70-200mm f/2.8

What focal length are you usually shooting this one at? I've had the 70-200mm f/4L IS for a few years and I like the ergonomics, but I'm seeing in my photos compared to others that I'm losing a lot of bokeh compared to the f/2.8. I have the 85mm f/1.8 and lately I've found myself grabbing that and shooting it at f/2.5 to make the background soft, but wondering where a lot of the couple portraits are coming in at. 85mm seems to give me decent compression but wondering how often you're shooting your 70-200mm f/2.8 at say 105-135mm.

I want to get into some wildlife this fall and I am thinking of selling the 70-200mm f/4 to finance the 100-400mm Mk I after my last few weddings this summer. the 70-200mm is nice when second shooting a wedding (my normal role) and I'm smurfing about at the ceremony from the sides and rear to zoom in, but I would think the 100-400 could cover this.

Silver-Halide wrote in post #17598159
What focal length are you usually shooting this one at? I've had the 70-200mm f/4L IS for a few years and I like the ergonomics, but I'm seeing in my photos compared to others that I'm losing a lot of bokeh compared to the f/2.8. I have the 85mm f/1.8 and lately I've found myself grabbing that and shooting it at f/2.5 to make the background soft, but wondering where a lot of the couple portraits are coming in at. 85mm seems to give me decent compression but wondering how often you're shooting your 70-200mm f/2.8 at say 105-135mm.

I want to get into some wildlife this fall and I am thinking of selling the 70-200mm f/4 to finance the 100-400mm Mk I after my last few weddings this summer. the 70-200mm is nice when second shooting a wedding (my normal role) and I'm smurfing about at the ceremony from the sides and rear to zoom in, but I would think the 100-400 could cover this.

I would imagine all the focal length possible to be honest with the 70-200mm, ok, they're not likely to be shooting in 1mm increments, but you get the gist of it

Also depends on their photography and where they are standing

As the last poster mentioned it has a lot to do with each photographer's style etc. but I almost always shoot 200mm and at 2.8 even for group portraits. Depending on how the subjects are positioned, I might go to F/4, but other than that it's 200mm at 2.8

75% of the time at the extremes, 70 or 200mm, but every length in between too. Generally at F2.8 until the reception, when I go to 3.5 - 5.6 because I want more than one eye in focus.

I wouldn't trade for a 100-400, dark ceremonies would be a problem.

Yep, all in all I think a 70-200mm would be more useful for weddings than 100-400mm, I'm just complaining about the lack of bokeh at f/4 "wide" open. I guess I should play around more with the 85mm but I was hoping people would say that man of the shots they stay under 100mm with and I could use the 85mm f/1.8 and call it good.

I've got two more weddings in the next month but I really want to get into the wildlife this fall. Nothing scheduled beyond that. I'm pretty sure I'm going to chuck the 70-200mm and pick up a 100-400, and if I do book more second shootings this fall, that there will be enough to justify picking up the 70-200mm f/2.8 Mark II. I live in a hot climate so summers are actually the slow season here.

Silver-Halide wrote in post #17598560
Yep, all in all I think a 70-200mm would be more useful for weddings than 100-400mm, I'm just complaining about the lack of bokeh at f/4 "wide" open. I guess I should play around more with the 85mm but I was hoping people would say that man of the shots they stay under 100mm with and I could use the 85mm f/1.8 and call it good.

I've got two more weddings in the next month but I really want to get into the wildlife this fall. Nothing scheduled beyond that. I'm pretty sure I'm going to chuck the 70-200mm and pick up a 100-400, and if I do book more second shootings this fall, that there will be enough to justify picking up the 70-200mm f/2.8 Mark II. I live in a hot climate so summers are actually the slow season here.

Maybe you should add bokeh if you like that, but I would explain that to the couple first rather than shoot ahead, as they may not like it, the last thing they want to do if you don't tell them, is to be standing in a potentially cold environment on their wedding day, when as I would put it, "Get to business"