Examples at the time of the wedding. Not this forum.
Those examples will help calm peoples gear fears.
Or, you could just use good equipment and never have to defend your gear choice. Seriously, I think the spirit of the thread here is if you're charging $5k+ for a wedding and you show up with a couple rebels and kit lenses, you're a tool no matter how talented you are. Now where the price points/gear used lines fall exactly is certainly up for debate, but if you have aspirations to make more than you are now, you should try to use equipment comensurate with your desired future rate.
Equipment is much more of a facilitator than anything else. The Xsi and the MKIII may show similar results at ISO100 in a controlled studio environment, but throw in a dark wedding hall, and it becomes much harder with the Xsi, but not impossible.
Before taking a bite out of Sam take a minute to de-lace the humor from perspective and focus on the latter.
Of course a Rebel and kit lens isn't going to replace a high-end photographer (based on ability, talent and execution, as well as gear) for couples that can budget for one.
The reality remains however that an old generation of photographers that used to get away with a kit lens and on camera flash are now getting replaced as the industry's "budget" offering. We now have a medicore to good bunch of Bobs with anywhere from a D40 to the top gear offerings from Canikon willing to just take pictures for the love of photography. As these Bobs get more practice and do more work, the quality of pictures they produce will not amaze but rather satisfy penny pinchers. It is at this point that a photographer must ask himself what he/she can offer to potential customers above and beyond taking reasonably good pictures with top-end equipment.
This is a photographer's brand. Look to the Hassas or Pingol or sboerup or Hoffer or Mr. TOOBZ (a local shout-out) for some inspiration (amongst many others I assure you). And although their pictures are top notch; there's much more behind their pictures that runs a business; parts of their brand that they can't or won't share as they do their photos.
I love Uncle Bobs. I treat it them as Wal-Mart moving into my neighbourhood. A warning sign of sorts. If I can't be better and attract clientelle, it's time to move on....Show more →
To the first pargraph above...I disagree with this statement...I feel the major difference is in the lens...I can get pretty much the same result from my XSI with my 24-70 L as I can with my 5D with the same lens easily at ISO 800. And sense I rarely go over ISO 400 I see no issues most of the time...there are exceptions but very few.
And when it comes down to viewing the final product in print...and it would only be a guess as to what camera shot what picture....who cares what the photog took the pic with to get that result. I have seen some amazing shots from Canons G series cameras.
George
hyperion wrote:
Strange post. Trying to justify your purchase? Why come to a forum and tell others what equipment to buy?
Professionals never do that. Professionals produce results and have the people skills to avoid "gear talk" or "gear rumors" with guests.
TIP FOR YOU TO AVOID GEAR TALK AND GEAR REPUTATION:
To answer the last part of your post - I have seen pros rock weddings with Nikon D70's even while there were guests using Canon 5DIIs. They were smart enough to do an engagement shoot with the couple before the wedding, produced an amazing 3 foot tall print hung during the wedding (with the pros name all over it) for all the guests to see. Trust me, NOBODY questioned the pros gear or talents during or after the wedding.
Update to make myself clear since its obvious he is a capable photographer:
Learn to back up your work with image examples during the wedding....Show more →
but still better camera still helps you alot in low light situation and fast action. The dynamic range in FF can help you recover some blown out pics and such. Idk, if you're getting paid you better have the equipment + skills to capture the wedding that no others could do .
So if u're planning not to use flash during the wedding is probably better gear . That's just depends on the photographer's taste on how he will choose his equipment
. That's just depends on the photographer's taste on how he will choose his equipment