Wedding lens and flash.. please help!

I would buy the Sigma 24-60 f2.8 for around $220 and then rent an 85mm f1.2 L. You definately need a flash and the 430 will work, don't think that you will get the same results without a flash, even with great lenses, you will be disappointed. The sigma and a good flash will work fine for the reception and it doesn't get any better than the 85 for portraits. If you don't have room for the 85, then rent the 50mm L.

yea i was just looking at the thread for the sigma 24-70 f2.8 looks like an all around good lens. anything different other then the extra 10mm? and for renting, do they do that for a reasonable price? i might buy the 430ex flash, and the 24-70 f2.8 sigma if i can find it for a good price.

Although the 85 1.2 is an excellent chunk of glass, it's not worth renting for one day as you need to practice with it. So tight for focus. Get the nose in focus of the bride and the groom is blurry.

If your family is set on having you as the photographer, make sure you get to the place of the event early, a few days earlier to check out the lighting. Most of us do that before a wedding if the lighting is iffy. This is hard for many of us to answer because it's our business or what we do. I did not shoot my own son's receptions because I wanted to have fun and to see family and friends, not worry about shooting. It was the right choice for me. I did get a few, though, here at my house, but nothing too wonderful. Jim did the VA ones, and David Terry did the UT reception. It is once in a lifetime, we hope, so make it as good as you can get it.

so what does everyone think of the 24-70 f2.8 sigma? seem like a good choice for it? as after this is all over, im stuck with the lens, and to me it seemed like a good lens for doing anything really.

Gurry wrote in post #5128909
steve1096 i would be happy with shots like that, there nice!, for the outside shots did you use the 18-200? or the 50? what was the 50 like inside? also did you use flash?

I used the flash on the outside portraits and inside for the reception. I used the 18-200 during the ceremony and the reception. I only used the 50mm 1.8 for the formal portraits due to it being a prime and I could sneaker zoom to arrange the composition.

Since then, I have shot three other weddings.... the next one I did was entirely outside with the XTi and a Canon 17-85 with the Sigma flash.
http://sdurbin.zenfoli​o.com/p157387727/

Third wedding was with XTi and Canon 17-55 and the Sigma flash http://sdurbin.zenfoli​o.com/p356348767/, and the last wedding was the XTi, Canon 17-55, and Canon 430EX flash http://sdurbin.zenfoli​o.com/p148619677/.

On the Sigma flash I had used a Sto-fen Omnibounce for the inside shots because of very high dark ceilings. I found during the first and third weddings using the Sigma flash and the omnibounce, I had some shots that were overexposed and some underexposed.... but I am still a real novice to flash photography and still learning.

On the last wedding I did, I had the 430EX and "a better bounce card" http://abetterbounceca​rd.com/. The outside portraits was straight on for fill flash and the inside I used "a better bounce card" and bounced off the ceiling. It definitely worked better and more consistently. I dont know how much either the Canon 430 EX over the Sigma or not using the omnibounce made the difference....but it did.

As I have upgraded some equipment and get more and more in to this expensive hobby, I will agree with about every one here that learning and experience is more important than equipment...as each wedding I have shot....I have made fewer and fewer mistakes.... but am still making them and learning from them.

Now I have upgraded to the 40D, 17-55, and a 430 EX flash....some of the best pro-sumer equipment around.....so from now on.... I can only blame myself and not the equipment. Now....I just need to practice more and read and learn more.

Above statement is true. I have much better equipment now, but not as good as the equipment. Practice and skill are important. Gear helps, can't hurt.

Gurry, seriously - you can do one or the other but not both, if you want to do a good job shooting the wedding.

I know it's easy to have people invite you to have a good time too, but if you're the only serious photog there, any time you are partying you are not paying attention to the wedding and providing proper coverage.

Now as for some lens advice, I confess to not being that familiar with the crop lenses, but group shots can be very important at a wedding - families, friends, elderly relatives, neighbors, coworkers..... you know the drill. Wide angle lenses are critical for that, especially if you have to work in small spaces where you can't back up. For more than three decades I shot most of my wedding and event work with a medium WA, and some pix with a greater wide angle. Consider something in that range.

Gurry wrote in post #5128623
haha yea i know its going to be busy busy busy, but i already told people, that i would like to have fun to, so i want to get most of the main photos over with, then after not take as many and try to have some fun. thanks for the inputs. i still not really sure what lens to choose, im guess best to go with a 2.8, its just what mm, more of a 24-70? or more up to a 135?

so what kind of angle do you think would be good? sorry if i dont use proper terms or not, still a newbie. is the 24 not good enough? or go with more like an 18?

sapearl wrote in post #5129774
Gurry, seriously - you can do one or the other but not both, if you want to do a good job shooting the wedding.

I know it's easy to have people invite you to have a good time too, but if you're the only serious photog there, any time you are partying you are not paying attention to the wedding and providing proper coverage.

Now as for some lens advice, I confess to not being that familiar with the crop lenses, but group shots can be very important at a wedding - families, friends, elderly relatives, neighbors, coworkers..... you know the drill. Wide angle lenses are critical for that, especially if you have to work in small spaces where you can't back up. For more than three decades I shot most of my wedding and event work with a medium WA, and some pix with a greater wide angle. Consider something in that range.

Np Gurry - on a full frame camera I am very comfortable with a 28mm wide angle even though one of my zooms will go down to 24mm. But at even when you start getting around 28mm, you have to be careful about keeping your lines vertical and such or else people will start looking like they're in a fun house mirror.

So on a crop camera that 24mm of mine would equate to the 18mm you mention. So you're correct and in the ballpark when you consider that Gurry. On a 1.6 crop that 24 will "act like" a 38mm on FF. It would be usable certainly, but you'd either need sufficient room to back up when shooting large groups, or have to be creative with layering the rows of people and then using adequate DOF to insure acceptable sharpness.

Gurry wrote in post #5129847
so what kind of angle do you think would be good? sorry if i dont use proper terms or not, still a newbie. is the 24 not good enough? or go with more like an 18?

While I feel it's probably not a good idea to shoot your sister's wedding, you've already agreed to shoot it. That being said, I agree with the above posts that you need to educate yourself as how you're going to light it. My suggestion would be to look around this forum and find tips on bouncing flashes, how to "chimp," how to drag your shutter. Learn about white balance. Technical stuff is very important in situations like these. Visit the venue where your sister is hosting her wedding, and see what you're dealing with.

As for gear? The wedding photographer in me would tell you to get a second body, wide angle lens, midrange zoom, and a midrange-long telephoto, in addition to a couple of flashes, backup batteries, and maybe 6-8 gig's worth of memory. Practice, Practice, Practice. Rent the stuff if you can beforehand and get a feel for how they work.

My family knows how I feel about them asking me to shoot a wedding. I RARELY do it. For one thing, they treat you like.. well, family. I would prefer to go there as a guest than a working photographer - and while I enjoy photography as a whole, I would also enjoy being a guest for a change.

Good luck! Shooting a wedding can be both fun and strenuous at the same time, but it's fun regardless.

24mm isn't wide enough on a crop body. 18mm is.

The question isn't if you'll stuff it up, the question is how many different ways you stuff it up. If budget is an issue for your sister then you need to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. The books in my wedding FAQ are a good start.

tim wrote in post #5130299
24mm isn't wide enough on a crop body. 18mm is.

The question isn't if you'll stuff it up, the question is how many different ways you stuff it up. If budget is an issue for your sister then you need to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. The books in my wedding FAQ are a good start.

I will agree with Tim 100%... 24mm is not wide enough on a crop body. I have read many of Tims wedding faqs and recommended books. I bought the Best of Wedding Photojournalism book on his recommendation.... Thanks Tim.

I debated a long time between upgrading to the Canon 24-105 f/4 IS or the Canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS lenses for a long time. More range or wider angle... and decided the wider angle is much more important. I would love to have more range, but the weddings I have done so far, I did not have time to be swapping lenses back and forth, and I see why the pro's carry around two bodies with them. So now, it is just the 17-55 and that is it. But so far, I have been lucky and able to move around alot to get the shots. I have not done a formal church wedding yet where it might be more restricted and hard to move around.

Read the posts in the flash section about "important links: eos flash"
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=138907
Reading it and Tim's faqs helped me alot. I probably need to go back and re-read them again.

And you can probably forget too much about having a great time at the wedding and reception, you will be too stressed out about doing a good job... at least I have been at all of mine so far. But try to relax and have a good time....it will help. So far everyone has been very happy with my pictures.... except me. I am my own worst critic. Probably because of coming to this forum and seeing the works of art by people like Tim and others and going dang, I wish mine looked like that. But I keep practicing and hoping to one day be as good as them.

Oh another thing - cameras fail. The 40D I had my 70-200 F2.8 IS only worked intermittently during the ceremony and the formals, so I ended up putting it down, using the other 40D and 17-55 and just standing closer (not easy at a church ceremony) until I had a chance to switch to the backup 20D. As it happened I fixed it by cleaning the camera and lens contacts, but I didn't have time until a couple of hours after I first noticed the problem. Just another thing to worry about.

Thanks for the nice words Steve

I'm thinking flash may be more important than the lenses. If you look at wedding photographers down through the ages, you find they didn't all use zoom lenses, but they all used flash!

You already have some lenses. Get a good flash. 580 EX is more power and when bouncing, it can be a God-send. Learn to shoot with flash. Learn to bounce the flash. Learn to drag the shutter and get a good image that is a mix of flash and ambient.

I think we tend to to focus on the lens side of things when we should be shedding more light on the flash side. We zoom in on the variable focal length lenses forgetting about the prime role that fixed lenses have played throughout wedding photography history.

and, uh, sorry about the terrible puns in that sentence. I just couldn't resist! It just popped into my head in a flash of inspiration ...

Keith makes an excellent point here that really needs reinforcing. I believe you said you were considering the 430ex or some such.... wise move.

The widest angle lens you have won't do you any good for that huge group shot if you cannot properly illuminate it. And unless you have some very strong available light in a typically dim reception hall, my definition of proper illumination means even lighting, minimal hotspots, very minimal unsightly shadows, and enough lumens to give you good saturation, contrast and a solid black level.

A popup won't give you that. An off camera flash, even in a shoe will do better. It will go a long away to illuminating unflattering facial shadows.

n1as wrote in post #5132544
I'm thinking flash may be more important than the lenses. If you look at wedding photographers down through the ages, you find they didn't all use zoom lenses, but they all used flash!

You already have some lenses. Get a good flash. 580 EX is more power and when bouncing, it can be a God-send. Learn to shoot with flash. Learn to bounce the flash. Learn to drag the shutter and get a good image that is a mix of flash and ambient.........