Curious

[canonboy]

What Settings and type of lenses are you guys partial to, when shooting weddings. I'm curious to see if theres a vast difference between you guys or if you all use similar settings and setup

[CyberPet]

Seriously, there's not one setting that works for all gigs. So you won't get an answer on that one, more than that I use fill flash on most of all portraits, but not during the ceremony, as flash is not allowed in most cases. So trying to get good images in available light, is my key.

Regarding lenses, I can say I'm partial to the 17-55/2.8 IS and the 70-200/2.8L IS as they cover most of the stuff I shoot and the style I soot.

[coreypolis]

super wide
tele
fast prime
mid zoom

what the specifics are is up to the user.

I use a combo of stuff and it can chane based on the location. A 16-35L, 70-200L IS, 85L, and 28-75 are often used. I could do the whole day on the 16-35 and 70-200

[mackb]

I think auto is 1/60 and 5.6

Start there and then switch to AV and TV learning what each does for a wedding shot. my lens in a Sigma 24-70 2.8 EX DG ($350).......most here will suggest 17-55/2.8 IS ($$$$$)

17-55......gives you a wide angle to be creative in the x1.6 digital world (17-55 is approx 27-88 )
2.8.........gives you a "fast lens" lots of glass letting in light for you ceremony (no flash) or photojournalistic approach
IS......... is an optical image stabilizer...allows you to shoot slower shutter with less camera shake

This forum has been around awhile now so I would suggest taking advantage of all the past threads....sometimes you'll get this response and it's one of the BEST responses you can get. A few years ago you post a question and wait days to get a variety of responses. Now it's actually easier for a new member to learn, but some are offended by the "go and search it" suggestion...

Good luck and I hope this helped!

[Phil V]

Like Petra said there's no such thing as settings for weddings, In my first 10 minutes I might change settings 20 times (depends what image I'm trying to get), the next weddings 1st 10 minutes would have as many changes of setting, but they would be different from the 1st.

Just look at some of the recent lens threads here and you'll see that there's a definite consensus around;
(crop) 17-55 2.8, 70-200 2.8, with added fast primes ultra wide zooms and macro lenses (for ring closeups etc)
(ff) 24-70 or 28-70 2.8 and then the rest as above

[mizuno]

It's like asking what settings you generally use when photographing ... cats!

Where is the cat? What is the cat doing? Is the cat moving? Is the cat asleep? Is the cat inside? Is the cat outside? Is the cat domestic? Is the cat feral? Is the cat small? Is the cat massive? Is the cat close? Is the cat far?

It's just too difficult to give a general answer, I'm afraid.

[_Jo_]

It used to be auto/portrait (yes I hear you laughing) and now I use "P"...I am just not comfortable enough with trusting myself to go further...I need more experience and more time with my camera. I am finding RAW is giving me more freedom then JPEG's so will stay with this for now.

[newgenphoto]

Yeah I agree... I'm all over the place as well. It's too much of a generic question. I do shoot 99.8% manual though.

[sblais]

From another thread, cdi-link, cwphoto and myself came up with the perfect way of covering a wedding with only one setting. Sorry to bring it back, but I find it pretty appropriate for this thread as well:

Buy a Hasselblad H3D (the 39 megapixel one!).

With 39MP, you can just stand in one spot, use an ultra-wide angle lens (fisheye would be all the better), spin a bit around (not too much needed because of the fisheye lens) get all your shots and crop!

You can even set 2 up on tripods back to back and fire them remotely via satellite linked web interface. Total coverage without even having to be there!

Set your ISO to 100 to avoid noise, f/22 to get everything in focus and a shutter speed of 1/400 or more to avoid motion blur. AND, just use the available light of course. Works everytime!

(:lol: :lol:)

[highway0691]

Outdoors generally I use manual and try to keep the aperature at f11+ but this is when the light is right. Coming from a landscape background I'm so aperature aware mainly for depth of feild issues and overall photo sharpness, but on occasions bokeh might be the preferred option. Inside a dim church, well that's a whole new discipline, Just play around and record what you do rather than experimenting during a wedding. Lenses? you cannot go past Canon L lenses and there's stacks of literature on this issue around here.
Cheers

damian

[canonboy]

From another thread, cdi-link, cwphoto and myself came up with the perfect way of covering a wedding with only one setting. Sorry to bring it back, but I find it pretty appropriate for this thread as well:

Buy a Hasselblad H3D (the 39 megapixel one!).

With 39MP, you can just stand in one spot, use an ultra-wide angle lens (fisheye would be all the better), spin a bit around (not too much needed because of the fisheye lens) get all your shots and crop!

You can even set 2 up on tripods back to back and fire them remotely via satellite linked web interface. Total coverage without even having to be there!

Set your ISO to 100 to avoid noise, f/22 to get everything in focus and a shutter speed of 1/400 or more to avoid motion blur. AND, just use the available light of course. Works everytime!

(:lol: :lol:)

And how many notes should one expect for such a product... Something in the region of £15000 id imagine

[Phil V]

Outdoors generally I use manual and try to keep the aperature at f11+ but this is when the light is right. Coming from a landscape background I'm so aperature aware mainly for depth of feild issues and overall photo sharpness, but on occasions bokeh might be the preferred option.

damian
I find this bizarre, at f11+ your lenses will actually soften (as a result of abberration), they're at their sharpest around f5.6 (assuming 2.8 max aperture).

I never need more than f8 worth of DoF and this only for group shots. Apart from the groups, my pics are shot between 2.8 and 5.6 to achievve a seperation between the subject and the background. i'd be interested to see how you avoid 'busy' looking pics shooting at such small apertures.
edit for clarity (all assuming crop digital - slight variation for FF, film or MF)

[highway0691]

Of course your lens will produce sharp photos at your quoted aperatures but depth of feild will be limited, not that this would be an issue in many situations but perhaps even a good thing. I am a landscape nut primarily and a wedding photographer secondarily. I was referring mainly to outdoor shots where background focus of landscape is a priority. I mainly shoot outdoors and find that mid-range aperatures produce sharp, in focus and highly saturated colours. If I want to go for bokeh or "seperation of subject and background" using a smaller aperature and/or using the 70-200 at around 150-200mm will do this wonderfully. These are just loose ideas or tried and proved practices that I have generated some of my best photos. I do however deviate from this regularly.

Happy shooting

Damian

[Phil V]

Like you said; you 'were referring mainly to outdoor shots where background focus of landscape is a priority', this isn't usually a priority at a wedding (at least at my weddings - where focus on the B&G is a priority). As the question was 'what settings do you use at weddings?' I felt I had to clarify. The only time my lenses go below f11 is when I'm desperately trying to get a low shutter speed for a particular effect. But then I don't shoot landscapes.

BTW nice contre-jour images in the other thread.:)

[sblais]

And how many notes should one expect for such a product... Something in the region of £15000 id imagine

Of course... my post was meant to be humorous! ;) No one shoots weddings at ISO 100, f/22 and 1/400 or higher! There is usually very low light for wedding photography (for the indoor part, anyways) and all these settings further reduce the exposure...