B&W indoor no flash photography

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I have been asked to take B&W pictures of a friends band. The singer does not want me to use flash. The venue is small and dark, although there will be some stage lighting. I've purchased two films (Kodak Tmax P3200 and Fuji Neopan 1600), I expect the Tmax to be grainy, but are there any "traps" that I could fall into? I'm using a Minolta 505si Super with 75-300mm and 28-80mm lenses, are there any filters needed / useful for this type of photography? Any suggesstion would be appreciated.

Aidan

-- Aidan (aidan.pedreschi@lbhf.gov.uk), February 10, 2001

Answers

Actually, I would think that both films would be rather grainy. Chances are, you will want to open the aperture as wide as it can go. You might want to go with a prime lens rather than zoom (if you can obtain them). They usually have larger maximum apertures. As for filters, I would say none except a UV/skylight for lens protection. Any other filter will cause a reduction in light gathering and you are limited in that regards to begin with (dark venue).

-- Johnny Motown (johnny.motown@att.net), February 10, 2001.

If your friend will let you use a tripod (even a tabletop) you can use a much slower film at a slower shutter speed, and get some good images showing subject movement which might be interesting for band images...a bit more creative than frozen statues.

-- Todd Frederick (fredrick@hotcity.com), February 10, 2001.

Hi Aidan, I use Neopan 1600 for 90 some percent of my photography. It really needs to be rated @ 1000 and developed accordingly. T-Max 3200 @ 1600 and developed in T-Max developer is very nice, at 3200 it has quite abit of grain, but depending on 'the look' you want to have, that might not be a problem.

I agree with the 'prime lens' suggetion. A good 50mm lens at around f1.4 will make life much easier for you with this kind of photography.

Cheers - chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), February 10, 2001.


don't try to use filters, you will not have enough light even to work on 1/60 at f1.4 with the 1600 film. if there's no space on the room, slower-tripod photos will be much much hard to get, so think on pushing to 6400 or using the flash in a non-direct way.

-- Celcio (non@non.dot), March 07, 2001.

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