Ace Frehley Revisited
I was honored once again to receive a photo pass courtesy of Ace’s tour manager/personal assistant, John Ortrosky, to photograph Ace Frehley. This time, I was able to successfully use both my Nikon D850 and Sony A7R-iv (see the mishap that happened last time here).
As with the last time I photographed Ace, I used a 70-200mm lens on a Nikon D850 and a 24-70 on the Sony A7R-iv. But this time I made certain the Sony shutter mode was NOT set to a 10 second delay.
The results with both cameras were very good. It’s so nice to shoot with a full-frame camera versus the little Sony DSC-RX100M6 (see some of those concert images here).
Check out my blog post celebrating the 40th anniversary of Kiss at the debut Madison Square Garden concert in 1977.
Both cameras produced fabulous results. I’ve labeled the images with which camera they were from. I have to admit, though, it is a pain to haul around two cameras, specially with size of the Nikon with the 70-200mm lens on it. The Nikon was on a camera strap and the Sony had a clip so I could hang it on my belt, but in the dark, in tight spaces, it’s difficult to switch cameras when there is a time limit and you don’t want to miss anything on stage.
So I simply placed the unused camera either on the stage or on the floor while I shot with the other. This does unnerve me because my attention is completely focused with looking through the viewfinder, so someone could potentially swipe the other camera.
Thankfully most people are honest and respect what I’m doing. I also take the time before the concert to talk to everyone in the front row to alert them that I will be roaming for shots during the first three songs, and that I will minimize the time I may be blocking their view. I’ve always gotten very good responses when I do this and have never had an issue while taking photos.
High Interest in Sony’s New Premium Compact Camera
While I love using the full-frame cameras to shoot a concert, these are never allowed to be brought in without a photo pass. For those concerts, I’ve been using the Sony DSC-RX100M6. It’s small and has a non-detachable lens (the key criteria for allowing it in). The camera has been great (MUCH better than a smartphone camera), but I’ve been patiently waiting for a company to put a bigger sensor in this body form factor.
So, I was truly excited when Sony recently introduced a new compact camera, the RX1R III. This is getting closer to what I’ve been dreaming of to take to concerts.
While the camera body is bigger than my Sony DSC-RX100M6, it is considered a small camera (not quite a pocket camera though like the RX100 series), but it does have a full-frame sensor (60Mpixels). The major “flaw” from my dream camera is that the RXiR III comes with a prime lens – a 35mm. My ideal configuration would be a zoom lens – something to give it a stronger optical reach. The camera achieves 30Mpixels at 50mm and 15Mpixels at 70mm. Given that I’ve found that I need the reach of a 200mm lens to achieve the shots I want at a concert, this camera falls quite short of what I want, but it’s a great first step.
Oh, and the other significant flaw is its price: $5100.
At least this is a start. I’m confident that eventually these great image sensors will find their way into the “pocket” camera with a descent zoom lens.
