Photographing dancers.

[Hamster]

In about 4 months I will have the oppurtunity to photograph a dear friend of mine dancing in front of an audiance. I will only have one chance to photograph as I wonöt be able to attend any rehersals to prior to that.

The dance style will be jazz dance and the performance will be indoor, with stage lights in a theatre. Therefore no flash permitted.

My ideal choice of equipment for this would be Rolleiflex 2.8 with Delta 3200 exposed at 1600, developed in PMK.

Except I donöt own and cannot afford a Rolleiflex. I only have one chance at this and the performance I am interested in only last for about 10 minutes or so. This means:

I cannot use any of my Kiev 2 rangefinders, as knob wind takes too severe a toll on time. Kiev 2 is an excellent camera but not a fast camera to use.

I have 2x spotmatics with Takumar 50/1.4 and Jupiter 9 85/2. However I am not confident with this setup as I would probably need to handhold at 1/15 or 1/8 sec using SLR with focal plane shutter.

Alternatively I can borrow a friend´s film EOS and use my lenses with an adaptor but the EOS have no focusing aids such as micro prism.

The question is, what equipment will you take with you given my situation? I would like to hear some new ideas.

Additionally, I am willing to spend up to US $50 on equipment on this project, I am thinking maybe a leaf shutter Yashica or other leaf shutter rangefinder might be an inexpensive solution. But:

Will the stage lighting confuses the lightmeter on a Yashica?
Do I really need a leaf shuttered rangefinder?

Please help me out, I only have one chance!

 

[Ash]

How close are you to the stage? If you are front-row then that means you won't need very large focal lengths.

Good choice on fast film, it'll be grainy, but at least you can take a shot at a faster shutter speed. You need a fast lens, and even faster focusing ability considering the movement of the people.

The microprism problem isn't really a problem, but SLR's will take just as long to focus with as your kiev would. I think you'll find the kiev wind-on isn't too slow. It's down to practice.


Worst comes to worst, buy a Zenit slr, a good M42 mount portrait lens (as fast as you can afforf), and you'll have budget left over for film.


The performance will hardly be silent. As long as you don't use a Zorki, they won't hear your camera go off. You need to work out what camera you can focus with in low light, and FAST. If you can afford or borrow a motor-wind canon SLR then go for it.


EDIT: A Rolleicord 3.5 TLR could be had for $50 if you find a bargain somewhere, or maybe a Yashica.

 

[oftheherd]

One possible source would be at Popphoto.com forums. There is a man there who uses the handle alexshark. Do a search for some of his dance photos. I am sure he would be happy to answer questions.

As for me, I would either use my Super Press 23 and 150 lens at 3200, perhaps even the 100mm lens, or, I would use by Fujica ST 901 and 135mm lens or a 300mm lens (f/5.6). The Fujica is small and quiet for an SLR.

But that is the equipment I have. In your case I would probably consider the Kiev and practice winding. After all, how fast can you take photos anyway? That is, are you planning on a photo a second? Unrealistic with any camera as there probably aren't 60 photos a second anyway. That is lucky, because have you remembered film change at least every 36 exposures.

I would try to go to other dance practices, at a high school, a dance school, or something, for practice with the light and movement.

Good luck.

 

[Creagerj]

It depends on what you are willing to spend but if you want a good set up you can get a nikon f3 that has been well loved for a pretty thrifty price. The mettering is very accurate in low light. The standard setup came with split image focus microprism. I bought mine with a 50mm lens for about $100 or so, plus I was able to find an md-4 motor drive for $20 on ebay. Nikon makes a couple of f2.8 100mm + lenses that can be had for not to much money as well if you will be couple of rows back. Also with stage lighting if there are any lights from behind it will throw off your metering and therefor the exposure lock of the f3 would be handy. Also depending on what type of EOS camera your friend has they can be pretty reliable for focusing in such a situation. Have you considered borrowing a lens from him?