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HI ALL
I’M DOING A WEDDING LATER IN THE YEAR,AND JUST WANTED TO CHECK WITH YOU DO I HAVE ENOUGH CAMERA GEAR.
HERE’S MY LIST OF EQUIPMENT.MAIN CAMERA
NIKON D300 ,2 BATTERIES SB800 SPEEDLIGHT,LUMIQUEST SOFTBOX III.
NIKKOR 16-85 3.5-5.6 VR
NIKKOR 50MM 1.4D
SIGMA 28-70 F2.8 EX DG NIKON 70-300 4.5.-6
TRI-POD 18GB MEMORY CARDS EXPO DISCBACK UP CAMERA
CANON 400D 2 BATTERIES
TOKINA 12-24 F4 AT-X124 PRO DX
50MM EF 1.8.
430 EX SPEEDLIGHT
SIGMA 70-300 4-5.6 ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT
THANKS ALOT……….BENTwo different brands of cameras???? Oh man, you’re taking a chance there. Not that you can’t understand how each work but I wouldn’t like to be switching between them very often and trying to change settings, especially with differnet speed lenses on top of it. I have enough problems switching between two canon cameras!
The Sigma 28-70 on the Nikon and the 50mm on the Canon should be fine in the church. I wouldn’t use the 70-300 at all in the church as it’s too slow and you’ll have to blow the head off the Bride and Groom with a flash to get them to work.
The 28-70 should work fine outside for the formals as well. You could use the 12-24 on the Canon for wide group shots etc. and the Nikon 70-300 for the off the cuff stuff outside the church and reception.Are you being paid for this wedding or just helping out?
Hi
Thanks for reply.
I know 2 different makes doesn’t sound like a good idea,it’s just that I had bought the canon and lenses first and just by chance I got offered the Nikon by a friend with some lenses.But hey I’ll give it a go.Thanks again
Ben..
benruss wrote:
Hi
Thanks for reply.
I know 2 different makes doesn’t sound like a good idea,it’s just that I had bought the canon and lenses first and just by chance I got offered the Nikon by a friend with some lenses.But hey I’ll give it a go.Thanks again
Ben..
If I were you then I’d sell the Canon gear and get yourself some Nikon stuff instead.
If you are doing someones wedding then you are going to fcuk it up messing around with two camera systems. It’s even worse if they are actually paying you for it.
Have a good look at this – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js7RzcdDcMs” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
Have you weighed all that equipment?
Seems like about 20 kilos to me-
If you plan on using more than a fraction of it,
you’ll spend more time rummaging than photographing.
If it’s warm, you’ll be very sweaty, and you don’t need that when you’re the centre of so much attention.
Also, you’ll be less mobile, if you feel you need to keep an eye on it all the time.One camera with a short fast zoom, one camera with a longer one should be enough,
with the remainder as backup.The only picture that should need a tripod is the main group,
and even that might be dependent on the weather-
but it’s a useful aid to signpost your intentions, either way.You’re certainly not intending to travel light,
so my previous post was in reference to porters-Plan A: Ditch one of the brands and get pro glass. One good pro 2.8 or faster lens is worth three bags of mediocre lenses. Your Sigma 2.8 is too long at the wide end on a D300 and the 16-85 is too slow. If you intend keeping the D300 in the long run then trade in the 16-85 and sigma 28-70 for the 17-55 2.8 Nikkor. This will sort you out for fairly wide to medium in the church. Trade in all the Canon stuff for a Nikon 80-200 2.8 or grab one of the great deals on second hand 70-200 VR originals which will be gold dust on your D300. Both your current tele lenses are very slow on the long end which is what you dont want for dark churches and portraits.
Then rent either another D300 or a D700 for the day. Not sure about the Canon but you should be able to save all your current D300 settings onto a card and import them to the rented one so they will work completely seamlessly on the day. If you have enough left over get a SB600 flash gun and a monopod. There’s rare occasions when you can set up a tripod but a monopod will be much easier to deal with in the church and people wont trip over it. Use higher iso’s to compensate for the lack of tripod, if your shutter speed is low enough to require a tripod it’s too slow to catch people without some movement potentially ruining the shot.Plan B: Do something similar except with Canon stuff.
Having two different systems with so-so lenses is crazy in a wedding situation, your at least doubling the work for yourself trying to squeeze high performance out of both kits you presently own. Unless you think you’ll have loads of time to set up creative uses for ultra-wide shots or are comfortable getting right in to people’s faces and catching the action, there’s no reason a 17-55 on one body and 70-200 on another could not handle just about anything that a wedding will throw at you. Ultra-wides and fisheye’s might be useful for about two or three album shots but you really should set groups up somewhere you can get way back and zoom into them, unless they are in to strange shape-shifting heads in the corners!
This is one of the best bits of advice that I have seen in a long time.
Well done Cian
Don’t know if this goes without saying, but shoot everything in RAW format. I know we all take Shutter Speed, ISO, Apatures, etc into account on the day – but one can’t beat the invaluable adjustment facilities of RAW files – just in case there’s one shot which could be that little bit better….!!
Ok so here’s my two cents, on this.
1. First of all dont let anyone ever tell you that you aren’t good enough to take your art seriously. For me that means more than just having the ‘right’ equipment. I’ve trained with Annabelle Williams in the UK and she reckons that all you really need is a camera capable of producing hogh qulaity prints, (so anything at 6MP or above is reasonable).
2. Youre sucess is going to be about the reaction and satisfaction your clients get from your images. No matter what camera or gear you turn up with on the day, if you dont connect with them through your images, it wont matter how ‘good’ you’re camera is. If you can deliver a set of images that they are happy with , then they wont remember the name on the front of your camera.
3. Whatever you’re using, know how to use it. I like to set up my camera before I take it out of the bag, and work the scene and clients knowing whats covered. I dont want to spend the day looking at my camera when I should be connecting with my subjects and making the magic hapen for them. I know this is likely to provoke a reaction, but I try to treat my camera like i treat my washing machine. It has many different programs and functions, but really I only ever use about 2 of them. I just make sure not to put the red sock in with the white shirts. Also, if I hired a plumber to fix my tap and he spent more time fiddling with his spanner than he did under my sink I’d wonder about his expertese.
4. Not to try and put preassure on you but remember that what you are offering here is a promise. You’re promising to give them images that record their special day, and the most important thing is that you deliver on that promise. with this in mind, Id stringly recomend carying a digital card reader/back up device of some description. You might have the best most meaningful priceless memories in your memory card, but it get crushed under the wheels of the horse and cart, or falls into the fish pond as your trying to pose the bridal party, its going to make it harder to deliver on your promise to your client. It happens, (can I get an ‘Amen’?) And one of these days its going to happen to you.
5. You cant buy talent, and you cant buy confidence. Some of the most memorable shots Ive seen were created years ago on film cameras that wouldnt be considered ‘professional’ grade equipment these days.
6. I’d strongly recomend, if youre serious about this that yot think about training. The most important thing it can give you is the belief in yourself to be confident and at ease on the day and in my case, I take better shots when im relaxed than when im stressing over the settings on my camera.
Hope this helps, and hope it goes well for you.
regards
– TomHi all
Thanks to Tom and everyone else who took time to send a reply
all advise much appreciatedCheers
Ben :D :D
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