A night at the Opera with Jupiters on the R-D1s

[ZorkiKat]

Tonight at the opera was the first chance I had to try the R-D1s in 'real', uncontrolled situations. Here are a few of the pictures of an adapted version of "Die Zauberflöte": BTW all were on JPG. :angel:

Papageno and Papagena shot with Jupiter-3 50mm f/1.5 (picture was mislabelled as Jupiter-9). Colour settings were left at 'daylight'. ISO was at 800.

With Jupiter-9 85mm f/2. Same settings as above. That's Sarastro in the picture:

Another J-9 of Tamina:

And a portrait of a friend shot during dinner after the show. Shot with a Jupiter-3, at f/1,5. Available light, strong backlighting. Camera was hand-held at about 1/15 or 1/8 sec, making the picture a bit blurry. What looks to be flare on the upper part of the face is actually the subject's hand as he waved it to call the waiter.

Jay

 

[jlw]

I suspect I wouldn't have liked this Flash Gordon version of "The Magic Flute," but your shots look quite good. It's always tough to get a workable color balance in a show lit both by regular stage lights (3200K tungsten) and spotlights (often carbon mini-arc, which is much bluer and needs daylight balance) but you and the R-D 1 seem to have sorted out a good compromise.

Just out of curiosity, what did you do for meter readings? AE as-is, AE with compensation, manual exposure supplemented by chimping, or what?

 

[ZorkiKat]

I suspect I wouldn't have liked this Flash Gordon version of "The Magic Flute," but your shots look quite good. It's always tough to get a workable color balance in a show lit both by regular stage lights (3200K tungsten) and spotlights (often carbon mini-arc, which is much bluer and needs daylight balance) but you and the R-D 1 seem to have sorted out a good compromise.

Just out of curiosity, what did you do for meter readings? AE as-is, AE with compensation, manual exposure supplemented by chimping, or what?

This Magic Flute version was adapted to appeal to children. I too would prefer the more traditional versions. Mozart operas have been subject to a lot
deconstruction: one version of "Cosi fan Tutti" I've seen on video was set in a late 1960s apartment complete with Hippies!

The exposure was on manual all the time. Chimping every now and then. But for the most part, I was using a technique which I've use for TTL film cameras when shooting on stage: ignore the recommended setting and use the next one instead. Smaller stop if the scene was generally dark or if part of it was highlighted with spots, or larger if the scene was brighter overall. Worked about 8 times in 10 with film, and seems to do the same on digital.

I also pretended that I was shooting on daylight balanced colour negative. I just let the overly yellow be, and do a bit of corrections when possible.

Jay

 

[BJ Bignell]

...one version of "Cosi fan Tutti" I've seen on video was set in a late 1960s apartment complete with Hippies!

That's nothing! I'm guessing you've never seen the topless version of Aida, filmed by the Swedes in 1987? Now that is good opera!

 

[BJ Bignell]

Oh, and I also wanted to complement you on the portrait of your friend. An interesting photograph, and an excellent capture, under difficult conditions.

 

[dspeltz]

What and where is this production?

 

[ZorkiKat]

That's nothing! I'm guessing you've never seen the topless version of Aida, filmed by the Swedes in 1987? Now that is good opera!

No I haven't seen that. There is a recent video version of "La Traviata" (Italian production, P. Domingo conducting) where a couple of topless were seen in the opening scene... Topless? Now why would anyone want to see the lead soprano topless? "....until the fat lady sings...."

Oh, and I also wanted to complement you on the portrait of your friend. An interesting photograph, and an excellent capture, under difficult conditions.

Thanks. The light in front of the subject was really dim- no brighter than a couple of flickering candles.

Jay