Need advice to take pictures indoor like in concerts

[skuba]

I have been having difficulty getting good pictures of concerts in indoor venues.
The issue is that it is usually dark and the musicians are moving or dancing.
So if I use fast shutter, pics get too dark. If I use a slow shutter the musicians motion will be caught on the pic.

What kind of advice could you guys give me?

Thanks a lot

[Sebastian]

I have been having difficulty getting good pictures of concerts in indoor venues.
The issue is that it is usually dark and the musicians are moving or dancing.
So if I use fast shutter, pics get too dark. If I use a slow shutter the musicians motion will be caught on the pic.

What kind of advice could you guys give me?

Thanks a lot

Hi Skuba.

To compensate the loss of light from the fast shutter, you could boost the ISO sensitivity of your camera. Also, zoom lenses have different f-stops at different focal lengths. Figure out which range of the lens lets the most light in and try to use that.

What kind of camera are you shooting with?

[skuba]

I should have said earlier.
Its a digital camera. It's a semi-pro sony DSC-V1.
I am just afraid of boosting the ISO and then getting the img all granulated.

[girlieleep]

Here's what I do on my DSLR. I use aperture priority to see what the camera does. Or I'll choose my own shutter speed and I usually don't have to worry about my aperture (because I use a constant 2.8 lens most of the time).

I say (in auto ISO or the lowest ISO setting):
1. try using manual sometime using the lowest aperture on the camera (so 2.8)
2. Then make the shutter speed something like 1/40 to start (probably displays as 40 on the display).
3. Take picture. Examine. Figure out what you like about the shot or don't like it.

Some possible solutions to what you see in the picture:
If it looks grainy, try using the lowest ISO setting you can until the noise becomes too much).
Adjust the shutter speed to be slower or faster, depending on if you need more/less motion more/less exposure.
You can try to use a faster shutter speed with the flash, but the V1 flash is underpowered. Put the flash on high if you can/need to. But if you use too much flash the pictures won't be rock and roll.

Those are the ways I would start playing with the camera to get what I wanted out of it. Frankly, if you ever want to really print anything from those pics (if you're not just shooting from a webzine or something), eBay it before it gets long-in-the-tooth and save up for a Nikon D70 or Canon Digital Rebel. Digital SLR.

Are you shooting local bands in bars or national bands at larger venues?

[skuba]

Thanks a lot for your advice. I take the pics for websites and a smalll magazine.
Thanks