Before you run out to shoot a concert, be sure to take into account the parameters of your shoot. First, you need a long lens, and you can’t use a flash. This means you need a pretty fast lens to get  close up.

A lens with f/2 should suffice but that’s not always the case. For these shots, I used a Leica Summicron 75mm f/2, which was pretty handy.

There should just be enough detail on the face

ISO set to 800

The Summicron turned the 75mm to a 150mm. This was as closed as it can get as neither Panasonic or Olympus have the keys to a faster lens with wide open apertures .

Remember that you are shooting in mixed lighting. That means at times, those stage lights will be either too warm, or too blue. So you have to set your WB to Tungsten for the warmer light. I also suggest you save the file in RAW format as well so that you can work the WB later.

Then comes the composition, which is no easy task as you have to take into account the props and mics places all over to get a clear shot of your subject. Once this is done, you probably have a good idea where the best shots will come from.

Eyes must be in focus to pull this off

Aim and focus for the eyes! Using a manual lens is not easy when you are accustomed to the manual controls but if you are AF dependent, then you need to use focus lock or AE lock. You can spot meter but for me, I prefer the matrix metering to get my shots.

The eyes is what tells the story, it is the expression on the musicians’ face that you want to capture. The composition has to be tight too.

On the G1, I use ISO800 for one simple reason. The camera’s sensor isn’t up to mark when shooting at ISO1600. Sure you can use the RAW files to clean up the noise but I prefer not to do it.

Harsh lighting will give you harsher contrast

Lastly, watch your shutter speed. Musicians tend to move around a lot thus if you shoot slower than 1/200 a second, there will be movement blurs. Furthermore, when using the 75mm (which becomes a 150mm), you need to shoot at 1/200 to arrest any camera shake as the G1 does not have any inbuilt image stabilizers.

The Panasonic VR lenses are great but none of their zoom lenses offer the sort of telephoto range that can be used in low light. At wide open and maximum zoom, it becomes a f/5.6 aperture. Not fast enough for low light use unless you have a ISO of at 3200.

But the whole idea is not to be put off by the limitations of your gear but instead, go beyond them as you adapt to the situation. I am not endorsing the Leica Summicron in any way, as I have this lens for use with my rangefinder CL. Panasonic and Olympus will address the low light issue when they have a product ready. When will this happen? Well I’ll try to keep you posted!