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sorry, just had to tell people here, im going to be doing some photography for the performing arts department at my school! im really excited! soooo great ill be taking photos for Dance and Drama lessons and school productions.
thought i should post for advice, and to see wether anyone else has other similar oppurtunities in this field

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Nikon D80
AF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 Nikon {} AF 50mm f1.8 Nikon {} AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 VR ED Nikon {} Nikon AF-S 105mm VRII f2.8 Micro ED N
MB-D80 battery grip {} 4GB Sandisk extreme SDHC {} Manfrotto 109xb & 804rc2head {} Lowepro Primus AW {} SB800
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27747651@N04/

Congratulations mate

Is this going to be with your current equipment or using the Schools?

I did a similar job sometime ago and for the productions you WILL definitely need a fast lens.

Read more here

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EOS 5D | EOS 40D | 28-80 L f2.8 - 4 (took a swim) replaced with 24-105 F4 L IS USM | 70-200 L F2.8 IS USM | 17-85 | 70-300 | 100mm USM Macro | 50mm 1.4 | 50mm 1.8 II | 2x Extender | 100mm Macro USM 2.8 | 3x 285HV Vivitar Flash | Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger system | 430EX

My DPC Profile | My Website

performing arts eh? Cool beans. Although I'm not sure you'll be getting much with a 70-300VR for low light shots

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I've upped my Iso, now up yours.
Nikon D700, Nikon D80, Micro Nikkor 105 f2.8 AI-S,Nikon 85mm 1.8D, Nikon 50mm 1.8D, Nikon 35mm F2D, Nikon 16-35 f4 VR, Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 AF-S, Nikon 70-200VRII, Nikon 70-300mm VR, 300mm f2.8 AI IF ED, SB-800, SB-900. Noiseware pro,NIK Dfine, Nik Colour Effex, Nik Sharpener Pro

thx for the advice.
Mark, i read that post all the way through and found the information useful, if a bit daunting. a nice 70-200mm f2.8 would be great, but i might have to win the lottery first! ill be pushing the kit to the limit, but ill see how it goes. either that or ill look into hire for the actual perfomances

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Nikon D80
AF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 Nikon {} AF 50mm f1.8 Nikon {} AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 VR ED Nikon {} Nikon AF-S 105mm VRII f2.8 Micro ED N
MB-D80 battery grip {} 4GB Sandisk extreme SDHC {} Manfrotto 109xb & 804rc2head {} Lowepro Primus AW {} SB800
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27747651@N04/

To be honest it depends on your location, try your hardest to get an idea of where you will be in the theatre before the shoot.

I was allowed to go the side of the stage for the last 2 performances and to be honest with you a fast short zoom would have been much better than what I used there (my 50mm 1. I would definitely recommend going the route of hiring the equipment and if you are not getting paid I would suggest you ask the school to pay for the fee of doing so If you are getting paid you and your images will definitetly benefit from a fast lens, the frustration of seeing most all of your shots unuseable from a slower lens will kill the enjoyment for you.

I would also suggest you do not go the flash route even if you are allowed as this will kill any atmospere in your shots.

Good luck and don't forget to post any shots you get

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EOS 5D | EOS 40D | 28-80 L f2.8 - 4 (took a swim) replaced with 24-105 F4 L IS USM | 70-200 L F2.8 IS USM | 17-85 | 70-300 | 100mm USM Macro | 50mm 1.4 | 50mm 1.8 II | 2x Extender | 100mm Macro USM 2.8 | 3x 285HV Vivitar Flash | Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger system | 430EX

My DPC Profile | My Website

could someone please post links to either a forum AF-S 70-200mm f2.8 VR review or a external link?. also, shots taken wiht Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 links would be useful, i tried searching on the forum but that came up with many off handed references rather than this

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Nikon D80
AF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 Nikon {} AF 50mm f1.8 Nikon {} AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 VR ED Nikon {} Nikon AF-S 105mm VRII f2.8 Micro ED N
MB-D80 battery grip {} 4GB Sandisk extreme SDHC {} Manfrotto 109xb & 804rc2head {} Lowepro Primus AW {} SB800
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27747651@N04/

http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikkor-a ... est-report

Mark

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Canon EOS 40D / EF-S 17-85mm IS / EF 50mm f/1.8 / My Flickr

Was this originally (my 50mm 1.8 ) ? :p

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Sonyian?

My Flickr - Comments very welcome
Gear: a200, Sony 18-70 3.5-5.6 DT, Minolta 50 1.7 AF, Lowepro TLZ Mini, GorillaPod SLR Zoom
Saving for Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX HSM Macro II (50%)

"CONGRATULATIONS" Robodent, wish you luck and hope it all goes well, you`ll have to keep us informed of how it went. sue

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canon 400D
18-55 lens
tamron70-300 lens
sigma 18-200 os lens

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my flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27828538@N03/

whooooooooooooooohoooooooooooooooooooo...

a hobby with a purpose....you can't get much better then doing what you love...and you will do just fine! Can't wait for an update...



patti

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canon 7D, Mark iii 5D, ef 70-300 f/4-5.6, ef 28-135mm canon 100-400mm L IS 4.5, and a little 24-70 L f/2.8...

Congrats on the assignment. I've been doing quite some photography for my school to. My last and best assignment so far has been a graduation evening. Here's the link: School Graduation.
You will surely need a flashgun, without it these evening indoor photos couldn't have been taken. A fast lens like the 70-200mm f/2.8 I used is recommended, but I don't thing it's neccessary, you can do without.

I also took shots of our class trip to Helsinki, Finland, and those photos can be seen here: Finland 2008. Didn't have my telephoto lens back then, but had a great time shooting photos.

One tip: shoot! Don't just take a few photos. Shoot a lot. Doesn't matter if you end up with hundreds of photos after one single afternoon, just select the good ones and learn from the bad ones!

- Bjorn -

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Street and documentary photographer | Google+ | Twitter | Tumblr

Leica M9-P (my article on Camera Labs) | Leica D-Lux 5 | 50mm Summilux

started looking thorugh your photos from the Finland trip, you really meant it didnt you!!!!!!!!!!!! a 70-200 f2.8 would be nice... better buy lottery tickets then! i have not the money at the moment!

generally, thanks for all the advice!

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Nikon D80
AF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 Nikon {} AF 50mm f1.8 Nikon {} AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 VR ED Nikon {} Nikon AF-S 105mm VRII f2.8 Micro ED N
MB-D80 battery grip {} 4GB Sandisk extreme SDHC {} Manfrotto 109xb & 804rc2head {} Lowepro Primus AW {} SB800
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27747651@N04/

A school production and a graduation are two very different things, seriously do not use a flash gun during a production as a) it will ruin the atmosphere in your shots b) it may annoy the viewers and the performers

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EOS 5D | EOS 40D | 28-80 L f2.8 - 4 (took a swim) replaced with 24-105 F4 L IS USM | 70-200 L F2.8 IS USM | 17-85 | 70-300 | 100mm USM Macro | 50mm 1.4 | 50mm 1.8 II | 2x Extender | 100mm Macro USM 2.8 | 3x 285HV Vivitar Flash | Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger system | 430EX

My DPC Profile | My Website

Just a quick question, what would be theoretically better in lower light?
D80 and a f2.8 lens?
D300 and my 70-300mm f4.5-5.6?

obviously for low light, full frame trumps both, but bearing in mind that D300 gives a supposed 1 stop advantage of high iso noise perfomance against the D80 (800 vs 1600 relatively clean images normally) what would be better? Camera or lens?

thanks for reply in advance

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Nikon D80
AF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 Nikon {} AF 50mm f1.8 Nikon {} AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 VR ED Nikon {} Nikon AF-S 105mm VRII f2.8 Micro ED N
MB-D80 battery grip {} 4GB Sandisk extreme SDHC {} Manfrotto 109xb & 804rc2head {} Lowepro Primus AW {} SB800
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27747651@N04/

If the iso gets you one stop with the d300 combo, the 2.8 would give you 1 1/3 - 2 stops more light than the 70-300. What about getting the d300 with a 2.8 lens? Sigma and tamron makes some affordable ones

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Sonyian?

My Flickr - Comments very welcome
Gear: a200, Sony 18-70 3.5-5.6 DT, Minolta 50 1.7 AF, Lowepro TLZ Mini, GorillaPod SLR Zoom
Saving for Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX HSM Macro II (50%)