which lens should i take?

i've never shot any sort of event, but i've been asked to document my girlfriend's little sisters 19th birthday party. from what i gather, there's going to be a couple of hours spent with eleven or twelve girls in a limo, some time spent at a hotel, and the rest of the night in a club.

i only want to take one lens, so for posed group shots--which i think is what she will want for the most part--i think the 35mm would be best, but i'm thinking in the limo i am going to need as wide as possible, and don't even know if 17mm will be wide enough. i've got a 430ex ii, which i'm guessing i will need to pair with the 17-40, but i don't imagine i will have much to bounce the flash off of. i'm thinking a diffuser would come in handy, perhaps?

hmm, suggestions?

i also have a nifty fifty that i essentially gave away to my brother-in-law, that i could reacquire if necessary.

A fisheye and a puke guard.

I'd call in sick.

yeah, this is definitely not something i'm looking forward to. but i'm going to suck it up and do this for them, and try and do my best. experience shooting in different situations can't hurt.

17-40 and flash. Rubber band and a 3x5 white card will do the job of bounce and fill. Lots of batteries--one spare set for the camera and two or three for the flash.

Moooney wrote in post #8675584
yeah, this is definitely not something i'm looking forward to.

I can imagine that. Just the thought of spending several hours with a dozen girls in a limo makes my skin crawl.

I'd take the 17-40L and 430ex for 1 or 2 group shots in the beginning then I would shoot natural light from a distance with the 85-1.8 and the 30-2.0 to stay out-of-their-way.

They will call you when they want you.

Have a nice evening.

i definitely thinking of just shooting in jpeg and hoping to nail things in-camera. i know these shots are just heading to facebook, so i do not want to spend hours processing hundreds of pics.

Maybe even consider getting an off shoe cord for the flash. But the 17-40L is key if your shooting inside a limo space is limited. Get creative

how would the off shoe cord work? sorry, i know nothing about flash, really. would i need a bracket to hold the flash off the shoe? obviously you can't operate the camera with one hand and hold the flash in the other hand.

17-40 and flash, bounce card. Shoot RAW and ony process post the better ones. Processing could be as easy as opening in DPP/ACR, pick a Picture Style, downsize and convert to JPG. Shooting RAW would give you more latitude to fix badly screwed up shots (exposure).

Forget off camera etc. Too much hassle and nobody s going to stand around long enough for you to get it right.

would one of those five dollar flash diffuser things do any better than the built-in flip down one on my 430ex ii? i'm just thinking that i won't be able to bounch flash even with a card in the limo, because if the roof is black it could be problematic?

Moooney wrote in post #8675755
how would the off shoe cord work? sorry, i know nothing about flash, really. would i need a bracket to hold the flash off the shoe? obviously you can't operate the camera with one hand and hold the flash in the other hand.

You can, but it does get awkward and tiresome. There's a world of flash brackets out there. Simplest is best in your circumstance.

As a training note: with af and ae cameras, you can shoot with one hand as long as you have sufficient shutter speed to overcome shake and you can hold the light in the other hand and point it to the best surface for bounce. Was far simpler in days of pc cord and/hotshoe. These days, a tilting Stroboframe and a swivel head on the light get you what you want--or you do as I suggested, leave the flash on top and use a white card to soften and bounce the light in close quarters (works well at clubs too, as long as bend the card corrrectly to direct more light to subjects.)

It will still work, better than you think, in a limo. Bounce the flash. Don't rely on a card since it's purpose is not to diffuse light but to add some fill/sparkle to a bounced flash. Set the flash to it's widest angle since that function is not automatic unless the flash is facing directly forward. Aim the flash behind you, in tight quarters, and use a bounce card.