shooting in clubs

[Gagauza]

The very loud music and especially the bass in clubs can have any negative effects on the sensor of alpha-100 !! It is safe to take the camera in clubs

[David Kilpatrick]

No adverse effects - just extra anti-dust shaking, I reckon. I think that the vibration from very loud bass could affect the SSS mechanism, and cause the anti-shake to respond incorrectly. Apart from that, the only risks are theft, damage, summary ejection by door staff, fights with clubbers who do not want to be photographed, getting mobbed by drunken groups who WANT to be photographed, the inconvenience of having a camera on you all the time, and - for men only - the risk of urinal splashback decorating your lens front element. There is also the risk of getting spilled drinks on the camera, not too bad with beer or pure spirits or water, serious with sticky alcopops, soft drinks or 'shots'. And in some clubs you may get foam/water/fake snow or other fun stuff fired off into the crowd which could be even worse.

Overall, probably not the ideal environment for an A100 unless you have:

a) Permission to shoot in the club from the management
b) A pass or badge or something to say you are shooting with permission
c) A thick skin
d) A friend to stay with you at all times and keep idiots or thieves away from your camera
e) A case, cover or maybe Ewa-Marin rain cape for the camera
f) An arrangement with the management to leave your camera in their safe after you've finished shooting, if you want to enjoy dancing

You should also need a more powerful flash, the 5600/56 is ideal. The best mode to use is Night Portrait on the scene modes of the main dial, it works great combining the lighting of the club with flash. Set ISO 400. Best lens - probably the 18-70mm kit lens, cheap and disposable, good range.

David

[Gagauza]

OK u convince me i'll leave the camera home for now... Thanks for the advice and the answer...It was all about a "beach club" in open space at the edge of a lake that's why i wanted to take the camera maybe to catch nice shoot of the hole enviorment...

ooo i forgot...The smoke from the cigarettes can affect the camera? beside the blurry image....

[David Kilpatrick]

People used to smoke at work a lot more, and in newspaper press depts especially. We used to have to clean the lenses, and the camera bodies, every year using cleaning solution. They even used to smoke in the darkroom and the lenses got a film on them after a few years. Like the yellow film smoking puts on paintwork.

I don't think a night of exposure to smoke in an open air beach club would be a problem. That sounds a better place for a camera than most enclosed clubs. Just watch the possibility for water getting splashed around - if it's next to a lake, some clubbers are going to get in the water, and run around and splash everyone.

David

[Greg Beetham]

If that is the current state of affairs of nightclub behavour you describe in your first reply, I think I would consider a biohazard suit as well, and maybe an affrontal lobotomy for good measure, so as to blend in with the surroundings.
Greg

[David Kilpatrick]

Never seen a shoot of a serious 'clubbing' event? Not nightclubs - clubbing is more DJ-dance-club than just nightclub 'after the pub closes' stuff. Actually, I would not take a camera into most local nightclubs. I wouldn't take myself into our town's Fri/Sat late-night club - I occasionally get to see the fights out in the street.

At DJ-club events, people can get very overheated and dehydrated with a combination of tabs (not cigarettes, the other usage) and alcohol though the sensible ones don't mix them and drink large amounts of water or sports-energy isotonic sort of drinks. It is not unusual for beach type DJ-clubs to have water cannon, or a very wet sort of foam machine which gets everyone on the dance floor soaked to the skin. It's not a good environment to take a camera, but I've seen some amazing pix from these events in Ibiza, Glasgow, and other hotspots of culture.

It's certainly very common for clubbers drinking from water bottles to splash water around and in high spirits a photographer might be a target for this just as a joke, because the last thing they are thinking of is whether the camera would be damaged.

I'd compare the risks to taking your DSLR on your holiday island's Jolly Roger pirate booze cruise with two-hour spot to do waterslides off the deck. Great fun, a lot of people probably get too drunk and too sunburned, no-one actually gets hurt, but the most camera you want is a compact digital with waterproofing like one of the Olympus models you can dip in a swimming pool - I think Pentax have some as well, Ricoh and Fuji both do knock-resistant, waterproofed models.

If I go to a festival or concert I don't take the A100. I have a Konica Minolta G600 which is pocketable and quite tough if not waterproof. I've managed to get a few professional usable shots from its 6 megapixels. For Live8 in Edinburgh, I risked the KM A2. We had good stadium 'balcony' seats. While I was shooting stuff freely with the A2, a photographer had a long argument and was ejected for bringing a Canon 20D into the concert. I kept my A2 out of sight while the security guys were debating with him, in case he decided to pick me out and ask why my camera was allowed and not his!

David

[Gagauza]

Good arguments i think i will take a point and shoot camera instead...I will go there two weeks from now to the great opening and i will post the pictures somewhere...