Could you? The Holy Trinity

[Glenn Wolsey]

Just wondering if anyone here would be comfortable shooting a wedding with the Canon holy trinity of primes, the 35L, 85L, and the 135L.

This is the path I'd like to take in terms of lenses to build up over the next 18 months, and wedding photography is my goal down the track.

Could/would you shoot a wedding with this set of glass (keeping in mind you'd be allowed two camera bodies)?

[wilky95]

Could I yes.

Would I no.

I like the advantages of my 17-55, 50 1.4 & 70-200 too much

Martin

[GertS]

I would never shoot a wedding without a second body, as I want a backup camera with me.
No matter whether primes or zooms.
Saves you time for switching lenses too. :)

On your mentioned body (350D) these lenses are not wide enough too. The 85L is slow focusing due that much glass it has to move. See other threads regarding this lens.
It should be a certain relation between body and lenses.

[Glenn Wolsey]

I would never shoot a wedding without a second body, as I want a backup camera with me.
No matter whether primes or zooms.
Saves you time for switching lenses too. :)

On your mentioned body (350D) these lenses are not wide enough too. The 85L is slow focusing due that much glass it has to move. See other threads regarding this lens.
It should be a certain relation between body and lenses.

I'm not talking about my current gear, I'l talking about others and if they'd be happy shooting with the trinity. I'd be upgrading my body setup before shooting any weddings, I just want to know if anyone else out there has shot with this setup at weddings :-)

[Jon Rouston]

No,

35 is no way wide enough for your widest lens. I'd want at least 24, and love 16.

[mmahoney]

I'd be happy shooting a wedding with three primes, but would like one wider than the 35 .. with a FF body a 24, 85, and 135 would be a nice combo.

But the IQ of many top zooms (the 16-35 or the 17-55 for example) are in the same leauge as good primes.
Mike

[MrsOpie]

I think at weddings things are moving too quickly to be using primes for all of it. I like the idea of using my zoom and I want at least a 24mm.

[tim]

Could I? Probably, except 35mm might not be wide enough. Would I? Nope. I see no major benefit to using primes, fast zooms are great quality now.

[Lord_Malone]

Just wondering if anyone here would be comfortable shooting a wedding with the Canon holy trinity of primes, the 35L, 85L, and the 135L.

This is the path I'd like to take in terms of lenses to build up over the next 18 months, and wedding photography is my goal down the track.

Could/would you shoot a wedding with this set of glass (keeping in mind you'd be allowed two camera bodies)?

I shot my first wedding, alone, with 1 body and 4 lenses: 1D2N + 16-35L, 35L, 85L and 135L.

It's a struggle, but it can be done.

[Glenn Wolsey]

All the skepticism in this thread is making me think it might be a wiser idea to make my first large lens purchases the 24-70 f/2.8 and the 70-200 f/2.8 as to have a solid base before adding any primes which I may or may not have any need for..

[Lord_Malone]

All the skepticism in this thread is making me think it might be a wiser idea to make my first large lens purchases the 24-70 f/2.8 and the 70-200 f/2.8 as to have a solid base before adding any primes which I may or may not have any need for..

If you want to shoot with primes, shoot with primes. Just be sure to have a second or even third body, which is more important. Don't let these guys scare you into thinking you need a zoom for wedding work. Are zooms more versatile? Sure they are. But there are plenty professional shooters out there making a majority of their exposures with just primes. The last half of a wedding I shot recently was shot exclusively with two primes. Tell me which zoom can do 1.2, 1.4 or 1.8?

[asxu]

edit: harsh comment was harsh.

i personally prefers zooms, they offer a lot more usability of primes and you can quickly change your focal length. if i had the money, i'd go with a 24-70 + 70-200.

[Glenn Wolsey]

edit: harsh comment was harsh.

i personally prefers zooms, they offer a lot more usability of primes and you can quickly change your focal length. if i had the money, i'd go with a 24-70 + 70-200.

What exactly do you mean by that? I often find myself changing my mind over and over, due to the fact I like to plan ahead - therefore giving myself a lot of time to play with ideas in my head..

[viewing-the-invisible]

Ive played around in both worlds... when I shot film I shot with primes... and now on digital I shoot mostly with zooms. The primes were awesome lenses but so are the zooms I have worked with. A great combo for the fast paced wedding stuff on crop bodies is the 17-55 2.8 and the 70-200mm IS. But the primes are great for portrait work and formals because of the beautifully blurred backgrounds and overall image quality. They are also useful in dimly lit churches or at receptions. A combo of the two would be excellent.

p.s. I would not be comfortable working with just those three lenses. You would need a wider lens and maybe a third body. Weddings are so fast.

[clengster_77]

i'm no expert here but i used to have the siggy 30 1.4, 85 1.8 and the 135L. in my personnal experience, shooting with primes in a fast paced event like weddings is not easy even with 2 bodies. you can foot zoom but sometimes it has it's limitations. if you have a chance, and you are planning to go to wedding photography just get a zoom set up from 10 - 200 range and some fast primes for low light. hope this helps

[harrin]

My most used "trinity" is 24/1.4L, 24-105/4L IS, 70-200/2.8L IS. I also have 50/1.4, 85/1.8 and 17-40/4L in my bag.

edit: with full frame body

[Phil V]

This question shows the difference between what gearheads consider perfection and what pro's consider perfection. Sure the 'best' setup in the world might be a 1ds and a bag of L primes. But a couple of 40d's and quality fast zooms will get the job done with excellent results, week in - week out.

In the old days I shot weddings with primes, the results were excellent, but I was happy to swap the small quality advantage for the convenience. In the same way I'm more than happy to pay the price for a proper Canon USM zoom campared to a fast Sigma. On paper the results are very close. In a dark reception hall - the difference is immense and easily worth the extra money.

[Banbert]

With primes you have to do the zooming with your feet, at a wedding that quite often isnt possible, many vicars and registrars will give you a position to stand in for the ceremony and ask you not to move about, primes in that situation probably wont give you the crop that you want.

I try and melt into the background during a wedding most of the time and I think with primes I would find that hard to do as I would be moving all the time to get the composition and crop I wanted.

Having said all that I am sure its possible to do it but I dont see any advantages to it so why would you want to ?

Agree with what others have already said, no way 35mm would be wide enough, especially on a 1.6 crop

[Lord_Malone]

What exactly do you mean by that? I often find myself changing my mind over and over, due to the fact I like to plan ahead - therefore giving myself a lot of time to play with ideas in my head..

Nothing wrong with changing your mind and your gear to meet your needs.

Listen, primes are great. I absolutely love to use them. But I also have two great zooms that are my real work horses. Planning ahead means having the necessary tools in your bag to accomplish the mission. You'll find out just how challenging shooting a wedding can be without a good zoom in your bag, but sometimes we learn the hard way. My current kit reflects trial and error and figuring out which tool is most useful to me for this type of work. But if you can achieve excellence without the benefit of zooms then you've become a master of perspective. The choice is yours.

[Glenn Wolsey]

I have been shooting exclusively with the 50mm f/1.8 prime for the past two months. Just ordered the f/1.4 today. The reason I am considering primes only is that I haven't felt restricted at all over the past month with the single 50mm. My cut off date is in late January. Plenty of thinking time before I make any purchases :-)

[Jon Rouston]

Like Banbert says, it'll depend on your restrictions duing the ceremony.

Also, don't forget the quantity of pictures you'll be expected to provide. 300 shots at 50mm will look very samey after a while.