So how did the 7D do?

I shot an event yesterday, as said. In a club. A challenging environment.

More pics coming soon, but here’s one more, just to give you a taste of what a good camera and good glass can do.

TRIBE. 400 ISO, f/2.8, 1/60th, at 110mm (70-200 2.8L on a 7D), bounce flash

TRIBE. 400 ISO, f/2.8, 1/60th, at 110mm (70-200 2.8L on a 7D), bounce flash

I shot with two cameras:

  • The 1Ds MkIII with the wide lens (16-35 2.8L earlier, 35mm f/1.4 later)with a 580EX II flash.
  • The 7D with the long lens (70-200 2.8L) and a 430EX II flash.

And they did fine.

The 7D produced some wonderful images – to be posted here with technique tips in the next little while. I am very happy with it.

To start you off, some tips for club shooting:

  • Shoot wide. I needed f/1.4-f/2.8 at 1/30th or less at up to 1,600 ISO.
  • Bring a small LED flashlight so you can see your camera (thanks Alvin, for the tip)
  • Bring two cameras, one long for shots uch as the above, and one wide for the “grip and grins”. Wide should be 35mm on full frame or 24mm on crop cameras, and fast.
  • You can drag the shutter more if you have to.
  • Shoot people with some light in the background
  • Bring batteries
  • Bounce, or if you cannot, then use a Gary Fong lightsphere or a Honl bounce card with CTO gels

And of course: have fun.

0 thoughts on “So how did the 7D do?

  1. Good tips. Thank you. But I think I’d find it hard to have fun with that weight and value of cameras around my neck.

    What’s the strip of light to the right of Tribe’s ear?

    Interesting how you composed (cropped?) it with quite a lot of space above Tribe’s head but less of his body.

  2. The light, I am not sure: this is rough and unedited, and in post I will look at possibly removing or reducing that. In a club environment you take what you can get. Fast lenses help here – I;m sure at f/5.6 this would be intolerable.

    As for the crop – also a case of get what you can – every second counts and even recomposing can lose you the shot. But in this case I recall making the conscious decision to do this – I wanted to emphasise his head and give it space.

    As for the value – that does not bother me (it’s all on me, hanging off my shoulders, so I’d notice it disappearing) – but the weight certainly bothered me. I worked all day teaching, then did this until almost 3am, then downloaded etc until 4 – let me assure you I felt that. Hey, what can I say – it keeps me fit.

  3. Oh OK – they are “straight off the camera”.

    You could show some time how you carry 2 cameras on a shoot like this so the straps don’t get tangled up, the bodies and lenses bash into each other etc.

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