24-105 f/4L for weddings/events?

I am thinking about picking one up for upcoming scheduled events and weddings. I have the the range covered in primes so low light is not an issue. I will use the 24-105 mainly with a flash when I can. I looked into the canon 24-70 (rented one for an event, was not overly impressed) and the sigma 24-70 HSM (concerned about focus issues on my 5Dc). Does anyone use the sigma on a 5dc with success?

Does anyone shoot a similar combo? I would love to hear your experiences and insight into this. Thanks in advance.

James

A friend of mine uses a 5D and 24-105 99% of the time for weddings, he loves it. I used one at my last wedding on a 5D, it was a good range and the images are good. I'm about to get a 24-105 as a backup/single lens for my assistant.

I've never owned a 5Dc, but one of my cameras is a 5D2 and my 24-70 is attached to it nearly the entire time. Excellent IQ. You may have had a bad copy which unfortunately is too common.

I just checked my library of photos from 70 something weddings, and realized that the 24-105 was my most used lens out of all of them. I guess that's about right, even if I thought it would have been the 70-200 1.8 IS.

The IQ is great, the range is fantastic, and even though it's F/4, I have always found a way to work with it.

Awesome lens I will never sell.

It's a great lens. On a 5D though, I'd only use centre point, and if it's somewhat dim, use only centre point and have a speedlite in the hotshoe to get the af assist light.

+1 on what Lloyd said . I use mine as a walkaround while not at weddings, but it certainly is my mainstay for the event circuit. It's typically used in conjunction with a 580ex, and I only use that center AF point. - Stu

picturecrazy wrote in post #9557986
It's a great lens. On a 5D though, I'd only use centre point, and if it's somewhat dim, use only centre point and have a speedlite in the hotshoe to get the af assist light.

Peacefield-I've never owned a 5Dc, but one of my cameras is a 5D2 and my 24-70 is attached to it nearly the entire time. Excellent IQ. You may have had a bad copy which unfortunately is too common.

Yeah it was a really used rental with a sticky zoom to boot.


Thanks for all the input. It is always better to hear real world user opinions than to look at ISO charts. I agonized over it and did alot of research this weekend. I opted for the longer range over the 24-70. I found a good deal on a 24-105 with ebay and bing cashback through PMI digital (authorized dealer). Brand new for about $920 with 2nd day air, Wednesday will be a fun day!

Hopefully my frantic lens changing will be alot less these days

James

My 24-105L stays on 99% of the time... (ok, I'm exaggerating... more like 75%). Since most of my shots require some degree of DoF, f/4 is not a problem. IS is the main selling point for me because it allows me to obtain nice "natural light" bounced flash images at somewhat slow shutter speeds, e.g. 1/15-1/60. IS is great for events. That's my $0.02.

The lens arrived today and I went out with a friend to try it out. We happen to catch a nice sunset. It has been real smoggy here in the valley thanks to the inversion so we were lucky to get a clear day, finally. Here is a little impromptu shutter drag to test the IS. Both pics were with a 430ex in ETTL camera left with a 1/2 cto gel.

1) 1/3 sec @ 5.6 28mm, in case exif not there.

Jdumas wrote in post #9586943
The lens arrived today and I went out with a friend to try it out. We happen to catch a nice sunset. It has been real smoggy here in the valley thanks to the inversion so we were lucky to get a clear day, finally. Here is a little impromptu shutter drag to test the IS. Both pics were with a 430ex in ETTL camera left with a 1/2 cto gel.

1) 1/3 sec @ 5.6 28mm, in case exif not there.

2) 1/8 sec@ 4.5 67mm

I can see myself really liking this lens...
and feel free to comment.

Thanks again for the insight.

James

Beautiful! I am really liking the first one...
This will definitely be my first L lens...