Today Adobe has released the beta version of Lightroom4, the successor to their popular image management and RAW processing program. As regular readers will know, Adobe Lightroom 3 is my RAW processor of choice, so I’m very interested to see how the new beta release performs. Lightroom 3 was a massive update to the series with substantial updates to the RAW conversion engine, especially in terms of noise reduction. Will Lightroom 4 live up to the challenge and set a new, even higher bar for image quality?

New Features

Adobe boasts a number of new features in the Lightroom 4 Beta, including:

• Highlight and shadow recovery brings out all the detail that your camera captures in dark shadows and bright highlights.
• Photo book creation with easy-to-use elegant templates.
• Location-based organization lets you find and group images by location, assign locations to images, and display data from GPS-enabled cameras.
• White balance brush to refine and adjust white balance in specific areas of your images.
• Additional local editing controls let you adjust noise reduction and remove moiré in targeted areas of your images.
• Extended video support for organizing, viewing, and making adjustments and edits to video clips.
• Easy video publishing lets you edit and share video clips on Facebook and Flickr®.
• Soft proofing to preview how an image will look when printed with color-managed printers.
• Email directly from Lightroom using the email account of your choice.

Let’s take a look at some of the more interesting of these features.

Simplified Basic Editing Panel

Compared to Lightroom 3, the Lightroom 4 Beta features a simplified basic editing panel. Gone are the sliders for Recovery and Fill Light, as are the Brightness and Contrast options. Don’t worry, those functions aren’t gone. Instead, the editing sliders now correspond more intuitively to the image tones – Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks.

Instead of increasing Recovery to bring back highlight tones, in Lightroom 4 one adjusts the Highlights slider to a negative amount. While the effect is the same, the difference now is that one can also increase the highlights part of the histogram as well by dialing in a positive amount. This change effectively doubles the functionality from simple highlight recovery to a real and full tone adjustment – much more useful overall. Think of the new Hightlights slider as tugging on the tone curve, in a way. A Shadows slider similarly replaces the Fill Light slider of Lightroom 3.

Updated Adjustments Brush

With the Adjustments Brush panel, we see some big improvements and a much better granularity of what you can do with this tool. Specifically, we now have the ability to adjust essentially all the same variables as in the Basic editing panel, including Highlights, Shadows and White Balance. The latter is particularly a nice addition and a great improvement over the limited ability of Lightroom 3 to do color corrections via a color shift.

In addition, we have the ability to adjust noise and moiré locally, though not to the same degree as with the full Details panel.

I think that for power users, this ability for much better local adjustments may just be the best feature of Lightroom 4.

Updated Camera Calibrations

Download Adobe Lightroom 4 Beta

You can download the new Lightroom 4 Beta directly from Adobe. This is a free beta copy of the software, which will expire once the full version of the program is released.

Concluding Thoughts

At first glance, Lightroom 4 doesn’t seem like so much a revolutionary leap as Lightroom 3 was from version 2, but I think that the update represents a very nice refinement to the software.

The ability to now have very precise local adjustments to WB and noise are especially interesting. I think the fact that nearly the entire Basic Editing panel can be applied locally is going to make post processing and retouching all the more complete in Lightroom, and that fewer and fewer photographers may be going into Photoshop to achieve what’s now possible with Lightroom 4 Beta.

If you’ve been using the Lightroom 4 Beta, what do you think? Anything missing from Lightroom 3 that you would want back, or new features that you love?

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Neutral-density filters are a mainstay of landscape  and travel photographers desiring long exposure for specific effects like the motion blur of water. However, outside their utility with outdoor photographers, the ND filter has immediate uses for anyone shooting portraits and working with flash photography.

The Singh-Ray Vari-ND is a unique kind of neutral density filter. Unlike most ND filters, the Singh-Ray Vari-ND achieves a 2 to 8-stop range of ND through two different filters sandwiched together, resulting in extreme flexibility from a single unit. As Singh-Ray advertises, their Vari-ND filter is “The only solid ND filter you’ll need.”

The Flash Sync Problem

When shooting with flash in bright daylight, there are a couple of problems that become apparent . For one, one has to shoot at or below the x-sync of one’s camera, which is generally between 1/200 and 1/250. Even though some speedlights offer a high-speed sync option, the reduction in power that these flashes employ to achieve a HSS is so drastic that it often defeats the entire purpose of trying to ambient light.

Even shooting at the base ISO of one’s camera means that a very bright scene will necessitate stopping down to f/11 or even smaller to achieve a proper exposure for the ambient light. When you compound this with the desire to underexpose ambient light and create a hierarchy with an off camera flash like the Nikon SB-900 or a portable lighting system like the Elinchrom Quadra Ranger or Profoto AcuteB 600, the limitations of a 1/250 sync speed become daunting.

Instead of stopping down to f/22, the beauty of an ND filter is the ability to cut multiple stops of light from factoring into the exposure. This not only means that one can avoid stopping down into the zone of diffraction, but it opens up creative opportunities that can help create compelling photos as well.

Whether you want to create a “dark daylight” of dark blue sky or shoot at f/1.4 at high noon, a good neutral density filter is the answer to many a photographers’ flash sync woes.

The Only ND Filter You’ll Need

Singh-Ray states that their Vari-ND is ”The only solid ND filter you’ll need,” and they’re not far off. Aside from photographers who need less than 2-stops of ND, the 2 to 8 stop range offers enough flexibility to satisfy all but the most demanding and specific uses.

2-stops of ND is the perfect amount for subtle effects, while 8-stops allows you to shoot at f/1.4 at high noon with a sync speed of 1/200 without blowing your exposure white hot.

Moreover, one thing Singh-Ray stands by is the quality of their filters – one reason why the Vari-ND will blow a $300+ hole in your wallet.

Thin vs Regular

Singh-Ray makes two versions of the Vari-ND – the standard-ring version and the thin-ring version. The regular version is 14.2mm thick and the thin is 10.5mm thick. My best recommendation is to skip the standard and go straight to the thin-ring version.

At over a centimeter thick, even the thin-ring is enough cause vignetting below 35mm on a full-frame camera. Besides, if you’re already spending $340 on a filter, you might as well spend $390 for the more svelt version.

Design

The design of the Vari-ND filter looks very much like your average polarizer. The Vari-ND features a smoothly rotating front element that lets you dial in different degrees of neutral density, from 2 to 8-stops.

While there are markings on the barrel of the filter, these are not calibrated in any meaningful way. Singh-Ray states that the markings are only so that you can achieve repeatable results and they are not to be used as precise indicators of stops.

Use & Functionality

Using the Vari-ND is a process – for the most part, it’s not a set-it-and-forget-it kind of accessory unless you plan on using it at its lowest ND settings only.

Due to the massive amounts of light cut by the Vari-ND filter, the best use of the filter necessitates that you focus at its minimum effect, then reset the filter to shoot. For landscape photographers shooting at hyperfocal settings already, this isn’t really an issue at all, but for portrait shoots where composition and shooting distances are rapidly changing, it requires a bit of finesse.

The easiest use of the filter comes without using a lens hood, or using a collapsable lens hood like the Mamiya #2 rubber lens hood.

Since the Vari-ND is only two-stop of light reduction at its minimum, f/2.8 lenses focus just fine without the need to remove this filter. In bright light and with faster lenses, you’ll be able to focus with the filter at even higher levels of neutral density.

At 8-stops neutral-density, the frame for all but the brightest scenes is so dark that everything is obscured. Precise framing requires achieving the frame you want before “stopping down” the ND filter. In dimmer ambient situations, a tripod is advisable for the most critical framing.

While the markings on the filter aren’t useful for dialing in a specific amount of neutral-density, they are essential for getting even and repeatable results with flash and strobes. Thanks to the markings on the barrel of the Vari-ND, it’s easy to set your flash exposure “stopped down” with the filter, open it to 2-stops ND to focus, and then reset the filter to the desired strength.

Examples With The Singh-Ray Variable ND Filter

Killing The Sun

Contrary to its appearance, the above photo wasn’t shot in space. Instead, it’s a photo of the sun amid a bright blue sky at midday. The exposure was 1/250, f/8, ISO 200 and 8-stops ND with the Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter. Needless to say, this ND filter is enough to turn day into night.

Shooting Wide Open

Translating this into something slightly more applicable to photography, here’s an example of how this can work to kill daylight with a portrait:

1/250, at f/1.8, ISO 200. 7-stops ND applied. Nikon D3 + Nikon 85mm f/1.4.

The above photo is a practical example of how the Singh-Ray Vari-ND can tame daylight in a meaningful way.

Here, the filter was cutting over 4-stops of light, which lower light levels entering the lens enough to shoot the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 at the relatively wide aperture of f/1.8 for a very shallow depth of field, all while dramatically darkening the bright afternoon sky. The real key is that this was all shot at 1/250, the sync Nikon D3.

Without the Vari-ND filter, it would have been impossible to shoot with the same combination of a wide aperture, relatively low shutter speed (for the abundant light), and also throttle down the harsh afternoon sunlight into a gentle accent camera left.

While using high speed sync with speedlights would have enabled one to raise the shutter speed, HSS dramatically decreases flash power, which in turn hugely decreases the flexibility of small flashes and all their benefits.

Shooting Into The Sun

Here’s another portrait example of how the Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter can really tame sunlight – in this instance, shooting directly into the glaring, South Beach sun in Miami.

1/250, at f/11, ISO 200. 4-stops ND applied. Nikon D3 + Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8.

Here, the Vari-ND is working at around four-stops or so – enough to easily tame the sun without completely killing detail in the clouds, and overall keeping things natural for an exposure that would have been impossible otherwise.

Image Quality

The beauty of the Singh-Ray Vari-ND – and the reason for its high price – is the excellent optical quality of this filter. It’s color-neutral, so it won’t impart color casts to your images while it works – hence why it’s called a neutral-density filter.

Moreover, the filter leaves your images sharp. Two slabs of glass or not, sharpness with this filter is a complete non-issue; the quality with this filter is simple there are doesn’t degrade the quality of your lenses. In reality, the quality of the lenses you use, your RAW converter, and your sharpening workflow will make more of a difference on image sharpness than the Vari-ND will.

1/250, at f/5.6, ISO 200. 4-stops ND applied. Nikon D3 + Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Pros:

• Wide 2 to 8-stop ND range
• Flexibility eliminates need to remote filter to focus for most lenses
• Excellent optical clarity & neutrality
• Daylight becomes your bitch

Cons:

• Thin-ring mount is $390
• Filter vignettes below 28-35mm on full-frame using Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
• Requires dedicated shooting workflow – not for P&S work

Summary

If you’ve ever cursed your camera’s sync speed, wanted to tame ambient light, or otherwise control your exposures independent of the sun, the Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter is the answer to your prayers.

While it’s not cheap by the standards of a filter, the fact is that the Vari-ND is a tool that extends your lighting equipment and its flexibility in such a meaningful way that it’s more apt to compare this to another piece of lighting equipment.

As David Hobby, the Strobist Himself, says,

My advice – don’t skimp on the ND. The cheap ones are pure crap – and I say that from experience.

I highly recommend the ungodly expensive Singh-Ray Vari ND, which I am pretty sure is manufactured in heaven. It oughtta be, for the price. But it is sharp as hell, neutral and lets yo use any aperture you want.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Where to Buy – Recommended Retailers

The Singh-Ray Vari-ND is available from BHPhotoVideo.com, where I buy all my photo gear:

• Singh-Ray Vari-ND – 77mm (Thin Mount)
• Singh-Ray Vari-ND – 77mm (Standard Mount)
• Singh-Ray Vari-ND – 82mm (Standard Mount)

Buy Yourself Something Nice

If this article or any other content on www.ishootshows.com was helpful to you, please consider supporting this site and grabbing your next photo gear purchase through one of my affiliate links:

• B&H Photo
• Amazon.com
• BorrowLenses.com

Simply clicking through any product links on this site helps me bring you free content like the photography tips and gear reviews regularly posted on www.ishootshows.com, and naturally it doesn’t cost you a cent more. If you do grab some gear, drop me a line! I’d love to hear about what you picked up.

Tea Me

If you want to donate directly to help support and host www.ishootshows.com (and if there’s any leftover, keep me stocked in tea), you can contribute money to www.ishootshows.com via PayPal.

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I regularly get asked for recommendations on what gear people should start out with, use, and upgrade to, so I thought that this year I’d put together a list for the holidays. Because who doesn’t love photography gifts?

Here’s my list of recommendations if you’re looking for those best of gifts: photography equipment. 

As always, any purchases you make through my affiliate links helps support www.ishootshows.com and bring you features, reviews, and photo tips. In addition, if you want to buy me a cup of tea, feel free to donate via the link in the sidebar!

Photo Software

Adobe Lightroom 3 – $150

I use Adobe Lightroom 3 for just about all my photo processing needs. It’s essential to my image processing workflow. While the first and second editions never quite satisfied my needs for a RAW processor, the new camera profiles in Lightroom 3 have laid to rest for me any concerns about the quality of the files this program is capable of delivering.

With Lightroom, I’m able to import files, tag, and organize huge numbers of images, as well as apply batch processing to quickly and easily process images. In fact, the retouching & processing tools in Lightroom are so good that I very rarely even open Photoshop anymore for the majority of my work. Furthermore, plugins for PhotoShelter, Flickr, and Facebook make uploading the images a breeze once they’re ready to go. Plus, there are plugins for services like Tumblr and other social sharing sites that make Lightroom integrate seamlessly with almost any workflow.

Photo Mechanic – $150

Photo Mechanic is an image browser that I started using halfway through 2011, but it’s quickly become an indispensable part of my post-capture workflow.

Like Lightroom, Photo Mechanic allows one to browse a catalogue of images and make ratings, as well as to apply metadata and other basic image adjustments. This core feature overlaps with Adobe Lightroom in many ways. However, what really sets Photo Mechanic apart from the competition is the speed.

It’s simply the fastest way to edit photos.

Even working with 14-bit RAW files, the image display for full-resolution images is blazingly quick. It’s so much faster than Adobe Lightroom that I only use that I’ve switched to Photo Mechanic for editing and use Lightroom exclusively for processing RAW files now. Flying through images from a photo shoot and quickly tagging them for an edit has never been faster for me than it is with Photo Mechanic.

Since the program pulls in the embedded JPG file as the preview, instead of trying to render a new one (like Lightroom does), the efficiency of Photo Mechanic is amazing. With Photo Mechanic, I can literally do an edit 2-5 times as quickly as I could with Lightroom.

Photo Websites & Services

PhotoShelter

PhotoShelter is a professional photo service that I use for my image hosting, print fulfillment, online storage, and archiving. For me, the beauty of PhotoShelter is that it lives up to the digital dream of a one-upload workflow.

After uploading the final high-resolution file to PhotoShelter, I can FTP it to publications, allow private proofing by clients, offer prints for sale, and link to web-sized versions that I post to my blog. No more sending files in very direction every time I need a different end-use – In short, it makes a digital workflow just about as painless as it can be. For any photographer, PhotoShelter is a tool that can help you grow, reach new clients, and simplify your workflow.

Graph Paper Press

Graph Paper Press is a company that makes great WordPress themes for photographers. In fact, I dare say that they offer some of the very best WP themes out there for anyone. Better yet, GPP and PhotoShelter have great integration, so it’s simple to customize a site and build in immediate access to your archives for clients and print sales. GPP is what I personally use to power www.ishootshows.com. Read my recommendations for some of their best themes for photographers.

What’s more, sign up for Graph Paper Press for 25% off – on me – with this code: 4E7AAA3F34

Cameras

The Big Guns

If you’re looking to pull the trigger on a DSLR like the Nikon D7000, Nikon D3s, Canon 5D Mark II, or Canon 7D, or big fat lenses, I suggest heading over to my Gear Guide for a detailed list of the equipment that I regularly use. Or, feel free to hit me up in the comments and I will be happy to give you some buying advice.

Panasonic LX-5 – $370

The Panasonic LX-5 is a professional’s P&S camera – a serious compact, if you will. While it’s not as small as the little Canon S95 or as fully-featured as the beefy Canon G12, in my opinion the LX-5 strikes the perfect balance between pro features, great quality, and pocketablility. In fact, I prefer it the interface and form factor to the more expensive Fuji x10 as well.

I personally have the Panasonic LX-3 and it’s a fantastic little camera when I don’t want to lug around a full-sized DSLR. The LX-5 takes all the goodness from its predecessor and adds an improved sensor, a more useful 24-90mm range, and improved ergonomics and control with a jog wheel.

Photo Accessories

Black Rapid RS-7 Camera Strap – $60

Whenever I’m not using the Double Strap, I use a single Black Rapid strap. For me, the beauty of this strap is that you can wear it multiple ways – sling it across your body or just throw it over your shoulder, you’re good to go, ready to shoot. However, what I like best about the Rapid Strap system is that the straps connect to your camera’s tripod mount instead of the lugs on top.

While shooting, this translates into a huge benefit, since the strap is completely out of the way on the bottom of the camera. When you’re not shooting, the camera simply hangs down out of the way, instead of having to balance from two points of connection as with a conventional camera strap.

Think Tank Airport International v2.0 Rolling Camera Case – $350

The Airport International v2.0 is a rolling camera case that I have personally used every time I’ve flown for a photo job over the past year. Not only does fit a ton of gear, it fits effortlessly in every single overhead bin that I’ve encountered, including smaller commuter planes with just 3 seats across a row. It glides through airports and busy streets alike, and it’s build like, well, a tank. In short, this bag is almost perfect.

While I normally load my Airport International to the brim with photo gear, the modular compartments of this case mean that it’s very easy to also configure it to include just a couple pieces of photo gear while using the rest of the space for clothing. Perfect for photo-loving travelers.

If you buy through this link to Think Tank, you’ll also get to select a second bag for free on me.

Memory Cards

When in doubt, faster and larger capacity memory cards are always appreciated. This is particularly true as flash memory have continued to expand in capacity and speed, all while dropping in price.

I use both SanDisk Extreme Pro and Transcend Extreme Plus compact flash cards. Both feature basically identical specs of 600x (90mb/sec) write speeds and UDMA-6 compatibility for extremely fast transfers.

For all intents and purposes, these have performed identically. If you’re looking for the best, I can highly recommend the SanDisk Extreme Pro cards – if you’re looking to save a little cash but still get great performance, the Transcend Extreme Plus cards are a great buy. I’ve been using the 16gb models of both these cards – 16gb is a huge amount of space on my Nikon D3 and D700.

Flash Accessories

Phottix Strato II Wireless Flash Trigger – $95

One of my current favorites for flash triggers is the Phottix Strato II, which improves on the Phottix Strato wireless flash trigger in a few very useful ways. Just like the original Strato, the Strato II is a trigger designed with a hotshoe to work perfectly with small speedlight flashes – no need for extra PC-sync cables (though there are connectivity options for that, too). The big change with this new trigger is the inclusion of the ability to group flashes and then easily toggle groups on and off from the transmitter. Really nice for quickly setting and adjusting lights on-location to achieve different looks.

You can read my extensive review of the Phottix Strato II over at FlashRAW.com

Lenses

Fast 50mm prime

In my opinion, every shooter shoot have at least one fast prime. If you shoot a full-frame camera like a Canon 5D Mark II or Nikon D700, either the Canon 50mm f/1.4 or the Nikon 50mm f/1.4, respectively, are great choices. I prefer the extra speed of these f/1.4 lenses over the cheaper f/1.8 lenses, as well as their improved performance at wide apertures and the better build quality over the slower models.

For anyone shooting an APS camera, I recommend a lens like the Nikon 35mm f/1.8 or Canon 35mm f/2, which will give a perspective close to the classic 50mm range for 35mm.

Color Balancing & Calibration

Spyder 3 Express Monitor Calibrator – $66

For any serious photographer, a calibrated monitor is a must – otherwise, it’s impossible to make accurate and meaningful color correction. I personally use the Spyder 3 Pro, but that’s only because I work on two monitors. For a single monitor, the Spyder 3 Express offers all the same features.

The process to use the Spyder 3 is super simple – you position the sensor on the monitor, let the included software run a series of diagnostics, and then a custom monitor profile is created and set to the default for your computer. In short, you get to sit back and wait to experience that joyful experience of having a beautifully calibrated monitor with true color and optimized contrast.

Spyder Cube – $40

The Spyder Cube is a neat little accessory – it basically packs every tool you need for accurate white balancing into a tiny cube you can slip into your bag. With different faces for white, gray, shadow, specular, and absolute black points, this is a really useful accessory for any photographer that will fit into any camera bag.

In addition to use as a white balance aid, you can use the Spyder Cube as an exposure guide as well, thanks to the specific values of the gray faces.

My brother Chris bought this for me last year – it makes WB a snap.

General Awesomeness

Apple iPad 2 – $499

Apple defined the tablet market with the introduction of the original iPad, and the iPad 2 builds on that success with arguably the very best tablet experience to date. For photographers, this means a beautiful 9.7″ screen that’s fantastic for showing off photos. Whether it’s used as a display for clients, friends or family, images look great on the iPad 2.

Plus, with Apple’s own iPad Camera Connection, you can load and edit on the go with the iPad, making it an ultra-light device for image review in the field.

Wacom Intuos Tablet – $199

I use a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet every day – not just for photo editing, but for pretty much anything that involves moving a cursor around a screen. If you do photo editing that requires precision of any kind, the Wacom Intuos is priceless. For me, the benefits of using a Wacom tablet are increased precision and decreased wrist strain/fatigue, both of which translate into much faster edits.

The Intuos tables come in three sizes – small, medium, and large. I personally use the medium tablet, which has a working area of 5.5″ x 8.8″, but even the small tablet offers plenty of room. There’s also a wireless Intuos 4 tablet in the medium size if you want to go all out.

4Sevens Quark AA Flashlight – $57

A bright, dependable flashlight is something that any photographer can use in their camera bag. To this end, the Quark AA by 4Sevens fits the bill perfectly. This tiny torch uses just a single AA battery (the Eneloops that your speedlights use work perfectly) and puts out a huge amount of light – it puts your big D-cell Maglite to shame.

Plus, the Quark AA features an ultra-low mode of just 0.2 lumens, which is amazingly helpful for maintaining night vision while still having enough task lighting at close range. I keep my Quark AA in my camera bag and it’s indispensable at shows if I need to search for something in a dark music venue.

I’d also recommend the awesome Nitecore Defender Infinity, except that Nitecore has discontinued that great light.

Buy Yourself Something Nice

If this site has helped you rock out just a little harder, you can help support this site by purchasing your photo equipment through the links above,  below, or through product links anywhere else on ishootshows.com.

I freely share what I can through photography tutorials, my gear guide, and the shooting notes I include in every show write-up and band promo I post. Every time you buy gear through these links, it helps me bring you more features, tutorials, reviews, and photo advice. It helps me bring you the rock show.

And if you do pick up some new gear, let me know – I’d love to hear what you got!

Also, if someone else is picking up your holiday goodies, please send them a link to this page or a link to my Support Page if you want your gift to help me out!

Tea Me

If you want to donate directly and keep me stocked in tea, you can contribute money to www.ishootshows.com via PayPal.

Comments & Feedback? Let ‘em rip.

Questions or comments? Leave a comment below, and let me know what you thought of this post.

The eternal dichotomies. Good vs Evil. Night vs Day. Nikon vs Canon. Primes vs Zooms.

When it comes to available light event photography, the photographer is often pulled between constraints – the two biggest of which are limited access and limited lighting. As a result, we’re also often split between the solutions to these problems as well – the flexible framing of zoom lenses and the raw, low-light speed of prime lenses.

Whether you’re shooting weddings, concerts or any other situation where shooting position and light are constrained, here’s a look at the benefits and limitations of primes and zooms for event photography.

Prime Lenses

Pros:

In the contemporary landscape of computer-designed optics, where even consumer zooms can deliver some amazing results, the chief advantage of prime lenses for is their speed. All but super telephoto primes are at least one if not two times faster than zoom lenses covering the same focal range. Even with the best DSLRs, the difference of two stops can mean the difference between shooting at a camera’s high ISO sweet spot and looking at a sea of digital noise.

Moreover, prime lenses give photographers the flexibility to use lower ISO sensitivities, high shutter speeds, or shoot in lower light than their variable focal length peers – sometimes all three at once. In the lowest light, a prime shooter can happily click away in conditions that has zooms users crying in the dark.

Moreover, a prime lens like the ubiquitous 50mm f/1.8 available for all systems is often one of the most inexpensive lenses one can buy, offering image quality and speed at a fraction of a f/2.8 zoom’s price.

On the other end of the price spectrum, it’s also worth noting that super telephoto primes also offer reach in addition to speed that zooms just can’t touch. For situations like sports where extreme distances necessitate teleconverters for maximum effect, the benefit of a fast prime lens is even more evident.

Cons:

The major downside of prime lenses for event photography is that their fixed focal length nature directly compounds the limited access and/or viable shooting positions for any given event and moment. This is particularly true for live music photography, with shooting often limited to the front of the stage for credentialed press in potentially crowded photo pits, but is essentially true for weddings and other event shooting as well.

At best, the inflexibility of prime lenses present limitations that foster creative solutions. At worst, the result is awkward and ineffective compositions.

In addition, for anyone shooting a single DSLR body, prime lenses may feel especially limiting for fast movement and situations where the positions of the performers changes rapidly. Using prime lenses may necessitate more frequent lens changes as well.

Zoom Lenses

Pros:

Zoom lenses are all about flexibility. With the already heavy constraints of live music photography, the ability to fluidly frame and execute compositions and different perspectives is a huge asset to the event shooter. This point is especially true when one is shooting in a crowded photo pit, when multiple photographers jockeying for position limits available angles even more, or at a crowded event with limited options for clean sight lines.

For event photography in general, zoom lenses can allow for the precise framing even in non-ideal shooting situations where the luxury to choose one’s precise position is not always an option.

Aside from exact composition, the sheer ability to dramatically change perspectives with a zoom lens – going from wide-angle to telephoto in the case of a midrange zoom – is a huge asset for quickly-moving action.

A perfect example for the flexibility of a zoom is shooting a performer who may be behind a mic stand or monitors who then quickly comes to front of the stage. A midrange zoom transitions effortlessly in this situation that would otherwise leave a prime lens floundering.

Cons:

For concert photography, the downside to zoom lenses comes in their relatively slow maximum apertures, which clock in at f/2.8 at the fastest for most manufacturers. This limitation puts them two-stops a good f/1.4 prime, which is capable of letting in four times as much light. Needless to say, when the light levels drop, zooms are at a huge disadvantage against faster primes even with the excellent high ISO performance of current DSLRs.

To a lesser degree, optical quality can be an issue with non-pro grade zooms as well.

The Solution

A Mixed Bag

The obvious solution to the speed of primes and the flexibility of zoom lenses? Use them both. My kit includes a core set of zoom lenses covering 14mm to 200mm at f/2.8, as well as 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.4 primes for the lowest light.

My Kit

Primes:

• Nikon 50mm f/1.4
• Nikon 85mm f/1.4

Between the 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.4, there’s a lot of super usable range. I always find the 50mm f/1.4 especially nice for waist-up shots of guitarists, where it’s often the perfect frame for including the entire guitar. Add a Nikon 24mm f/1.4 or Nikon 35mm f/1.4 to this kit and you’re set.

Zooms:

• Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
• Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
• Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

In terms of range, these three lenses cover just about anything and everything, from the ultra-wide at 14mm to drummer shots at 200mm. The Nikon 24-700mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 are especially utilitarian for live music and general event photography.

Summary

For me, the utility of zooms is undeniable, and with modern formulas and optics, the performance is never in question. In fact, I prefer my f/2.8 zooms for AF precision and speed. However, the ability of my f/1.4 primes to shoot in even the poorest light secures their place in my bag.

By mixing primes and zooms, the music photographer is covered for everything from blazing arena shows to small, dimly lit clubs. Unless you get a profound sense of satisfaction by shooting exclusively with one set of lenses or another, a mixed bag provides the best of both worlds.

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While most DSLRs incorporate a UV/IR filter layered over the sensor, eliminating the need for a UV filter over the lens, many photographers are still worried about one of the added benefits of a lens filter: protection.

To this point, here’s a quick look at the pros and cons of using clear filters as lens protection.

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UV & Clear Filters

Nearly all digital sensors used in DSLRs incorporate UV and IR filters in their designs. As a result, what this means in terms of lens filters is that UV filters are largely unnecessary, with the possible exception of shooting at higher altitudes when UV levels are higher.

With no emphasis on cutting UV, protection is now the predominant reason why most people choose to use clear/neutral-color filters.

The reason for using filters as protection is natural – after all, when you spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a lens, an easy reaction is to want to keep that optic in as good a condition as possible. To this end, filters – whether a UV filter or a clear filter – form a barrier against grit, grime, and fingerprints.

A Case Against Filters

I basically only have one main argument against the use of filters: the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8. This ultra-wide zoom features a fairly extreme front element and cannot accept traditional screw-in filters. Aside from the fact that the lens doesn’t have front threads, the front element itself bulges out beyond what any filter could contain. To compound matters, the 14-24mm f/2.8 is a lens that is best used up-close and personal.

Needless to say, the front element has been splattered with sweat, spit, and I’m afraid to guess what else in my time photographing musicians from mere feet away. And despite all its seeming abuse, the front element still cleans up to look immaculate, with no marring of the coatings. The take-away? Lens elements and their coatings are tough.

Even with the exposed and sweat-magnet front element of the 14-24mm f/2.8, I never hesitate to go in for the kill. After all, the biggest benefit of filters to me – freedom to go after the shot – is all mental. It doesn’t take a filter to stop worrying, just will.

Disadvantages of Using Protective Filters

• Increases Flare
• Increases Ghosting

Even with the best optical coatings, the perfectly smooth glass of a filter can be detrimentally reflective. Combined with light reflecting from the front element of the lens and other surfaces in the optics chain, and you’re potentially putting a big mirror in front of your sensor, which will increase instances of flare and ghosting.

For more information on these effects, see my earlier article on Understanding Lens Flare  & Ghosting.

Advantages of Using Protective Filters

• Quick field cleaning
• Increases photographer confidence

The best quality filters are essentially as easy to clean as the front element of a lens, but more importantly, filters may allow photographers to clean more quickly and aggressively without worry. This attitude is especially beneficial in the field when quick cleans are necessary and you have nothing more than a t-shirt to clear your filter of grime.

In addition, arguably the best benefit of using filters is that they can free the photographer from worrying about environmental conditions. A prime example for this kind of shooting is concert photography, where one may have water, spit, sweat, and more flying off the stage and toward your expensive camera gear. Instead of worrying about one’s gear, filters can allow photographers to concentrate on making the shot.

For all the worry about flare and ghosting, a killer moment captured full of these artifacts will always trump an image not made at all. If filters give you the peace of mind to execute, your shooting will be better for it, flare and all.

Recommended Filters

I often asked what filters – if any – I recommend. As a Nikon shooter, I recommend Nikon Neutral Color filters. I’ve used the Nikon L37C filters on my Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8, but recommend Nikon NC filters for DSLRs.

Nikon’s Neutral Color filters come in tough brass mounts, are relatively thin, and unlike some Hoya & B+W filters I’ve used, feature lens coatings that are very easy to clean. There’s a reason these filters have 140+ 5-star reviews on B&H Photo Video’s website. They also happen to be one of the less expensive clear filters compared to the Hoya Pro 1 line and those from B+W.

Nikon NC filters come in a range of different sizes, including the pro-standard 77mm that will fit lenses like the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II.

UV Filter vs No Filter Comparison

The above shows a pretty typical scene – a backlit afternoon sun, with the example on the left showing the use of a Nikon L37c filter and the example at right with no filter. Overall, the scenes are very similar – can you spot the differences?

Again, to learn more about these effect, see my article on Understanding Flare & Ghosting.

Summary

If you ask what am I doing? I’ve shot with filters for years, and the sense of freedom they’ve granted has allowed me to go all-in and capture some of my favorite images. But at the moment, I’m going al fresco, especially for shows I shoot where I know there’s going to be intense backlighting and a high chance of ghosting.

The use of filters just comes down to preference. At worst, a UV or clear filter is going to degrade image quality, primarily in terms of flare and ghosting. At best they can allow the photographer to simply concentrate on making killer images.

Buy Yourself Something Nice

Do you buy stuff? Do you buy camera stuff? If this article or any other content on www.ishootshows.com was helpful to you, please consider supporting this site and grabbing your next photo gear purchase through one of my affiliate links:

• B&H Photo
• Amazon.com
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Simply clicking through either B&H or Amazon.com here for your purchases helps me bring you free content like the photography tips and gear reviews regularly posted on www.ishootshows.com, and naturally it doesn’t cost you a cent more. If you do grab some gear, drop me a line! I’d love to hear about what you picked up.

Comments & Feedback? Let ‘em rip.

Questions or comments? Leave a comment below, and let me know what you thought of this post.