From aphotomag.com:

Turn off the AF: Any auto focus mechanism requires a certain amount of minimum light level for it to work effectively. In concerts where the lights often flash, such as rock shows and dance events, this becomes difficult. The camera’s auto focus mechanism simply does not have the capability to focus when the lights are flashing on and off and varying in intensity as well. No camera in today’s market would be able to lock focus in such circumstances. This is why you could get off-focus images in low light conditions. The answer of course lies in switching the focus to Manual Focus. Many compacts apart from DSLRs of course, offer the manual focus feature. To make things even better, use as small an aperture as possible, so the depth of field is greatest. Again, read that as very high ISO levels to start with (out first tip).

I highly recommend any budding concert photographers out there not heed this nonsense (unless you’re using a film SLR or a full-frame DSLR with a custom focusing screen). And that tip to use as small an aperture as possible? Wow.

Although, I suppose it’s valid if you take “as small as possible” to mean “wide open or really close to it.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 6th, 2008 at 4:03 pm and is filed under Music, Technique. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.