The other week I went to a concert taking along my inconspicuous PEN-F with the m.Zuiko 17mm f/1,8 attached and the m.Zuiko 75mm f/1,8 in my pocket. I was curious to see how my small Olympus streetshooter would perform from a technical perspective in an indoor concert environment when combined with the two f/1,8 prime lenses. The 17mm (relates to 34mm in full frame format due to the m4/3 crop factor of 2) is my favorite lense for street photography and served as the wide angle glass for the concert, while the marvelous 75mm (150mm full frame, normally my go-to portrait lense) was used for close up shots of the musicians. Just to put things into perspective, I was in the audience about ten rows from the front, translating to about 15-20 meters from the artists on stage.
To sum it up, I was absolutely amazed by the performance of the PEN-F. The very performant 5-axis image stabilizator allowed quite short exposure times and the new 20.3 megapixel sensor is very capable of producing clear images with ISO up to 3200. The following picture as well as the first pic are both out-of-camera jpegs using the cameras built in color profile 3 (with more saturated colors).
Also the above two shots with the 75mm are jpegs out-of-cam, the one with the drummer is 50% cropped (I managed 1/160 sec with ISO 320 on this one). I repeat myself , the IQ of the PEN-F with the prime lenses is amazing.
Another wide angle shot of the complete stage with the 17mm, this is Lightroom developed from a RAW.
The above shot is an out-of-cam jpeg with the built in monochrome 2 profile.
Out-of-cam jpeg with 50% crop
Here I pulled of a 1/25o sec shot with ISO200. At an indoor concert. I never thought this could be done with a small mirrorless cam. Amazing where technology has come.
Also this close-up is 50% cropped, so you got good reserves in the RAW files.
This last shot I converted into monochrome from a RAW in Lightroom. The PEN-F with the 17mm and 75mm primes is a great combo to shoot concert. And while you would probably not be able to take your DSLR into the venue the PEN-F is small enough to fly under the radar.
I’ve only just gotten a 17mm ƒ1.8. Previously I’ve had the Panasonic 20mm ƒ1.7, which is a good little lens but not quite the thing. Hoping to get out with my new combo soon.
Actually I had the Pany 20mm as well, it was my first prime lens for the E-M5 I had back then. But once I got the 17mm f/1.8 I sold it soon after. The 17mm is so much better. I love it especially on the PEN-F. Thanks for commenting 😊🙏!
Really terrific concert shots. Great work.
Thanks Jane, your visit and comment means a lot to me!
great shots! i regularly shoot concerts with my e-p5 and i absolutely agree with your assessment. the iq is definitely there and the 5-axis ibis is a stunner. and the smal form factor has already saved a lot of pictures from not being taken. i usually use the lumix 14mm, the panaleica 25mm and the olympus 45mm in concerts. the 75mm is of course also very helpful. 🙂
if you’re interested, there is a section on concert photography (‘cncrt pctrs’) on my blog.
will check it out 🙂 Thanks for your comment!