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nicksan wrote in post #10871114
Glad that the Nikon gear if working for you.
Primes can be fun to shoot. But I think I overuse them. I have a perfectly great 24-70 sitting in my bag that I probably should use for certain segments of the day when you just want to capture the happenings instead of trying to get overly creative and ending up limited in range and versatility. (Like being caught with a 24mm and 50mm mounted on 1 bodies but actually needing/wanting one of them to be a zoom)

I think it's a learning process for me and I need to work my primes into my shooting a little better.

The event that I shot last weekend was small. I had the 24-70 on one camera and the 50 1.4 on the other. While the 24-70 covered the event more fully, I still prefer the shots with the 50. I think it's because of how I was shooting with each. I had the 50 at 1.4-2.2 the whole time. Love narrow dof. Those two for me make an excellent team. I DO still want the sigma 85 though.

Permagrin wrote in post #10871881
The event that I shot last weekend was small. I had the 24-70 on one camera and the 50 1.4 on the other. While the 24-70 covered the event more fully, I still prefer the shots with the 50. I think it's because of how I was shooting with each. I had the 50 at 1.4-2.2 the whole time. Love narrow dof. Those two for me make an excellent team. I DO still want the sigma 85 though.

I completely agree. I also love narrow DOF and the ability to isolate the subject even more. But I realize that shooting with 2 primes on 2 bodies probably isn't the prudent thing to do, especially when I am still sort of trying to figure things out as far as my comfort level is concerned.

I think for the getting ready shots, I am completely comfortable shooting without a zoom. I've been shooting with either the 24 + 50 or 24 + 85 combo and it's fine.

But otherwise, I need to be smart about it, especially when I am second shooting for someone because I am access and angle limited.

For the ceremony, I find that the 24 + 70-200VRII works pretty well. I am really loving the 24 and of course the 70-200VRII is the sharpest lens I own and solves the access problem.

For the reception shots, I think I have more leeway, except for those few typically key moments like the first dance, cake cutting, etc. Otherwise, I have many, many options, but I've been caught with my pants down a few times having only the 24 and 50 mounted on my cameras with no other lenses nearby. So I think the key is to know when the right time is for the zooms and primes.

The Nikon 24-70 and 70-200 are so good, it's kind of silly not to take advantage of them. The last 3 weddings I shot, I used the 24-70 ZERO times. There's no reason for that really. There's a time and place for everything. I just need to figure it all out.

nicksan wrote in post #10871968
I completely agree. I also love narrow DOF and the ability to isolate the subject even more. But I realize that shooting with 2 primes on 2 bodies probably isn't the prudent thing to do, especially when I am still sort of trying to figure things out as far as my comfort level is concerned.

I think for the getting ready shots, I am completely comfortable shooting without a zoom. I've been shooting with either the 24 + 50 or 24 + 85 combo and it's fine.

But otherwise, I need to be smart about it, especially when I am second shooting for someone because I am access and angle limited.

For the ceremony, I find that the 24 + 70-200VRII works pretty well. I am really loving the 24 and of course the 70-200VRII is the sharpest lens I own and solves the access problem.

For the reception shots, I think I have more leeway, except for those few typically key moments like the first dance, cake cutting, etc. Otherwise, I have many, many options, but I've been caught with my pants down a few times having only the 24 and 50 mounted on my cameras with no other lenses nearby. So I think the key is to know when the right time is for the zooms and primes.

The Nikon 24-70 and 70-200 are so good, it's kind of silly not to take advantage of them. The last 3 weddings I shot, I used the 24-70 ZERO times. There's no reason for that really. There's a time and place for everything. I just need to figure it all out.

Just went through all this and you mentioned the combos i would suggest. For the ceremony you have it covered with the 70-200 and your 24. For the reception i would switch out the 70-200 and put on the 24-70 and keep either of the two primes. Which ever makes you most comfortable.

normally I shot the ceremonies with the 24-70 and 70-200. Pre-wedding was all done with a prime and the 24-70. Reception was done with a wider prime and a mid-range prime....that's how I like to work most of the time.

Permagrin wrote in post #10871881
The event that I shot last weekend was small. I had the 24-70 on one camera and the 50 1.4 on the other. While the 24-70 covered the event more fully, I still prefer the shots with the 50. I think it's because of how I was shooting with each. I had the 50 at 1.4-2.2 the whole time. Love narrow dof. Those two for me make an excellent team. I DO still want the sigma 85 though.

Me too, but you have to be super careful and adjust your aperture accordingly, or line up your subjects perfectly, as 2.0 (my fav on the Siggy) will get one person in focus and that's that. If you have the time and capability to be creative, primes are great but then again, the 2.8 on the Nikon is sharp and you get great subject isolation AND super fast/accurate AF.

The boy, first day of first grade @ f1.4

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vipergts831 wrote in post #10872111
Just went through all this and you mentioned the combos i would suggest. For the ceremony you have it covered with the 70-200 and your 24. For the reception i would switch out the 70-200 and put on the 24-70 and keep either of the two primes. Which ever makes you most comfortable.

Yeah, I almost never use the 70-200 for the reception, but it's a good lens to use if you want to blast away a distracting background or take some candids of the guests covertly. It's also a good lens to use as a second shooter when you don't have the access.

Mr. Clean wrote in post #10872128
Me too, but you have to be super careful and adjust your aperture accordingly, or line up your subjects perfectly, as 2.0 (my fav on the Siggy) will get one person in focus and that's that. If you have the time and capability to be creative, primes are great but then again, the 2.8 on the Nikon is sharp and you get great subject isolation AND super fast/accurate AF.

Yeah, I agree. The 24-70 does have pretty decent ability to isolate subjects and make them pop. Of course this has a lot to do with lighting, BG, etc, but it's very prime-like in its rendering. Not quite there, but certainly good enough for a lot of situations.

nicksan wrote in post #10872137
Yeah, I agree. The 24-70 does have pretty decent ability to isolate subjects and make them pop. Of course this has a lot to do with lighting, BG, etc, but it's very prime-like in its rendering. Not quite there, but certainly good enough for a lot of situations.

see that's why I keep it. I actually prefer UWA but the 24-70 is the go-to...you can always count on it delivering.

tim wrote in post #10870937
The bridesmaid I dated? I just asked the bride (who I got on really well with, cousin of the bridesmaid) to pass my number on, we dated for a few months. I'm totally professional at weddings, though i'm thinking I should let down my guard a little and have a bit more fun... I might get better photos from it too.

haha you gave your number?? she called you? wow!!!

tim wrote in post #10870968
D700 at ISO1600 feels like the 7D at ISO400-800. Totally counting eyelashes here. Well... I could.

and I thought many are raving about how good the 7D is with high ISO... I definitely agree though that I really don't mind if I use ISO 200-3200 or even 6400 as long as I get good enough lighting..

tim wrote in post #10871026
My camera progression was 300D -> 20D -> 30D -> 40D -> 7D -> D700.

With the D700 i'm finally happy. Would I like a D3s more? Maybe, maybe not. I'm gona have sore enough arm muscles tomorrow from hefting the D700/24-70/SB900!

any Idea how much it weighs? together with the batteries etc? I am guessing a little over 4kg?

Permagrin wrote in post #10872153
yep, I agree. I still love the look though. This is at 1.4 from Sunday.
my biggest problem is CA at the 1.4. Hate having to edit that.

CA? is it really evident in all primes from around 1.4 - 1.8? my 50mm f/1.4D has a lot of CA also in that range.. I usually use it at f/2.2-2.8 only...

Some people mistake narrow DOF for creative photography... they're different.

Mr. Clean wrote in post #10871269
Well, the rumor is you can turn off the protection and the flash will be fine. Seems sketchy though, WHAT IF you fried your flash? 1600 @ 5.6 on the D700 probably worked just fine though

I did turn it off, and if the flash fries, it fries. I haven't burned out a flash tube yet and i've been doing this for years. The orange gel and stofen made it work harder than usual, it's rare that I use them, it was just for a specific small, light colored venue. I turned up to put my two room lights up, 580's on stands, and they were too big so I used on camera all night.

tim wrote in post #10874700
Some people mistake narrow DOF for creative photography... they're different.

I did turn it off, and if the flash fries, it fries. I haven't burned out a flash tube yet and i've been doing this for years. The orange gel and stofen made it work harder than usual, it's rare that I use them, it was just for a specific small, light colored venue. I turned up to put my two room lights up, 580's on stands, and they were too big so I used on camera all night.

if you put a diffuser on top of the flash head, can an e-ttl/i-ttl flash detect it? and compensate?

monk3y wrote in post #10874716
if you put a diffuser on top of the flash head, can an e-ttl/i-ttl flash detect it? and compensate?

That's the whole point of TTL flash, it does a preflash, meters it, then knows how much light it needs for the main flash. Doesn't matter what you put on your flash, it'll compensate, so long as it has enough power.

tim wrote in post #10874823
That's the whole point of TTL flash, it does a preflash, meters it, then knows how much light it needs for the main flash. Doesn't matter what you put on your flash, it'll compensate, so long as it has enough power.

ohh ok..so if a photog is using e-ttl/i-ttl then I will always see a preflash prior to the actual flash? thanks Tim.

I just saw a guy shooting with a D90 I think and SB-800 if I am not mistaken, and its doing 2 or 3 preflash before the actual flash.

Multiple flashes are red eye reduction. The preflash is too fast for the eye to see, but it can cause people to blink. I had to use rear curtain sync last night to help prevent that with a couple of people, but I worked out afterward that I can assign the fn button to FEL, so I can hit that to meter, people can blink, then a second later I take the photo.

tim wrote in post #10874869
Multiple flashes are red eye reduction. The preflash is too fast for the eye to see, but it can cause people to blink. I had to use rear curtain sync last night to help prevent that with a couple of people, but I worked out afterward that I can assign the fn button to FEL, so I can hit that to meter, people can blink, then a second later I take the photo.

ahh... I really have a lot to learn regarding flash, I avoid using it as I am not really confident most of the time.

I do usually use rear curtain sync, I find it better most of the time, and I love shooting something like this

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