 and 1/125 at f4 and the DA 16-45:







You can't approach these fast moving events without knowing intimately what is going to happen on stage. If you don't, by the time you have spotted the shot the moment has gone.

I go to as many rehearsals as I can and mentally memorise the the music and dance, knowing where all the 'poses' are; by that I mean the moments where the dancers albeit fleetingly hold a pose. Ballet is by far the easiest to predict and is generally slower but the choreography in the top picture was a nightmare for me.

Digitron wrote: "I played with various settings but being a manual lens means limited data stored in the file."

How so?

Just a small point - it's crucial that you disable the "AF on shutter half press" and rely on the AF button instead

I've shot school plays etc at ISO800 - ISO2500 in RAW with the DA*50-135 at f/2.8 to f/5.6 and the DA17-70 at f/4 to f/5.6. Most of your success will come down to technique and experience rather than equipment

As commented, using wide apertures at long focal lengths is a recipe for focus-disaster, especially with moving subjects! Even at 135mm, f/2.8 has an extremely shallow depth of field. You have about 8cm of field at 4m - it doesn't take much movement at all before they're out of shot!

Also, don't get paranoid about 'freezing' the motion of everything! Capturing some motion blur (in the right places) will add to the overall feel of the shot - so, as I've said, and as Ken says, timing is everything

Matt

I forgot to mention that IMO manual focus is the way to go or the AF will have you focussing on the backcloth. I also use manual exposure BTW.

thank you all for your in put to this thread

Matt I think you hit the nail on the head PARANOID about motion blur

Ken thank you for your advice and images looking at your images the lighting is a lot better more even and probable by a crew that where good at their job.

The lighting at the show at the week end was hopeless one hot spot in the middle of the stage and three each side of that O'and a rope light that went along the front of the stage (at first I thought my camera sensor was corrupted) Even the Video photographer had complained about the lighting.

As you said ken go to the rehearsals as often as possible.

anyway here is a snippet of my first dance concert

no pp yet just cropped



James and thank you all