Alex wrote "I'm shooting album artwork for a band and they're doing a series of 'intimate' gigs in variable lighting. I don't know what the venue lighting is going to be like and I'm debating whether I should use my film camera and scan the emulsion in on my Minolta Dimage 5400 or whether I should use a digital body......I would be very appreciative of any advice (on or off list), I'm Nikon based with a D1X and F100"
Alex, I do this sort of stuff (I will e-mail you off list with some questions if I may) and have found that I use both film and digital. I have an F100 and a D100. What I have done is to buy the 80mm f1.8 lens - gives you so much more freedom. This lens gives you a 127mm f1.8 on the D100. I think Nikon do a 135 f2 lens as well. At a good gig (for lighting) I am using 1/250th (or even faster) f1.8 at 400asa on the D100. At a bad one I am using 1/60 f1.8 at 800 ASA. The noise at 400 is perfectly acceptable (i.e. it's not really noticeable), 800 is ok, 1600 is passable. It's only when you go above that that the noise is really bad. I bought the 80mm f1.8 after reading reviews on the net, but the 1.4 is supposed to be even better (I could not afford the 1.4). Think about the 50mm lenses too (75mm on the D1x). I have a Nikon LS IV and get good results with the Ilford 3200 film. Using this with the 80mm lens has given me shutter speeds of 1/1000th at times. Hope this helps and good luck. Regards Paul =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
