Paul_K
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 p.1 #9 · Film era Lighting verse todays technology, is it useable? | |
I was a bit surprised with your original posting as it seems to suggest that with the appearance of new equipment the old suddenly has become not only obsolete, but even no longer usable.
With the constant evolution and upgrades of (digital) camera's, the previous models maybe become overtaken technically, but if used in the right hands both camera's and lighting equipment still can produce excellent results
Looking back (only) twelve years, flash units were mainly not TTL (and at that time Canon had a bad reputation in that regard) triggers were dumb (no TTL) high ISO on film was maybe ISO 400 (apart from specialized types like eg the 3M 640T and Kodak TMZ 3200) while digital was not much better (even on the 5D classic only ISO 1600 was realistic, while higher ISO at that time required noise reduction software for the best results)
If anything, with the rapid advance of technology and the options offered without people even realising the incredible advance ( I remember when shooting Tri-X atd ISO 1600 was a challenge, and the standard ISO 6400 in many of nowadays DSLR's was not even thought about or dreamt of), many modern 'photographers' seem to forget or ignore that they at least have to learn some tricks of the trade to be able to get the picture rather then expect their equipment to solve all problems (despite what the manufacturers may seem to suggest).
When I eg look at your list of equipment, it strikes me you appear not to have, especially after selling your 50D, a back up body, nor backk up flash unit, and not light sensitive primes like eg a 1.4/50mm, 2.0/28mm or 1.4/85mm. (while I don't see any use for a remote trigger for the camera).
The first thing absolutely vital for shooting a wedding is back up, equipment always breaks down ( or due to nerves appear to break down) at those kind of occasions, and back up will buy a lot of peace of mind (and in case of the worst case scenario a big sigh of relief afterwards)
Although your zooms might seem able to do the job, if light is low and you're, either by instruction of e.g. the priest in the church, or you don't want to kill the mood of the moment by using flash, f2.8 might proof to be too limiting (yes the 5DII can use high ISO, but how's the AF under low light withh a relatively slower lens?)
Sure, back in the days before wide aperture light sensitive lenses became more widely availible ( and affordable) flash would be used, but rather for lack of alternatives then to improve the pictures (I have shot weddings with a.o. a 500CM and 4/150 Sonnar, and Nikon 4.5/80-200 manual lens, and bless todays eg D800 and 2.8/70.200)
So what I want to say is that film era lighting is still a very viable option, but that you should also start thinking about the options modern equipment offers, and how to use it
E.g. for the formal shots you might easily shoot with a Hassy and elaborate lighting setup, but for the wedding ceremony, reception and other PJ like stuff you will most likely not have any time and opportunity to prepare such a set, let alone shoot extensively in it.
So rather the focussing on whether film era lighting equipment will work with ' modern' DSLR's I would concentrate on how you want to shoot the pictures, find out that technique and then wonder about the equipment (possible hire some additional stuff). And of course you can still combine it with film era lighting equipment (in so far you want tu use it, althoug I question the wisdom of using it as the only mainlight rather then eg shooting with a more balanced availible light and lighting equipment mix).
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