Can I get away with event photography with my gear?

Ok, well without anything covering 20mm-50mm could i get away with doing event photography? ie nightclubs, company parties..

i know 70-200 is out of the question, if i were to answer an ad for a party photographer i was just going to mount the 10-20 on the camera, use mostly the 20 end, and for an hour or so mount the nifty fifty on for some bokeh shots.

has anyone shot an event with an UWA?

You'll want a standard zoom and a backup body if the events are important (ie paid).

cdifoto wrote in post #8921888
You'll want a standard zoom and a backup body if the events are important (ie paid).

i know a standard zoom is well.. "standard" but 20mm in a place like a crowded club should work?

I think that you will find that 20mm is going to be too wide for many of the shots you would do in a nightclub type of setting. I've done some work in very tight quarters with nothing but a 24-70 on one body and a 16-35 on the another and hardly used the wide side of the 16-35. There is no real 'rule of thumb" and each circumstance is going to call for a different setting.

I agree with cdi that if you are going at this as a business then a second body should be part of your gear list. Bodies do fail and the last thing you would want to do is to tell the club owner that you are going home because your camera quit.

I have a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 for nightclub shots and that's almost never off the camera. If it's less crowded, and people are weirded out by me being up close, then the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 might go on. The 10-20 should work OK, particularly if you're shooting groups of people from up close.

Of course, 'event' is a pretty vague term. Regardless, it's always nice to have full coverage. I rounded mine off with the Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8, so I have 11-150 covered at f/2.8 (with a gap between 16 and 18 that I make up with by leaning a bit).

What exactly are you shooting?

ChrisRabior wrote in post #8921940
I have a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 for nightclub shots and that's almost never off the camera. If it's less crowded, and people are weirded out by me being up close, then the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 might go on. The 10-20 should work OK, particularly if you're shooting groups of people from up close.

Of course, 'event' is a pretty vague term. Regardless, it's always nice to have full coverage. I rounded mine off with the Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8, so I have 11-150 covered at f/2.8 (with a gap between 16 and 18 that I make up with by leaning a bit).

What exactly are you shooting?

well, nothing yet, theres alot of ads on my local craigslist for photographers for nightclubs, like a 1 night gig type of thing, was thinking about answering some of those.

I think the 10-20 on a crop body is just wonderful for crowd/audience portraits. I use my 16-35 for that, but on my 20D and 400D I don't think 16mm is wide enough.

How about picking up an ef-s 18-55 IS to give you a little more flexibility?

What is it Like to be an….Event Photographer?

Tips for Xmas Ball Please

Shooting a nightclub for the first time... could use some advice.

From my very limited knowledge (from POTN, no experience myself) of nightclub/party photography, you could be fine with your 30D + 10-20 + 430EX II. But if you're shooting a proper event, i.e. covering the event, you'd rather have 2 bodies with a 17-55/24-70 and a 70-200 for the longer stuff. Or just be really good at changing lenses and have one in a bag around your shoulder ready to go.

Shooting with a 10-20 inside a nightclub, just note that the people on towards the edges will look distorted. If you are covering a nightclub/party (which yes, I have done and continue to do), be careful of how you move through the crowd. Some nightclubs are pretty tight and there's not a lot of room to move around. I carry one camera in hand using a handstrap and the other is around my neck and I have flash on both. I have a 24-70 in hand (50D)and the other I use a 17-40 (5D MkII). I have used a 70-200mm 2.8 IS before at evening events outdoors, but I'd never bring it indoors. I had a friend recently who brought his indoors with him to shoot in a club and he fell backwards while shooting as someone bumped into him and he broke the front end of his lens (he got it repaired for a couple hundred bucks). Be careful! I know a few event/club photographers who don't use their hoods on their lens, but I always do as people won always see you and you get jostled a bit. You have to be great people person at this as you'll find your self shooting the spectrum of characters at night (alcohol makes people act in so many different ways). Good thing is once you got your shooting down it's a very repeatable gig and if you're like me you'll get quite a bit of repeat business at the same clubs and some perks as well (comped drinks/entrance fees even on nights off). The clubs, bars and restaurants that I shoot at all have lighting which calls for different settings. I can't tell you what will work for you so you'll just have start shooting and check your shoots and maybe reset and then repeat. I shoot for several local social websites who generate income from ads from these places and they pay me an hourly rate to take pics. They give me a list of places to go to shoot with times. Good luck!