Settings for shooting school play on stage with Nikon D80 with 18-200mm lens

[jewel_zoo]

I am going to shoot pictures for my child's Christmas play (indoor) tonight.

I will be probably 5 to 10 feet from the stage. Being new to but interested

in photographing, I would like to get some suggestions from the experienced

people. How should I set my camera and lense to capture good quality pictures?

 

Thanks a bunch in advance!!

[alvin_wong]

<p>Your lens isn't necessarily ideal for this purpose (it's too slow for one thing), but since the event is tonight...</p><p>I think you will need to concentrate on maximizing shutter speed, given that you will probably be hand-holding the camera for most of the time. This means you'll be using your lens wide open in "A" mode, or you can use "P" mode Flash may or may not be an option, but try to see if you can bounce it off the ceiling rather than pointing it straightforward.</p><p>Oh, and crank up the ISO.</p><p>But as I said, this setup is far from ideal. If you want more advice about how to shoot indoor events for the future, I suggest you google the many archived threads on this board.</p>

[errol young]

I disagree with the above comment. I shoot a children's dance recital in a theatre with black background and floor. I use a D70 set to ISO 800, an 18-70mm lens and sd800 and sd600. Works great. Emial me if you would like to see results.

 

Errol

[dan_brown4]

P mode, VR on, ISO 800, use the flash if you can.

[Peter_in_PA]

If you can't use flash, don't be afraid of ISO 1600 either. With VR on, try taking series of

shots. three or four at a time, because you can't be sure which will come out clear, taking

into account subject movement. Sort it out later.

 

Also, when shooting stuff on a stage, I tend to under-expose a bit, because there are

large areas of dark that tend to "fool" the matrix meter in my D50. You'll need to try a lot

of different stuff at the beginning of the play, chimp a lot, and make adjustments as you

go. And I ALWAYS use A mode for such things.

 

Flash during the play is a bad idea. Distracting to the performers. Shoot a rehearsal if you

can (ahh, but it's tonight... too late for that...)

 

if you can get to a camera store on the way there, pick up a 50mm f1.8. It will be GREAT

for this.

[michael_hahn]

Not sure how much noise you would have w/d80 at iso 800. I would try iso 400 also.

 

Mixture of flash and available light. 5.6 with flash (auto mode).

 

With avaialble light, shoot in manual mode. Spot meter a person's face ... or a prop that has some dif colors (not just white). Then go for it ... cross check after the first couple of shots w/ the LCD to be sure they look decent. Adjust manual settings accordingly. I would not go below 1/100th of a second. If you don't have enough light, then bump your iso accordingly. Unless you have a real steady hand do not go below 1/100th for available light shots or 1/60th for flash shots ...

 

good luck.

 

michael.

[photo5]

Peter makes a good point, I shot plenty of images in low light at ISO 1600 with my D80. And also shoot RAW if you can, stage lighting can be very hard to color correct after the fact.

[michael_hahn]

Don't forget, after metering with meter on SPOT for available light shots to switch back to average (matrix) for your flash shots ... and be sure to switch back from manual camera mode when going back to flash to aperture preferred.

 

michael.

[bill_keane2]

I shot a school play very successfully on a D80, using ISO 1600, no flash, High ISO NR ON and a Sigma 70-300APO f4-5.6 zoom. Leave the high ISO NR off for images that would be a tad crisper. Avoid flash. It can really interfere with the production, and may not be allowed anyway.

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/6736238

[curritch]

A few months back I took some photos of a grandkids play using my D50 & 50mm/f1.8 that turned out pretty good I thought. I set ISO to 1600 and used aperture priority at f1.8. With stage lighting the shutter speed was in the 1/100 range which was not good for action scenes but OK otherwise. Example attached.<div></div>

[jewel_zoo]

You guys are so great and helpful!! I appreciate all your ideas. Will try some of your suggestions tonight. Thanks!!

[robert_hooper1]

VR on.

 

S exposure mode (use 125 or 250).

 

Auto ISO.

 

AF-S.

 

Sharpening Normal.

 

Color Space Ia.

 

Tone Comp Normal.

[dirtlawyer]

If you can get your hands on a monopod, take it with you. You can hold it between your knees, and it will greatly reduce or eliminate camera movement.

[Ed_Ingold]

You must use manual exposure for shooting a live play or musical. The subjects are in spotlights while the background is usually dark, causing gross overexposures. Use the spot metering mode and slide-rule indicator in the viewfinder to determine the exposure for faces. With experience, you can adjust the shutter speed for changing light almost without re-metering.

 

Stage lighting typically yields 1/30 to 1/60 sec at ISO 800 and f/2.8. A 70-200/2.8 VR is nearly ideal for this situation. Your 18-200 is seriously "aperture challenged", so you need to bump the ISO to 3200 or try your luck at 1600 and (probably) 1/15 to 1/30. Subject motion is a signficant issue slower than 1/30, although VR handles camera shake very well at that speed.

[tony bell]

Shot this tonight with a D80 and a 28-105 with camera set on P mode and ISO 800, no flash.<div></div>

[tony bell]

Sorry about the size thought it was small enough!<div></div>

[james_calron]

^^That appears to have pretty good room lighting, what was your aperture/shutter spped? Nice colors by the way, and good composition.

[tony bell]

Actually the lighting in that room is a nightmare. It is the school cafeteria with a 20 foot ceiling and florescent lights located on said ceiling. Then the stage has about 10 or 12 floodlights pointing basically down. If I don't sit in the front row I am never able to get anything worth a tinker's damn. As for the shutter and aperture, I simply had it set on Program. The camera seems to know best in this difficult setting so long as I use the proper ISO which is 800.