Better living through better technology

[wshaffer]

As a kind of belated birthday present, I bought myself a decent digital camera, on the theory that since I can't seem to resist snapping pictures of performing rock bands, maybe I should invest in actually getting some decent quality photos out of it. I settled on the Sony NEX-5r, which seemed to offer a decent combination of large lens/sensor (for best performance in low-light conditions) with compact size (I don't want to lug a giant camera around a concert venue) at a price I was willing to pay.

I had a chance to test this out last night when I went to see the Mission U.K. perform at the Regency Ballroom. (A full post about the concert will follow later - for now, I'll just say that it was amazing.) Especially considering that I'd spent about 10 minutes familiarizing myself with the camera's basic operation and relied on its auto settings, it did rather well. (I was also lucky enough to snag a spot in the front row, so I was just a few paces behind where the press photographers were doing their work.)

A few pictures below the cut:

The rather fabulous opening band, the Wax Idols:


The Mission's Wayne Hussey:


The Mission's Simon Hinkler:

Comments

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Nice! You got some excellent shots.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

I'm curious to see whether I'll be able to do even better once I get more familiar with the manual settings on the camera.

[onetarot.livejournal.com]

Those are pretty decent. I would have needed a tripod for those.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

I think I have the image stabilization software on the camera to thank for that. I certainly remember seeing the "shaky hand" icon flash on the screen a lot!