Best 10D lense for wedding photography

[mikesd]

Doing some weddings with a 10D and was looking for opinions on what would be a good all around lense to use. thanks for the help.

[robertwgross]

In general, you'll use the middle ranges. Mostly, I use 28mm to about 100mm for the ceremony (and mostly in the middle of that). Once in a while for a family group shot there are so many heads that I have to go wider than 28mm. Once in a while I have to shoot from the very rear of a church all the way to the front, so 150-200mm gets used.

In July, one shot (during the ceremony) required me to get out into the side hall and shoot with a stained glass window overhead the couple, and that was longer than 200mm.

IS lenses don't make much sense while you are shooting from a tripod. However, sometimes at a reception you are trying to move around (without tripod) and shoot the first dance and all that. It tends to be with the faster and wider IS lenses and a big flash.

The difficult shot is the bouquet toss in a dark reception room. You can try to stand at the end with the bride, and then have her tossing the bouquet away from you to the catchers. Then it is tough to get the catchers exposed. Or, you can try to stand at the end with the catchers, and then have her tossing the bouquet toward you. Then it is tough to get the bride exposed. Fast lenses can help, but more portable flash is the solution.

---Bob Gross---

[psk4363]

Hi Mike,

To a great extent I'm with Bob on this one - "28mm to about 100mm (and mostly in the middle of that)". In fact a wedding pro friend of mine once told me that if you can't get almost all of your 'traditional' wedding shots on the 'standard' lens for your system (eg 50mm for a 35mm camera, 80mm for a 6x6 camera) then you are doing something wrong. To a great degree this statement is very true, but adding a 50mm lens onto a 10D turns that into an equivalent 80mm one - no longer the 'standard' length.

When I do a wedding digitally I stick to my 28-70 2.8L for 95% of the shots (covering the 50mm range)- the remainder I will use the 70-200 2.8L for close-up outdoor portraits which gives me very soft out-of-focus backgrounds.

Hope this helps,
Barry

[mikesd]

Thanks for the helpful info.

[alsmith]

I Love Canons 85mm F1.8 Lens for this type of work (there are times where it is not wide enough but man the pictures and sharpness are great)

http://www.alsblog.com/forum/wedding1.jpg

http://www.alsblog.com/forum/wedding2.jpg

http://www.alsblog.com/forum/wedding3.jpg

The Bride wanted one that focused on her with her husband in the back ground and the depth of field of the 85mm really came in handy here.

http://www.alsblog.com/forum/wedding4.jpg

[dsze]

I used the Tamron 28-75, canon 70-200 f/4 and 50 1.8. Here's some examples, mostly with the 28-75. I agree with Robert. Flash is the key for the reception. At the reception I primarily used the 50 1.8 and did alot of moving around. The 70-200 wasn't used much, except for a few portraits of the B&G after the ceremony. The 28-75 was by far the most essential. If I had to pick only one to take, that would have been it.

http://home.comcast.net/~dgmphotos/galleries/weddingsamples/index.html

-daniel