A Seat Down Front And The Curtain About To Go Up

If you are fortunate enough to be cursed with the responsibility to take pictures in Perth's theatres and dance venues you may want to look at today's column. It will not make it easier to find parking in the streets round the venue, nor will it improve the entertainment, snacks, or seating...but it will make getting pictures in them easier to do. If you are going to be relegated to the Gods - up the back of the theatre hanging onto the edge of the balcony - this is not the answer for you. You'll need to find a longer lens, either zoom or prime. You'll want to get something with the biggest aperture available and couple it with a high ISO and a sturdy tripod. Plus stop drinking for a day and bring a blow-up cushion. Do not drink coffee before the performance just in case. So why did you want to take this job anyway? But if you are down at the front, in the catbird seat, or at least somewhere near the stage in the wings, then the Sigma 18-35mm f:1.8 DC lens is worth looking at. If you're a Canon, Pentax, Sony, or Nikon shooter this is an extremely viable option for covering the entire show. The 18mm setting will handle most of Perth's smaller stages - it will get the entire troupe of dancers or the complete set as an establishment shot. Then you can range through the other settings to 35mm to isolate individual actors or dancers. Even with the spotty lighting coverage that can be the norm*, the f:1.8 aperture combined with good low-light performance will give you printable images. You can get down to f:16 if you are supplementing the stage lighting with flash, though the lens is long enough and big enough that it will cause a flash shadow on pop-up camera flases - use an external unit. It's internal focusing and zooming so a minimum of air pumping. Modern design Sigma barrel and conservative finish. Good metal mount. Heavy weight - there is a lot of glass inside there. It is marked as an " art " lens though that is marketing - you may elect to use it for science. I also note from the outside of the box that Sigma state the Nikon version to be compatible with the D5300. Quite why they should single out this model I don't know, but I'll try to find out. I tried it via adapter on a mirror-less camera and it seemed to work fine. Now to find a black cat**, a coal hole, and a moonless night and see if it is all going to work. * The old trick of firing a Very pistol with a parachute flare above the stage during the love scenes has gone out of fashion. ** We have a Siamese cat but I've got a bottle of black dye that I used to use on leather shoes. Waste not - want not.