My first time photographing a live concert

Hi dear Fuji shooters,

Last Friday I had the opportunity to shoot a band so I went ahead and used my Fuji setup (which was not originally intended for such use; I built it with cost and size in mind). I have three prime lenses - Samyang 12/2, 27/2.8 and 60/2.4 - which are decently fast aperture-wise although not that fast focus-speed wise, especially the Samyang which lacks AF altogether. Focusing the latter was a breeze anyway.

At the end of the day (night actually) I had way more keepers than I thought I would, the camera and lenses performed quite well in AF-S mode. I didn't even try the AF-C knowing it would be useless, fortunately I didn't need it either, the band didn't make any rapid movements. The camera performed admirably at high ISO. In post processing sometimes I had to push the raws 1 to 2 stops and noise was still hard to notice and pleasantly looking at close examination.

There were a couple more photographers on the front row shooting full frame bodies and f/2.8 constant zooms which were probably jealous of me being able to move around the stage. Probably baffled, too, by my small camera.

So, here's a selection. Most photos are converted in the Astia film simulation which also happens to be one of my favorites. Even though I used the three lenses relatively equally, apparently I like wide angles on the stage, followed by the normal look.

Velvia film simulation

Astia

Astia

Classic chrome

Provia

Astia

Astia

I'd love to hear what you think of them.

Those are terrific! Well done.

Nice set!

You're lucky, you got some answers to your post. I posted a similar thread last week, but I didn't get critiques or comments though I got some thumbs up... But it's always nice to have useful comments, they can help improving.

Vistaview wrote:

Those are terrific! Well done.

Thank you!

bobh121 wrote:

For your first time they look good. Concerts are very challenging. If you have Lightroom you might want to hit the smoky ones with a little dehaze. Works wonders.

Thanks. I do have photoshop but decided to leave the smoke for the atmosphere it creates.

Sebastien Guyader wrote:

Nice set!

You're lucky, you got some answers to your post. I posted a similar thread last week, but I didn't get critiques or comments though I got some thumbs up... But it's always nice to have useful comments, they can help improving.

Thanks, yes, it's always good to have some real comments on your photos.