Ask Matthew...
Our resident Nikon expert Matthew Richards answers your questions and solves your problems. If you have a Nikon-related question, email it to mail@nphotomag.com
Q
I bought aZ 85mm f/1.8 S lens to use with my Z 7II at gigs but the results are quite blurry. Can you suggest the best settings?
Eleanor Cooke
A
That’s a good choice of lens for shooting gigs if you can get reasonably close to the stage. I’d suggest using the Auto-area AF (people) autofocus option in AF-C continuous mode. This will lock onto the faces of the band members and track their movement. I’ve found it works really well, and you can use the joystick-like sub-selector controller to switch between performers, or between eyes if a face fills more of the frame.
The other factor that affects sharpness is shutter speed. It can be tricky getting sufficiently fast shutter speeds to freeze movement and avoid camera-shake under stage lighting. I tend to shoot in Shutter-Priority mode, setting a speed of 1/250 sec, and using the Auto ISO option to boost sensitivity, as necessary, to avoid underexposing the image.