Alacran wrote:
Thank you Jakov. I think the show is going to be at a hotel lobby so I'll take your advice. 1600 it is.

Given the location of the show I'm afraid it's unfortunately reasonable to assume that the available stage light will not be of high quality or intensity at best.

Flash will be mandatory, but I would strongly advise to go above ISO 1600. Of course I don't know what camera you're using but on most modern bodies going up to ISO 3200 still gives excellent IQ.

Reason I recommend shooting at such high ISO is that if you use  lower ISO combined with high shutterspeed and a stopped down lens, you'll exclude so much of the available light your pictures might end up with the too often seen models against a dark background with a heavy shadow cast by the flash.

Especially when shooting with a shutterspeed of 1/200 or 1/250th, I would stop down the lens to max 4 to 4.5, even if that means a limited DOF. Additionally to avoid the available light to be rendered too yellow/orange, I would stick an amber filter on the flash, and set WB on the camera on Tungsten (3400K)

And of course shooting at high ISO and relatively wide open lens will avoid depleting your flash too fast and help maintain a high recycle speed.

Obviously if the lobby turns out to be well lit after all, just shoot with the stage light, but again don't be afraid to go over ISO 1600 if necessary.

Don't forget your AF settings, that's even more critical then the lighting. As a Nikon shooter I personally always go for AF-C with Dynamic AF with one AF point (best is the one closest to he face of the model) manually choosen and shoot in short bursts with a (very) low fps. I have shots show with anything from a D70S, D3, D800 to a DF, and the above AF settings can be applied to shooting with any of those models

http://www.pbase.com/paul_k/catwalk_archief

Stay far away from AF-S (absolutely not fit for moving subjects) or 3D Dynamic AF (slows down AF as the camera has to decide what to focus on, and also you don't decide what the camera will focus on), and don't forget to switch the AF tracking of (which also slows down the AF speed)

HTH

Jakov Markovic wrote:
... shows are always well lit.

I've photographed at several fashions shows in London - based on my experience I disagree with this statement .. you cannot make any assumptions about lighting.

Only two of the shows I attended were well lit and had good lighting the rest were not, one fashion show even took place in a nightclub with no extra lights, so everyone was using their on camera flash.

Never assume the lighting will be good.

Alacran wrote:
Does anyone have experience photographing a fashion show? Is it best to ratchet up the iso and shoot available light or light it with an on camera flash? I've never been to the place so I don't know what to expect.

In my experience fashion shows don't allow flash. Unless you're talking about some mall fashion show then who knows.

My settings vary depending on lighting    I always shoot at f4 and adjust my iso to keep my shutter speed no less then 1/200 to freeze the model.

Jakov Markovic wrote:
... shows are always well lit.

DiamondLondon wrote:
I've photographed at several fashions shows in London - based on my experience I disagree with this statement .. you cannot make any assumptions about lighting.

Only two of the shows I attended were well lit and had good lighting the rest were not, one fashion show even took place in a nightclub with no extra lights, so everyone was using their on camera flash.

Never assume the lighting will be good.

+100 - Never depend on a show to be well lit.

Oh and on a personal note, or my experience has been anyway, if you are shooting freelance and there are hired shooters there. They will plow you down.