Lenses for 40D?

I'm doing my first paid wedding next month, and have the lenses below in my signature. All will be used except for the 100-400 (that's mainly for shooting birds and squirrels, now if they were releasing doves..... )
Only thing I wish I could change would be to swap out the 17-85 for either a 17-55 or 24-70L. But basically, I'd want to be fully covered from 10mm to 200mm for a typical event, and have at least two FAST primes for extremely shallow DOF and/or low-light work where I can't/don't want to use a flash.

ebann wrote in post #6266054
85mm f/1.8:

I once shot a birthday party with only my 85/1.8 and it worked perfectly! It was mostly outdoors except for the birthday cake which was indoors. I had to be creative and closed up on the cake and focused on the birthday boy behind the cake (cake was out-of-focus). I even managed to get the candle sparks in focus with the boy and cake OOF. It helps having the 1D (MkI) at that time! I would recommend a lens hood because I had some pictures ruined by sun flare! This lens is perfect for portraits and candids. This lens could substitute for the more expensive 70-200mm f/2.8. It also works great for indoors sports (basketball, volleyball, gymnastics).

17-55mm f/2.8:

Most of your group shots and action shots will need to cover quite a lot of people. This lens is a great buy and also works as a walk-around lens. Maybe you may want to be very creative and use the super wide angle 10-22mm for some great looking close-ups!

I would recommend you to skip the consumer kit lens 18-55, 17-85, 28-135, etc. ...

Thanks for posting this. I am getting the new 50D as my first serious DSLR and have been reading all about what lenses I could get to fit my limited budget and my need for mainly indoor/portrait shots and still getting professional grade lenses.
Those two lenses are the 2 that I came up with. Thanks for confirming.
It's good to know what experienced people recommend.

If I HAD to shoot with only one lens, I'm sure I could make do with the 85mm. It's a great lens, and as long as you have enough room to back up, you can get TONS of great shots with it.

Just remember, with primes, you have to be moving in and out to change the perspective/framing to get the shots you want (whereas with a zoom, you get lazy and just stand in one spot and....zoom!)

When I'm just shooting at home (we have a 4 month old son), I start out with the 85mm, and then switch to the 30mm f/1.4 for most of our little "shoots"

BTW Ashnicole the only wedding I have ever shot, I shot with a 70-200 f/4 and a 24-70 f/2.8. I got great results with both lens. However it would have been nice had my 70-200 been a f/2.8.

Ashnicole;

If you like that site I would recommend that you only buy it in one month increments. If you are at all like me you will watch a bunch and then not so much for awhile. I would have been money ahead if I just purchased one month, then took a break, then purchase another month. You will get all the content for less $$$.

Before I got married, I asked my in-laws about the photographer and they assured me that they had it covered. A friend of theirs was a great photographer, and she was going to shoot our wedding. Long story short, the "photographer" had a point-and-shoot, used on-camera flash, and couldn't compose at all. The pictures of my wedding make me weep inside.

Last year, a friend of mine was getting married on a shoe string budget. I had only an XTi and the 50/1.8 and no experience as a wedding photographer. But I knew that if I did not volunteer to photograph the wedding, they may end up with something truly horrible.

I bought a 430EX, practiced with it for a month, and shot the wedding. Ideal? No. Better than my own wedding? Much.

So rather than add to all the advice about cameras and lenses, I would like to encourage you and thank you for volunteering to shoot the wedding.

Be sure to practice a lot. Go to the church and figure out the light. Take a friend to model and figure out what settings you need for natural light and using bounce flash. Add lenses and lighting equipment based on what you need.

Good luck!

XTi, 50/1.8, 430EX, & Love

CanonHowitzer wrote in post #6266210
Thanks for posting this. I am getting the new 50D as my first serious DSLR and have been reading all about what lenses I could get to fit my limited budget and my need for mainly indoor/portrait shots and still getting professional grade lenses.
Those two lenses are the 2 that I came up with. Thanks for confirming.
It's good to know what experienced people recommend.

Glad to help. Ironically I don't own the 17-55/2.8 because I don't buy EF-S nor DC lenses but I do know it deserves a little "L" and a red ring. I just settled down with a 1Ds (MkI) with the 24-105mm f/4 as my general walk-around lens, and my 40D has the 70-200mm f/2.8 glued to it. One thing I do know... my 85mm f/1.8 will never leave my collection.

I still say get the kit with the 28-135 the lens is a bargain for $200 and it is
a pretty fair walk around lens. I mentioned the 17-40 because it is a nice
piece of glass and affordable, probably not the best focal length of the L series
though. The 17-40 gives the user the ability to shoot at standard 50MM or
a little on either side.

James Salenger wrote in post #6266591
I still say get the kit with the 28-135 the lens is a bargain for $200 and it is
a pretty fair walk around lens. I mentioned the 17-40 because it is a nice
piece of glass and affordable, probably not the best focal length of the L series
though. The 17-40 gives the user the ability to shoot at standard 50MM or
a little on either side.

IMO the 28-135 will disappoint as soon as you move inside with limited lighting and will be difficult at times because it isn't wide enough. I believe it is going for around 300.00 new on the buy sell forum.

I've owned the Canon 10-22, Sigma 28-70 2.8, and the Canon 28-135. As soon as I bought the Canon 17-55 2.8 IS I sold all three of these lenses. (Some day I will buy the 10-22 again)

Ashnicole331 wrote in post #6265670
Thank you to those who provided some nice recommendations.

I already stated the wedding is over a year away, I am taking classes and I already have multiple sessions lined up for practice and I have been shadowing a professional/well known photographer from my area. I also already have someone to be my second photographer. I am not shooting a wedding tomorrow, it's over a year away as previously stated.

I thought forums were meant to give good advice, at least the ones I've been to in the past were. I didn't come here to prove myself and I most certainly didn't just wake up this morning and say "Hey I can totally be a wedding photographer! I'm going to buy a camera and just see what happens!"

I'm sorry I started the derailing of your thread. It was probably inevitable, but there it went.

One suggestion from here: You have now gotten several lens recommendations. Take a little time to look into those lenses and then start some new threads in the EF and EF-S lenses forums to tackle the specific attributes. Be sure to post that your current goals are portraits (outdoors) with an eventual view to shooting indoor and outdoor events as you skills mature.

Then you can explore the advantages of the 17-55 vs the cheaper Tamron 17-50, the difference between fast primes, medium /2.8 zooms and slow zooms like the 28-135 without all the baggage this thread accumulated.

POTN is generally a very friendly and helpful place. We just got off to a little bit of a bad start here.

Ah, no biggie.

I've been googling all of the recommendations all evening...I've got a lot to think about!