Renting a camera and lens for my daughters birthday

I currently use a T1i with the Sigma 17-50 as my main setup.

I'd like to rent a camera and lens for my daughter's birthday in a couple months and am just looking for suggestions. My camera/body will do the job, but I want to play around with full frame for starters and also want to try different lenses.

Pretty sure I want to rent the 5DM3 or 5DM2 (most likely the M3 since it's not much more to rent).

Here are the lenses I'm considering:

Canon 85mm 1.2
Canon 85mm 1.8
Canon 50mm 1.2
Sigma 50mm 1.4 (thinking about actually buying this one for myself so that's why it's on the list)

Open to any other suggestions as well.

The 5D paired up with a 50mm will make a nice birthday party combo IMO. I assume that you'll still have your T1i and zoom lens for added versatility should you need it.

jra wrote in post #14280649
The 5D paired up with a 50mm will make a nice birthday party combo IMO. I assume that you'll still have your T1i and zoom lens for added versatility should you need it.

Thanks! I was initially leaning heavily toward a 50mm but the more I've read reviews about the 85mm and how seemingly everyone feels it's the perfect portrait lens for a full frame body has made me second guess. But, you're right, I'll still have my T1i and my two lenses should I have a need for extra reach that I can't get from the 50mm. So maybe that's the best option.

So, what exactly are you trying to "learn" from renting a lens? You have 50mm with your Sigma and 85mm with your Tamron, so you should be able to get a "feel" of those two focal lengths, although they will have a different field of view on a full frame. So really, zoomed out to 50mm on your T1i will be similar to shooting at 85mm on a full frame.

As to the lenses that you are considering, well, they are all good quality and obviously with the wider apertures they will be "faster" in low light, so if you don't use a flash for indoor shooting then any of them will be an improvement! However, I'd have the flash ready, 'cause if the light gets too dim then you are stuck shooting wide open without a flash, which may not be as "nice" as you would think!

That may be, but if you're shooting a B-day party, I'd want a 28 or 35mm f/2 at hand, too.

tonylong wrote in post #14284151
So, what exactly are you trying to "learn" from renting a lens? You have 50mm with your Sigma and 85mm with your Tamron, so you should be able to get a "feel" of those two focal lengths, although they will have a different field of view on a full frame. So really, zoomed out to 50mm on your T1i will be similar to shooting at 85mm on a full frame.

As to the lenses that you are considering, well, they are all good quality and obviously with the wider apertures they will be "faster" in low light, so if you don't use a flash for indoor shooting then any of them will be an improvement! However, I'd have the flash ready, 'cause if the light gets too dim then you are stuck shooting wide open without a flash, which may not be as "nice" as you would think!

I guess I'm just looking at this as an opportunity to play around with a full frame camera; a different setup from what I'm familiar with. At some point, I would love to buy a MII or MIII but I don't have the cash to drop on one right now.

I won't really need to "learn" anything as far as the focal length goes, I don't think. I'm used to the focal ranges of the lenses I'm looking at. The main issue with my Tamron is that I can really only use it outdoors on a sunny day. I just can't open the aperture up enough to get good results indoors. I can use it wide open, but it's soft wide open and bumping up the ISO leaves too much noise for my taste typically. My 17-50 does a pretty good job indoors, but I like to stop down to f/4 or so because it seems that's where the sweet spot is on that lens, so indoors, I still need a flash a lot of times and to be honest, I'm just not that good with a flash yet. I can mess around with it enough to get an acceptable (in my eyes) result, but it's not as good as it could be in experienced hands. So, I figured I could rent a MII or MIII which has much better ISO capabilities than my TI1 paired with an f/1.4 or so lens and I should be able to get some great shots indoors without the need for the flash.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #14284440
That may be, but if you're shooting a B-day party, I'd want a 28 or 35mm f/2 at hand, too.

Good point, I guess i could rent a really wide angle as well as it's not that much more money. Would be nice to get some wide family shots. Of course, I could always use my T1i along with my 17-50 for that purpose and it would be fine I think.

tonylong wrote in post #14284151
However, I'd have the flash ready, 'cause if the light gets too dim then you are stuck shooting wide open without a flash, which may not be as "nice" as you would think!

Not quite sure how old your daughter is, but if you are talking kids indoors then you definitely want to have a flash ready. It is very hard to make good pictures with an lens wide open with several hyper active subjects in front of you. Being able to get a little bit more dof makes life so much easier and increases the keeper rate dramatically. Especially, if you consider that a party also lives off groups of people in a shot.

drmaxx wrote in post #14292841
Not quite sure how old your daughter is, but if you are talking kids indoors then you definitely want to have a flash ready. It is very hard to make good pictures with an lens wide open with several hyper active subjects in front of you. Being able to get a little bit more dof makes life so much easier and increases the keeper rate dramatically. Especially, if you consider that a party also lives off groups of people in a shot.

My daughter will be two. She's at the age right now where she doesn't really run around crazy (there won't be a lot of other kids to run around with at the party anyway), but will cling to mommy or daddy when she's around a lot of people. I'll have my flash handy too if I need it, but I hope I won't.

Why? What do you think a two year old will do that can't be photographed well with what you have?

rral22 wrote in post #14295054
Why? What do you think a two year old will do that can't be photographed well with what you have?

Nothing, I suppose. But, like I said, using a 5DM2 or M3 should have better ISO capabilities paired with an f/1.4 lens and I should be able to get better low light shots compared to my current equipment. (Yes, I'll still have my flash on hand) My current setup gets decent results indoors at my house, so I figure a better capable camera and lens could only improve on that.

I get what you're saying, but using your logic, would there ever be a need to buy anything more than a Rebel and 18-55 kit for majority of DSLR users?

While renting a lens for an 'event' makes sense to me, renting a camera does not. I cannot think of a worse time to "learn" a new camera than under pressure of having to get it 'right'.

Given the myriad of options to set up in a digital camera, and the near "explosion" of new features/tweaks/etc that can be set in higher end cameras such as the 5D3, I'd be lucky to put it on "auto" and fire away. This I know from firsthand experience! I went from a 30D to a 60D with less than 12 hours until an evening 'event' and other than Av shooting for 10-15% of the shots, the rest was shot on "auto". I did manage to figure out how to adjust the ISO, but that was about "it". At least most of the shots were "keepable".

bratkinson wrote in post #14295867
While renting a lens for an 'event' makes sense to me, renting a camera does not. I cannot think of a worse time to "learn" a new camera than under pressure of having to get it 'right'.

Given the myriad of options to set up in a digital camera, and the near "explosion" of new features/tweaks/etc that can be set in higher end cameras such as the 5D3, I'd be lucky to put it on "auto" and fire away. This I know from firsthand experience! I went from a 30D to a 60D with less than 12 hours until an evening 'event' and other than Av shooting for 10-15% of the shots, the rest was shot on "auto". I did manage to figure out how to adjust the ISO, but that was about "it". At least most of the shots were "keepable".

Thanks for the tip. My plan was to rent it a week or so and have a few days to get familiar with it. Sure, I won't be a pro with it in that time, but I figured it would be enough to know how to change settings that I need. Maybe not?

Worst case scenerio is I can't figure the camera out, shots I'm taking suck and I say the hell with it and use my T1i.

to rent a camera it's what...$200 or so for 3-4 days. I'm almost positive, if you have the cash laying around/credit card, you could BUY a camera body, keep it for a month to play with, and then sell it for much less what it would cost you to rent. Think about that.

Lenses are a different story. But with a body I'd totally buy and then resale if I really needed one for an event.

tfizzle wrote in post #14296753
to rent a camera it's what...$200 or so for 3-4 days. I'm almost positive, if you have the cash laying around/credit card, you could BUY a camera body, keep it for a month to play with, and then sell it for much less what it would cost you to rent. Think about that.

Lenses are a different story. But with a body I'd totally buy and then resale if I really needed one for an event.

In theory it's a good idea. But, telling my wife I'm spending $2000 - $3500 on a camera just so I can play with it for a month or so and then sell it, I'm not sure will go over real well.

find a canon 5d classic for $850 and then resale it for $800-850 and rent a couple of lenses. That's about $950 instead of $300 or so. I could see renting the 5diii but the 5d does a great job indoors and @ high ISO i was always pleased with the results. Anyway, food for thought.