From: poole@bnr.ca (Thomas Poole)
Subject: Concert Film Results.
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 16:37:43 GMT

A few weeks ago I solicited opinions on a good film for
photographing a concert. A few people expressed interest
in hearing my results so here they are.

The concert was Jethro Tull, in a small venue with about
3000 people. I was sitting off to the right, 3 rows back,
about 30 to 40 feet from center stage. I had a Nikon F3
with 85mm f1.8 lens. The F3 uses center weighted metering. 
I waited until the whole stage was illuminated to take
my meter reading, since the whole stage would fill the
frame. This gave me a reading of 1/250 at f2.8 for 400 film. 
This is
the reading I bracketed around for the entire show. During
concerts, the brightness of the lighting rarely changes, 
however the number of lights will change. i.e. the light
from a single spotlight on a performer is about the same
as the light on him when the stage is completely lit. In
my case I could not meter on a single person since
I was too far away so I had to meter on the whole stage.

I shot 12 frames of Ilford Delta 400 black and white negative, 
24 of Fuji Super HR 400 colour negative 
and 24 of Kodak Gold Plus 400 colour negative. 
I brought Fuji 1600 as well just in case I needed it but
there was plenty of light for the 400 film. Results with
the Ilford black and white were good. The exposure lattitude
of black and white is greater than the colour so these
shots I can definitely use. Black and white is definitely
more forgiving under these circumstances, when an accurate
light reading is not possible. The Fuji results were poor.
The colours were terrible. The colours were washed out and
the skintones overexposed. The ones with less exposure had
a grey cast to them with the colours very dull. Not acceptable
at all. 
The Kodak results were great. Ian was wearing a lot of bright
yellow and blue and the colours came through very good. Skin
tones were good, although some were overexposed a little but
I didn't get the total washout that occurred with the Fuji.
The background came through totally black too, where the
Fuji was more grey.

Overall, I would have to rank the Kodak as my favourite.
It seemed to be more forgiving and I got better results
than expected for my first attempt. I would also recommend
black and white since I can turn about 10 of the 12 shots
into good photos in the darkroom with a little dodging
and burning. Leave the Fuji at home.

Tips I learned. Watch the overexposure! Even with taking a
meter reading with the whole stage lit, overexposure was
still my greatest problem. Bracket on the downside. If
possible get as close as you can to take a meter reading
and use that reading. The amount of light on the stage
changes but the brightness tends to stay the same. A spot
meter would have been handy.

I would stick with the medium focal lengths. Not as obtrusive
as the longer focal lengths and easier to handhold. That
extra stop or two can also come in handy. You also are in a
crowded place and the smaller the lens the better for 
moving between people. It also doesn't attract security's
attention as much :-).

Keep to the faster shutter speeds. I would not go below
1/250 for handholding in a place like that. Depending on
the performer, there can also be a lot of movement on
stage that needs to be frozen.

The biggest problem I had was trying to load the film in
the dark. You may want to practice this beforehand.

If anyone has any questions you will have to post to
the newsgroup since all mail to me seems to bounce and
I cannot mail to any individuals.

Tom...