Marjorie Hallé (@marjohalle) is a freelance music photographer and videographer who started photographing concerts back in 2019. Capturing concerts started off as a hobby and eventually turned into a career overtime. Since then, she has covered multiple music festivals in Canada and USA (Osheaga, Music Midtown, Lavender Wild Festival) and has toured and worked with artists like Jessia, GAYLE, Tash Sultana, UPSAHL and Elijah Woods. Ever since she started photography, she has always relied on Sony Alpha cameras for her work along with the Sony G Master lenses. We connected with her to learn more about the gear she uses and why and to get a look at what’s in her bag for concert photography.
Product Preview – In This Article You’ll Find:
–Sony Alpha 7 IV
–Sony Alpha 7 III
–Sony 12-24mm f/2.8 G Master
–Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master
–Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master
Cameras
Sony Alpha 7 IV: I always have two camera bodies on me for the convenience of not having to switch lenses. Since you only have a few seconds to capture the moment at concerts, having two different setups with different lenses allows me to never miss these moments. The Sony Alpha 7 IV having 33 megapixels is amazing when I have to crop images while still retaining a high quality final image. The eye-tracking autofocus is extremely reliable and my shots are always in focus.
Photo by Marjorie Halle. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master. 1/320, f/2.8, ISO 400
Sony Alpha 7 III: I originally started off with the Sony Alpha 6000 and after being convinced Sony was the right brand to go with, I upgraded to the Sony Alpha 7 III which was the first full frame body I owned. The main reason why I went with the A7 series was for the low light performance. Being a concert photographer, I have to work in very low light situations and this camera has never let me down as I am able to have a higher ISO without having too much noise in my images. The A7 series is also perfect when you do both photography and videography as they are hybrid cameras fully capable for both.
Photo by Marjorie Halle. Sony Alpha 7 III. Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master. 1/320-sec., f/2.8, ISO 800
Lenses
Sony 12-24mm f/2.8 G Master: This lens was my last addition to my kit and it is a great focal range for concerts. The wide range is perfect to capture the environment and get the entire crowd in one shot. I also love the result when shooting close up to the subject as you can still get a full body shot and have a lot of the background being shown still.
Photo by Marjorie Halle. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 12-24mm f/2.8 G Master. 1/200-sec., f/2.8, ISO 1000
Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master: If I could only shoot with one lens I would choose the 24-70mm. It is the perfect mid-range zoom lens to own as you can get wide shots at 24mm and close shots at 70mm. The 2.8 aperture is perfect for low light situations.
Photo by Marjorie Halle. Sony Alpha 7 III. Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master. 1/1600-sec., f/2.8, ISO 250
Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master: For larger venues, a telephoto lens is a must. A lot of the time for arenas and festivals, you will need to shoot further away from the artist and a zoom lens will be needed to get closer shots. The 70-200mm range is amazing as 70mm is wide enough to capture the whole stage and at 200mm, you can capture very close up details of the set.
Photo by Marjorie Halle. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master. 1/500-sec., f/2.8, ISO 1000
Accessories
Manfrotto Backpack: I love this backpack for the neutral colors and the minimalistic look of it. It’s also super comfortable since it has a lot of padding while still being lightweight.
Lens Filters: Lens filters are amazing to enhance your images. There are so many different FX filters such as star filters, halo filters and ND filters. My go to filters for concerts are the K&F ND filter for when I photograph outdoor shows and a Prism Lens FX Moody filter which combines a star filter effect and a mist filter.
Harness: Since I shoot on two bodies at the same time, I use a harness to have both cameras on me without having camera straps overlapping which makes it a lot easier to switch from one body to the other.
Photo by Marjorie Halle. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master. 1/500-sec., f/2.8, ISO 400
Flash: I use a flash 90% of the time for portraits as the lighting conditions are not always great.
SD Cards: Having multiple fast SD cards is a game changer for festival seasons when you photograph over 8 sets in one day. You will need a lot of storage for all the photos. Then, the higher the speed of the card, the better it’ll be for when you do both video and photo since the writing speed will not cause any trouble to directly film after shooting in burst mode.
Computer & External Hard Drive: The editing part is my favorite since it is the moment your shots come to life and having a reliable computer is super important for me. I use a MacBook Pro with Lightroom, Photoshop and Premiere Pro to edit my photos and videos. I save everything on external hard drives since the internal storage in your computer is often not enough for heavy files.
See more of Marjorie Hallé’s work on Instagram @marjohalle.
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