Goin' digital: ?s about 10d (& weddings)

[Jazzah]

Hi, everyone! My first post. :)

OK, I'm getting very close to jumping into digital (gulp!)
and I'm considering the 10d. I've used N***n 35mm, but just have a few prime lenses. I'd like to get some 2.8 glass as I go into digital. So, I'm at a point where I need to decide once and for all whether to stick with N or jump ship to C and sell my N gear.

I've ruled out the D100, but the Fuji S2 is a possibility. It sure looks nice despite a few drawbacks. The skin tones, rez, and noise levels are supposed to be stellar.

Would you share your experiences with the 10d. What do you like/dislike about it? How are the colors, etc.?
And, especially, does anyone have experience using the 10d for weddings? I'd really like to hear your comments about the 10d as a wedding camera.

How is the 10d with flash (with Canon's or, say, a Q-flash)? I've heard people say that N's flash system is much better than C's, but I have no first-hand knowledge with that. "Much better" seems a bit exaggerated. I would think that they must be fairly close.

I've heard that the S2 does such a great job straight out of the camera that very little post-processing is needed. How about the 10d? I'm a computer Neanderthal, so this worrys me a bit. I've very ignorant about PS and digital processing/workflow and I'm concerned about the steep learning curve, so "easy" would be nice.

Thanks for your help!

[mwinog2777]

If you want simple, buy a point & shoot. Every aspect of dig photography is a learning curve, just check out the threads on this board. Most of the curves are quite steep. As far as 10D is concerned, reviews abound about it. With professional lenses, should meet every need of yours.

You might start out with a cheap consumer point/shoot camera, get comfortable, and only then go to dig. Sounds like doing it all at once would be too much of a jump for you.

[photography By Evangelos]

The S2 is not that great of a camera. They are hit or miss and are worse that any canon camera. I use the 10D for all my wedding work and it is a great camera.

[billfranklin]

Try this web site. A lot of good wedding info on camers wedding photographers are using. http://www.bridephoto.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

[CoachP8]

Since the 10D does have a steep learning curve, commercial wedding photographers should "back-up" the money shots with cameras they have already mastered!

Fortunately, the digital photography learning curve can be flattened by the amount of nearly cost free experience of shoot, shoot, shooting your new camera.

Good luck.

[rodbunn]

I'm still in the learning mode but I have been taking a few shots in between my wedding shots with my 10D and a 550ex on it. SO far I can see that Indoors with this setup works great. Outdors, I havn't figured out yet how to get a good shot in "P", "Tv", and "Av" modes with "fill flash". So far, the only way I've taken good "fill flash" shots is to put the Flash in Manual mode and take a few test shots till I get the right fill. This works good in any mode on the camera and manual on the flash. Like I said I'm still working on it.

This is very dissapointing though because with my Canon film bodies the Av and Tv with the 550 works fantastic with the fill mode. AS you probably know if you shoot weddings there isn't always time to take a few test shots before you can get "the shot".

If anyone knows how the "Fill flash" works in Av and Tv (or even in "M") please share with us.

THANKS ! Rod

[PhotoBuc]

Hi,

I use fill flash all the time. In fact, I'm shooting David Cone of the NY Mets this evening and will fill for pregame. I typically set my camera on manual and the flash on ETTL. I will use the Flash white balance and will sometimes bump up the flash to +2/3, depending on if the subject is wearing white. The only trouble I ever seem to have with fill or straight flash for that matter is when the subject is in white. I do some beach photos and this presents a challenge from time to time, but pumping up the flash fixes this.......

[PhotoBuc]

My best photographer friend uses the Nikon system for weddings and is considering an S2. Every time he looks at my images, he strongly considers the Canon system. His experience in comparing the two systems is that the Canon system is much better with Flash photography. I'd have to say the 550EX and my 1D produce very strong and color correct images. The only challenge comes when my subject(s) wear white. I have to bump up the flash by maybe 2/3 and this fixes the problem, but I find other than that, the system is dead on.....

[danphoto1]

I love the 10
D for wedding work but I also use the old 1D and I will be using my new 1D MKII as well.


Dan

[DaveG]

Hi, everyone! My first post. :)

OK, I'm getting very close to jumping into digital (gulp!)
and I'm considering the 10d. I've used N***n 35mm, but just have a few prime lenses. I'd like to get some 2.8 glass as I go into digital. So, I'm at a point where I need to decide once and for all whether to stick with N or jump ship to C and sell my N gear.

I've ruled out the D100, but the Fuji S2 is a possibility. It sure looks nice despite a few drawbacks. The skin tones, rez, and noise levels are supposed to be stellar.

Would you share your experiences with the 10d. What do you like/dislike about it? How are the colors, etc.?
And, especially, does anyone have experience using the 10d for weddings? I'd really like to hear your comments about the 10d as a wedding camera.

How is the 10d with flash (with Canon's or, say, a Q-flash)? I've heard people say that N's flash system is much better than C's, but I have no first-hand knowledge with that. "Much better" seems a bit exaggerated. I would think that they must be fairly close.

I've heard that the S2 does such a great job straight out of the camera that very little post-processing is needed. How about the 10d? I'm a computer Neanderthal, so this worrys me a bit. I've very ignorant about PS and digital processing/workflow and I'm concerned about the steep learning curve, so "easy" would be nice.

Thanks for your help!


The biggest downside of the S2, as I learned the other day is the time it takes to write to the card when using RAW. This would make it impossible to use for weddings. You could use jpegs but will miss a lot of the post production decision making as far as white balance and so forth. Fuji interpolates their files and they may well be better coming out of the camera (and they may just well be better) but I can't pay that price in write speed and in-the-field storage capacity. If I need to interpolate I'd prefer to do it later in the computer.

I bought a 10D about a two years ago and there's NO WAY that I'd use it for a wedding until I had a whole bunch of experience under my belt. I assume that you have shot 30 to 50 weddings already so shooting weddings isn't something that just seems like a good idea. Rather you are moving from film weddings to digital. If "buy the camera, pay for it by shooting weddings" WAS your thought process, then buy a LOT of malpractice insurance, because you are going to need it.

If you want to hear things like, "This camera is so simple ..." you won't hear it from me. These cameras are complicated and there are features within features within features. And you use this, to do that, if you've configured it this way; but if you've configured it that way well ...

It might be cute to say that you are a computer Neanderthal, but you better get over it quick. Without knowing Photoshop - IN DEPTH - then your work won't be anything approaching the quality of your competitor's. Not knowing computers is simply not knowing digital photography.

Digital is great, don't get me wrong, and it's the only future. But you need to get a current computer, something like a Pentium 4 or better, with at least a gig of memory, and a DVD burner. Then you need to sign up for a Photoshop course so you don't use PS the way we all use our VCR's - 2% of its capabilities, 98% of the time. While you are doing that you buy a digital camera and start to intergrate its use with less important work.

I'm guessing that you are going from manual focus Nikon to AF digital Canon. That's exactly what I did and the learning curve is very steep. There's the digital aspect of it but there's also the workflow of a modern camera. I bought a film camera (Canon Elan II) as a backup for my 10D and it's remarkably similar to the 10D. The controls are about the same and even a few of the custom features are similar.

On my F3 I could select A for automatic and that was about it. On the 10D/Elan II I could select Av which is aperture priority. Or Tv which should be S for shutter priority but for some reason is called Time Value. When I have either camera on Manual the wheel dial on the top deck controls the shutterspeed and the wheel on the back of the camera controls the aperture. So far so good.

On Tv the top deck wheel controls the shutterspeed and the back wheel will bias the exposure by over or under exposing. So far the deck wheel has controlled the shutter only. Yet on Av the top deck wheel controls the APERTURE and the back wheel continues to offer an exposure bias.

Do you know how long it took me to figure this out? Luckily it wasn't at a wedding! I'm sure it was allin the instructions but it wasn't "digital" so I assumed I knew what was going on. I sure didn't. No camera I ever had had those features and it didn't occur to me that it worked this way!

Now multiply that by about a hundred and you'll see why I've waited two years before I have made the plunge to digital weddings, and that's after a quarter certury as a professional photographer and over 150 wedding under MY belt!

In any case MASTER the camera and the process before you try to make money with it.

[kawter2]

I love the 10
D for wedding work but I also use the old 1D and I will be using my new 1D MKII as well.


Dan


WHY THE HECK WOULD SOMEONE DIG UP A 2 YEAR OLD POST!!!

[Jay J]

Watch yourself with the Fuji S2. It's totally hit or miss. The internet is full of threads from dissatisfied Fuji S2 users.

I had (3),yes count em (3) Fuji S2's. Couldn't get one to give me a proper focus. They all had focus problems which resulted in very poor images. The factory couldn't even send me a loaner that didin't have the same problem. On the other hand I know many who worship the camera. It's totally hit or miss, you better hope you get a good one.

The 10D is a WONDERFUL camera except for one quality: it has terrible color in incandescent lighting. Which pretty much means all indoor shots will be either terribly yellow or the faces will be red.

Plan to spend a lot of time in photoshop. However, with cannon L lenses it focuses quick in all situations and has many, many good qualities beyond that of other camera's in it's price range.

I'm getting ready to buy my third Canon ditial, it'll be the 20D. By the way we shoot 25 weddings a year and use only the Canon 10D.

Jay J
www.julianophotography.com (http://www.julianophotography.com)

[photo4u]

Hi:

I'm new to the board and could use some expert advise on wedding photography. I recently went digital (Canon Rebel) and have a few questions: 1. What format should I use when shooting? Someone said RAW, is that true?
2. Can someone give me words of advise before going out and shooting my first digital wedding.
3. When I'm uploading the pictures in Photoshop, when do I convert them from RAW in JPEG?
4. What about output? Where and how should I get them printed? Some people say Costco does a great job and others say WHCC.

Please advise. . .I'm stressing out!

[Malaxos1]

I have shot numerous weddings with both my D60 and 20D. I manage a web community online that is filled with pros who have been shooting weddings for decades. All of these guys have with the exception of two have abandoned their medium formats and are shooting with either Nikon or Canon DSLRs. I would definitley not use a camera that you are not fimilliar with. There is a local pro that has made the switch and while he is getting better with his DSLR he is rather frustrated. I often get subcontracted by him to shoot weddings. He actually called me tonight to do one in March. His problem is that the the exposure latitude is quite less than shooting with negative film. He either over or under exposes his shots. With film he only needed to get close andd the lab would do the rest, not any more. I would get the 10D, but play with it for sure...Dean

[Bob Sherwood]

I used a Fuji S1 and then the S2 for weddings for several years. I bought a Canon digital Rebel just for fun. Being a Canon 35mm shooter, I had some good Canon glass. Recently bought a 20D and after shooting a couple weddings on it (I do about 50 weddings a year), I took all my Fuji cameras as well as Nikon flashes and lenses to KEH in Atlanta and bought 2 more 20D's. Even though the Fuji S2 is a good camera and the color is good out of the box, I have no regrets with the 20D. It's ever bit as good as the Fuji out of the box and a lot better camera for the money.