Initial Impressions: The D800E and Concerts

I swear that every review I read before going the route of the D800E said something along the lines of “the camera should only be used in a controlled environment.” They warned of mass amount of moire, shutter blur, pixel density issues, and much more. With all of that stacked against it, I decided, eff it, I’d take it out to my buddys’ show anyway! Now, I went into this with a plan. I knew that I would have to work around the weak points of the camera, so my plan was this:

• Bring a fast lens (50mm f/1.4)
• Shoot no slower than 1/80
• Be prepared to bump the ISO up to 6400 if needed
• Keep critical focus in mind
• Drink a beer and have fun

From there, I improvised. There were only a couple images I took at f/1.4; I really brought that lens so I could shoot closer to f/4 for the best quality. Even though that was my goal though, I found myself hovering around f/2.8 a lot more often.This gave me a speed/quality compromise, and it actually helped with potential moire problems I could have run into (I haven’t noticed a big problem with moire yet). With that compromise, I knew the ISO would have to do a bunch of the lifting. My range was roughly 1600-6400. I found 6400 to be overkill, but did the trick when I shot into the audience in near complete darkness. I was amazed how well it handled 6400, but I preferred shooting at 2000-3200; a lot more quality was retained, and I had plenty of flexibility to stay around a 1/125 shutter speed.

Without running my thoughts into more of the technical jargon (we can do more of that soon), I invite you to take a look at the images below! These are some of my favorites with minimal Lightroom editing! My initial impressions of the D800E and concerts are that it’s a beast! Keep an eye out for more posts soon, and shoot me some feedback and comments on my Facebook!

And lastly, be sure to check out my buddies Dirty Lingo!

-NBMA