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Carny Offline • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #1 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding Let me start off by saying that I told the couple (my BIL and his fiancee) several times that they should hire a real wedding photographer. Unfortunately they are young and funds are limited. One they talked to said they couldn't do indoor photos. I did their engagement photos and they really liked them which is part of the problem. I explained that there are no "do-overs" if I screw up. So, with that out of the way on to the questions. Here is my current gear list: Canon 5Dc 70-200 F4 L 85 1.8 50 1.4 50 macro 35 2 2 430ex ii flashes with yongnuo (sp?) radio poppers some studio strobes, not sure if I should mess with those Since they are family it won't be a problem going to rehearsal and checking out the church ahead of time. I'm planning on renting a 5D mk III and a 24-70. I'll take my 5D as a backup. 1. I think the rental period is 3 or 4 days. Will that be enough time to familiarize myself with the 5d3? 2. Will my 70-200 F4 be adequate since the 5d3 is supposed to be great in low light? Would it be worth renting the 2.8? 3. I'll take the other lenses to have just in case, but can you think of any particular situation in which I would use one of my primes rather than the L zooms? 4. I've seen pics of the church, and it looks the sanctuary has high ceilings (drop ceiling) so I may be able to bounce my flash. Should I mess with the studio lights for the formals? There will only be one groomsman and bridesmaid so the wedding party itself won't be large. 5. Is there anything else I will need that isn't on the list? I plan on having a checklist to make sure I get all the shots. I recently attended a wedding that was at a photography studio that had a huge seamless setup. The photographer set up and took photos of anyone that wanted one, and then the bride sent the guests copies with their Christmas cards. I like the idea, and think it would be neat to send the guests their photos along with their thank you cards. (Could be an extra income for the pros if you offered prints I to guests, but I could see where that would be a touchy subject.) Would that take too much time away from getting shots of the reception? That's all I can think of now. Thanks in advance! Dec 29, 2012 at 04:26 AM

hardlyboring Offline • • • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #2 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding To answer your questions... 1. Depends. I would stick with your 5Dc and have the rental as backup. No reason to learn a "new" camera when the one you have is fine. The 5Dc is fantastic any way you slice it. Maybe not the BEST at everything but it was used day in and day for years by just about everyone including myself. 2. The 70-200 F4 is great but it is not adequate for low light shooting with any camera. The 2.8 IS is the way you are going to want to go for sure IF you have to have a 70-200. I do not shoot with one all that often so the 85 is enough for me. 3. I use all primes and no zooms. My wife is opposite. Really depends on your shooting style. With this being your first go around it is going to be hard to gauge what you will want to shoot with and what you will not want to shoot with. 4. During the ceremony you most likely will not be using flash at all (some places do not allow it regardless). For the formals I suppose it depends on what you want to do and how big the group is. Bounced flash IMO stinks. I never bounce a flash accept maybe in a white tent during a reception to put a little fill on my subject. We use 2 flashes on stands set high facing down angled in so that we can crosslight the groups for formals. It is not the "best" solution but it does the trick fast and dirty. Unless you have battery packs for the studio lights they are going to be a pain. 5. Extra batteries, backups of everything because you never know when something is going to bite the dust. Other stuff: memory cards (extra), food and drink for snacking, good shoes, a checklist of all your gear, a detailed schedule of the day, any type of medicine you might see yourself needing (advil, immodium, benedryl, etc.), light stands, tripod (maybe). As far as the seemless setup I would forget that for sure. You are going to be rocked by the time the reception starts and you are not going to want to deal with any of that crap for sure. Good luck. Dec 29, 2012 at 05:08 AM

mccallmedia Offline • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #3 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding If it was me I would rent the 5d3 and a 70-200 2.8. Forget the 24-70 and stick primes on the 5dc. I use a 5dc as my main camera and a 5d2 as a backup. The 5dc kicks ass when there's enough light. Dec 29, 2012 at 07:26 AM

ct8282 Offline • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #4 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding Hi there, and well done for taking on your first wedding. I recently did my first one too, and I have to say it was easily one of the most stressful things I've done but at the same time I thoroughly loved it and am so pleased I did it. Here's a link to my thread following my wedding which will hopefully give you some ideas/motivation/encouragement etc etc.... http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1170934/0#11162125 Anyhow, in answer to your post, as far as your lenses go I personally think you have enough already to deal with the wedding. I did not have a 24-70 and instead found that my 50mm f1.8 was probably on my camera 65% of the time. My 70-200 was only used for portraits of the B&G after the ceremony, however the ceremony itself was in a small registry office so I was unable to move around much and therefore the 70-200 was just too long, even at 70mm. In your scenario the 70-200 may in fact be your go to lens for the ceremony. If you can bounce flash or can get decent high ISO's with the 5d3, which I'm sure you can, then the 70-200f4 will prob be fine, but of course the f2.8 would be better, but not essential. In reality if you know your gear and are comfortably with your lenses there's I reason why you shouldn't be able to handle the entire day with your current lenses. Renting the 5d3 is very sensible and an absolute must so that you have 2 bodies, and you are definitely doing the right thing by scoping out the venues before the big day. This is exactly what I did and I'm so glad I did too as I already knew roughly where I'd be shooting from and what sort of pics I wanted to try and get on the day. Good luck, and whilst you will feel stressed an under pressure, remember to enjoy it too. I look forward to seeing how you get on. Dec 29, 2012 at 08:47 AM

cineski Offline • • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #5 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding Your brother in law is getting married? Dec 29, 2012 at 03:59 PM

form Online • • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #6 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding Probably will need focus assist for dim light. Manual exposure can be very useful, and is often required when flash is involved. Need to know how to use flash. Need to understand the hard facts about mixing eTTL with off-camera manual flash (if you decide to use this blend). Need to understand your eTTL and what throws it off (if you use on-camera flash). Need to know how your tracking system works in dim lighting/the darkest lighting you will have to deal with for the wedding. Need to know how your tracking system works in the church. Need to know how your tracking system works with each lens (especially on a camera with AF microadjust) so you know which ones are more reliable than others. f/2.8 is more useful than f/4. f/1.4-f/1.8 is more useful than f/2.8. Primes are useful because of how many dark environments there are. IS is useful on 70-200 for church ceremonies because the shutter speed needed for proper exposure is often too slow to avoid camera shake blur. You're almost certainly not going to use/bounce flash during the church ceremony. You need to know their permissions and plan for not being allowed to move around certain areas. Shoot RAW (IMO). Have plenty of memory. Overshoot and cull later. Use NiMH batteries for flash and a good charger. Bring spare batteries. Every wedding is different. One big similarity is that most of them will require low light photography at some point in the wedding and you need to be able to handle several different iterations of that (big room, small room, different room shapes, bounceable walls, unbounceable walls, high ceiling, low ceiling, big crowd, little crowd, dancing subjects, motionless subjects, walking subjects, lighting pitchers and catches in bouquet/garter, etc.). Dec 29, 2012 at 04:02 PM

Carny Offline • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #7 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding hardlyboring - thanks for the detailed answers. I don't know if I could stand to have a 5D3 and not use it! ct8282 - thank you for the encouragement and good job on your first! I will be happy if mine turn out half as well as yours did. cineski - there is more than one way to get a brother-in-law. (hint: he is NOT my sister's husband) form - My "tracking system" is full manual, lol. I don't know if I would try to use it on the 5d3 unless it is pretty intuitive and easy to work with. Thank you to everyone else as well. To those saying not use the 70-200 f4: My thinking was that on the 5d3 f4 would be adequate since it is supposed to perform so well in low light. Is this not the case? Dec 29, 2012 at 06:18 PM

Carny Offline • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #8 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding Oh, do you guys actually carry around both cameras at the same time? I could see where it would be nice to maybe have a zoom on one and prime on the other, but I could also see it being cumbersome and awkward. Dec 29, 2012 at 06:20 PM

ct8282 Offline • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #9 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding I had both cameras on me at all times. For the ceremony I had the 50 f1.8 on my D4 and 24 f1.4 on the D800. For the B&G portraits I had the 70-200 f2.8 on D4 and 85 f1.4 on D800, etc etc. This way you have different focal lengths available and ready to go without needing to stop and change lenses during which time you may have already missed the shot. Dec 29, 2012 at 06:40 PM

form Online • • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #10 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding If you don't have both cameras on you and the camera you're using malfunctions, then you have a period during this one-time-only event where you are not able to take any photos of the b&g. Dec 29, 2012 at 08:54 PM

jefferies1 Offline • • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #11 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding First talk to the church and find out about the rules. You may be forced to stand in back the whole time. Then rent the 200mm.This is up to the church, not your bride and groom. Some don't allow much movement or will call you out. Then the prime is hard to use unles you have a great position.Primes also require more thinking not to miss a shot. For a beginner I would stick with the zoom for more options. I try not to use any flash after the bride walks in. If they are a church with light that will be fine with the 5D or5DIII. If really dark use the new 5DIII for higher ISO performance. I would stick to one lens on the main and one on the back-up. Maybe the 24-70 on the 5DIII and 70-200 or the 85mm on back-up. Use both. Keep it simple. Shoot Large Raw so you have room to crop and adjust later if required. Lots of CF cards required. Maybe 80GB since you will most likely be doing the rapid fire shooting due to nerves and eat up your card space. Hard for me to say because that is not my style but you want 2 times what you think you will use. Forget backgrounds. You will be lucky to get the formals done without being kicked out by the church director. They like to go home soon after a wedding. At least in my area it is always a rush to get out with them pushing you the whole time. If you miss the main shots ( kiss, ring exchange) make sure to ask for a re-do after the wedding. Not ideal but at least they will have something. Join PPA so you have some E/O coverage. Sure everyone is happy today but if you screw up or your equipment does people turn on you fast, real fast as I bet you don't have any contract to limit your exposure which is something else you should do. Spell out the details of what they get and don't get plus what happens if you get sick or have equipment issues. Have fun. Dec 29, 2012 at 09:15 PM

ct8282 Offline • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #12 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding Sound advice from jefferies1 indeed. Even though my wedding was shot for free for some friends I still had them sign 2 copies of a contract which essentially protected me from any come back if the photos turned out to be a complete disaster. The wording was essentially saying that whilst every effort would be made to produce the best possible pictures I would accept no liability for anything that hindered my ability to deliver such pictures, including pictures that they specifically wanted and asked for. This included things such as equipment failure, people getting in the way at critical moments, loss or theft of equipment or memory cards etc etc. It would be sensible to consider something like this. Dec 29, 2012 at 10:33 PM

Carny Offline • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #13 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding Good points. Thank you. I'm going back and forth on whether to just use primes or the zooms. I'm thinking for me a zoom may be better this time just because it will give me more options and they are definitely not the type of client that would notice any minor improvement in quality if I just used primes. Dec 31, 2012 at 01:51 AM

hardlyboring Offline • • • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #14 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding Your tracking solution is to manul focus? That is not going to go well IMO. Learn how to use the servo function ASAP. Dec 31, 2012 at 01:56 AM

Carny Offline • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #15 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding by tracking I thought he meant some fancy thing the 5d3 does. I won't be manually focusing, I usually focus and recompose. I haven't even thought about using AI Servo in a long time, maybe I don't understand it correctly. I always use the center point since it is the best one on the 5d and back button focus then recompose. I'll do some searching but appreciate any advice on the subject. Dec 31, 2012 at 03:40 AM

Tajmul12345 Offline • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #16 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding it is easy to capture wedding pictures.i always see when i captures how to look pictures how style is looking batter and background.its give me batter photos. Jan 04, 2013 at 06:33 AM

ct8282 Offline • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #17 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding Tajmul12345 wrote: it is easy to capture wedding pictures.i always see when i captures how to look pictures how style is looking batter and background.its give me batter photos. By the way, loving the work on your site. Jan 04, 2013 at 09:04 AM

D. Diggler Offline • • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #18 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding hardlyboring wrote: Your tracking solution is to manul focus? That is not going to go well Early in my career, I actually tried manually tracking a processional with a fast prime. Never did that again. Jan 04, 2013 at 09:11 AM

steve126a Offline • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #19 · A few questions about my first upcoming wedding cineski wrote: Your brother in law is getting married? Brother in law = OP's wife's brother Or maybe it is his sister's husband, and they live in Utah and they're into that sort of thing.... Jan 04, 2013 at 02:27 PM

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