Need camera for good crisp stage shots of shows

Hi,

I'm looking for a good small pocket camera, (not the SLR style)which will take
good crisp reasonably hi resolution stage shots of shows.

Naturally good portrait shots as well.

Another concern is battery charging (I like the usb + power idea) good size
storage card to hold a few hi res shots)

I am in Sydney Australia so will buy here or going to Singapore,Europe,US soon
so maybe buy there if much cheaper than Sydney.

Thanks for the help

rock

On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:06:47 +1100, Rock wrote in
:

I'm looking for a good small pocket camera, (not the SLR style)which will take
good crisp reasonably hi resolution stage shots of shows.

Naturally good portrait shots as well.

Another concern is battery charging (I like the usb + power idea) good size
storage card to hold a few hi res shots)

I am in Sydney Australia so will buy here or going to Singapore,Europe,US soon
so maybe buy there if much cheaper than Sydney.

How much lighting? If lighting is low, you ought to be thinking dSLR.

--
Best regards,
John Navas
Panasonic DMC-FZ8 (and several others)

On Feb 20, 4:06 pm, Rock wrote:
Hi,

I'm looking for a good small pocket camera, (not the SLR style)which will take
good crisp reasonably hi resolution stage shots of shows.

Naturally good portrait shots as well.

Another concern is battery charging (I like the usb + power idea) good size
storage card to hold a few hi res shots)

I am in Sydney Australia so will buy here or going to Singapore,Europe,US soon
so maybe buy there if much cheaper than Sydney.

Thanks for the help

rock


There probably isn't any small pocketable camera that has a fast
enough lens to shoot stage shots. P&S cameras also have very weak
flash systems so even if you could use flash a P&S wouldn't work. You
are looking for a camera that has a max aperture of at least f2.8 in a
short telephoto range 100-150mm, unless you are shooting way back in
the audience, then you need a bigger lens. A little while ago I was
shooting a dance company on a college stage. I had a film Leica, small
portable, I had trouble with ISO 400 film 1/30 sec f2.8, the
photographer next to me had a Canon 20D with a 70-200 f2.8. He didn't
stuggle had really nice images shooting at ISO 1600 @ f2.8 @1/125. If
you have a brightly lit stage an f2.8-X P&S may work but most shows I
go to are anything but brightly lit. With the variable aperture
loosing its widest setting quickly and the inability to use much over
ISO 400 make the P&S a nonstarter for stage work. You may want to look
at the Fuji F31 I believe, there is probably a new model, works well
at higher ISOs but has a slow lens.

Good luck
Tom

On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:05:02 -0500, "Joseph Meehan"
wrote in
:

Stage shows vary a lot in how close you may be and how bright the stage
is. Generally it takes professional equipment to do a good job. Generally
I suggest that the results are primarily dependent on the photographer not
the equipment, but in this case it often requires high end equipment.

I suspect from the requirements that this is about sneaking a camera
into shows that prohibit photography (as most do here in the USA at
least), which would tend to rule out high end equipment.

The Fujifilm FinePix F31fd suggested in an earlier response does have
very good high ISO performance for a small camera, but the slow (f/5 at
telephoto) limited (3x zoom) lens and lack of stabilization lets it
down, offsetting that high ISO advantage.

I think a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3, with a 2+ stop benefit from
stabilization and a much longer (10x) zoom, would do better shooting at
(say) ISO 200 than the Fujifilm FinePix F31fd shooting at ISO 800, not
to mention the much longer focal length.

--
Best regards,
John Navas
Panasonic DMC-FZ8 (and several others)

tomm42 wrote:
On Feb 20, 4:06 pm, Rock wrote:
Hi,

I'm looking for a good small pocket camera, (not the SLR
style)which will take good crisp reasonably hi resolution stage
shots of shows.

Naturally good portrait shots as well.

Another concern is battery charging (I like the usb + power idea)
good size storage card to hold a few hi res shots)

I am in Sydney Australia so will buy here or going to
Singapore,Europe,US soon so maybe buy there if much cheaper than
Sydney.

Thanks for the help

rock


There probably isn't any small pocketable camera that has a fast
enough lens to shoot stage shots. P&S cameras also have very weak
flash systems so even if you could use flash a P&S wouldn't work.
You are looking for a camera that has a max aperture of at least
f2.8 in a short telephoto range 100-150mm, unless you are shooting
way back in the audience, then you need a bigger lens. A little
while ago I was shooting a dance company on a college stage. I had
a film Leica, small portable, I had trouble with ISO 400 film 1/30
sec f2.8, the photographer next to me had a Canon 20D with a
70-200 f2.8. He didn't stuggle had really nice images shooting at
ISO 1600 @ f2.8 @1/125. If you have a brightly lit stage an f2.8-X
P&S may work but most shows I go to are anything but brightly lit.
With the variable aperture loosing its widest setting quickly and
the inability to use much over ISO 400 make the P&S a nonstarter
for stage work. You may want to look at the Fuji F31 I believe,
there is probably a new model, works well at higher ISOs but has a
slow lens.

Good luck
Tom

Here's a look at some images that I made last year. Occasion was
Coronado School of the Arts annual Gala and auction. The kids did
good.

The camera is Canon 5D; lens Canon 70-200 2.8L IS. Certainly a
"higher-end" set to measure by.
http://www.fototime.com/inv/35D5B0320FE93D2

Most exposures were at F2.8, 1/160", ISO 400. My approach was: get a
decent stop-motion image and Photo Shop if necessary, major crop
allowed. Surprising how many needed little of either.

I was 40-70 feet away for most shots. Flash was allowed, but (as
always) I preferred against it. I'm not certain any of the action
flash shots made it into this selection.

A year or two earlier I did an indoor graduation at ISO 800 with
similar results and product (Canon 20D).
http://www.fototime.com/A679FED19788BB5/orig.jpg

--
Frank ess

On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:27:26 -0800, "Frank ess"
wrote:

I was 40-70 feet away for most shots. Flash was allowed, but (as
always) I preferred against it.

Ahh, Frank, you'll remember from the last time you commented on one of
my posts here that there are some readers of this newsgroup that read
other newsgroups.


--

Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

tony cooper wrote:
On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:27:26 -0800, "Frank ess"
wrote:

I was 40-70 feet away for most shots. Flash was allowed, but (as
always) I preferred against it.

Ahh, Frank, you'll remember from the last time you commented on one
of my posts here that there are some readers of this newsgroup that
read other newsgroups.

Am I the only person who has noticed that, on TV and radio
(mostly in interviews), many people begin every other
sentence with the word "basically"?

Fundamentally, i think you're right.

You know what? I agree.

I do too. You know what I'm sayin'?

Frankly, I think I do.

Let me be clear about this: your point would be ... ?

--
Frank ess

On Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:59:37 -0800, "Frank ess"
wrote:



tony cooper wrote:
On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:27:26 -0800, "Frank ess"
wrote:

I was 40-70 feet away for most shots. Flash was allowed, but (as
always) I preferred against it.

Ahh, Frank, you'll remember from the last time you commented on one
of my posts here that there are some readers of this newsgroup that
read other newsgroups.

Am I the only person who has noticed that, on TV and radio
(mostly in interviews), many people begin every other
sentence with the word "basically"?

Fundamentally, i think you're right.

You know what? I agree.

I do too. You know what I'm sayin'?

Frankly, I think I do.

Let me be clear about this: your point would be ... ?

Basically, I actually meant to OY! you. Are you with me on this?
--

Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

tony cooper wrote:
On Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:59:37 -0800, "Frank ess"
wrote:



tony cooper wrote:
On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:27:26 -0800, "Frank ess"
wrote:

I was 40-70 feet away for most shots. Flash was allowed, but (as
always) I preferred against it.

Ahh, Frank, you'll remember from the last time you commented on
one of my posts here that there are some readers of this
newsgroup that read other newsgroups.

Am I the only person who has noticed that, on TV and radio
(mostly in interviews), many people begin every other
sentence with the word "basically"?

Fundamentally, i think you're right.

You know what? I agree.

I do too. You know what I'm sayin'?

Frankly, I think I do.

Let me be clear about this: your point would be ... ?

Basically, I actually meant to OY! you. Are you with me on this?

Let me say this about that: A well-placed OY! is a thing of beauty and
a joy forever, now that you mention it (Toward more colorful speech).
It depends on what the meaning of "this" is, don't y'know?

By the way, photographically speaking, the possession of Superior
Photographic Equipment has a parallel in community life: if word gets
around that you are Concealed Carry-permitted, people expect things of
you, as well. Be ready to use that stuff and to know how to use it
properly and effectively.

--
Frank ess