D7D for chinese wedding?

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

yo guys... i got a urgent wedding assignment, my 1st, doing for a fren.

what settings should i use for the D7D? since chinese wedding, should use Aperture priority? Manual? or fully auto? should take Raw?

i have a 5600hs, should i get a ep-2 to go along? how to do vertical shoot with the flash?

how many Gb card should i bring? how many batteries should i bring along? should i bring a secondary cam like my F828 along?

[Flare]

My experience:

A mode for available light
M for flash (1/60 f5.6 - 8) + 5600 bounce
For verticle, I also bounce... 5600 got swivel head mah...
But it depends on the ceiling height and colour for the bounce...

I shot raw, for the entire day, I had over 3 gigs of images including trash. For the memory problem, I had 2 cards and I brought a laptop + charger (the batt cannot take it, transferring pics seems to be a power intensive process, possibly due to having constant HDD activity for over 30 minutes)

I forgot to bring bounce card , But I would advice one. Attach bounce card with velcro, and you can attach it on the side of flash when shooting verticle with bounce.

Bring extra batts + charger

And you need a lens wider than 24mm (actual focal length, not equivalent) for table shots, I gave up table shots as my 24-105 wasn't wide enuff after the 1.5 crop. Think you have the 17 -35 right, should be enuff.

Actually I wanted to bring my A1 along as well... but it's like super heavy, so I didn't, if you can be ensured a safe place to put your stuff, why not?

[UY79]

For vertical flash shot, you actually need a flash bracket. But they don't come cheap.

828 might not cut it in these situations. But if D7D fails, for whatever reason, you still can use it.

Cheers!

[2100]

Think better not do it if you are supposed to be the main. Not even if you are just asking for $100 angpow.

No amount of advice will suffice in this instance. How to put in words for this kind of thing....

Have done 8, still will feel pressure. Esp without backup body, and alternating between 28-75 and 12-24. Shoot events not as much pressure, actual i enjoy them more.

[Flare]

hahaha on yeah, it's super stress, and nope, I didn't really get to eat at all. And then, you have to go through all your photos, get them printed on good paper, buy a $50-70 album oh wait, maybe 2, one for the selected shots, one for all the repetive-but-the-couples-want shots (e.g. tea for 1st aunt, 2nd aunt, 3rd aunt ...), plan the layout, and give it to them, as a gift. And of course, you still have to give them the ang pao... think I'll spend like 200 - 300 or more, not including the time. Plus, I need to get my own food before the dinner so that i'll not starve to death...

But it's experience. And it's to help my friend. So it's okay for me.

[Rant start:
I've starved too often for my in-camp activities shooting Imagine whole day events, then i'll miss all the makan as I have to shoot, and by the end of the day, I'll be green/pale and shaking like a drug addict, so bad that even AS won't be effective, PLUS i'll have to carry all my gear out walking about 1 KM out of the camp, take public transport with all my barang-barang with aunties complaining about my bulkt bags AND THEN have everyone rushing me for the photos... Army got care for soldier, but no care for photographers
[Rant end]

[deslim27]

Originally Posted by 2100 Think better not do it if you are supposed to be the main. Not even if you are just asking for $100 angpow. No amount of advice will suffice in this instance. How to put in words for this kind of thing.... Have done 8, still will feel pressure. Esp without backup body, and alternating between 28-75 and 12-24. Shoot events not as much pressure, actual i enjoy them more.

About to say the same thing.. Good advise..

1st wedding shooting with a totally new gear..

However, it will be a good learning experience if not as the main photographer.

Cheers!

[fuzzybuster]

Originally Posted by deslim27 About to say the same thing.. Good advise.. 1st wedding shooting with a totally new gear.. However, it will be a good learning experience if not as the main photographer. Cheers!

I agree. I regularly shoot weddings and you really need to be so intimately aware of what your equipment is doing. My last transition to the Dynax 9 took me about six months of shooting for me to feel "at one" with the camera to allow me to confidently shoot weddings under any circumstances.

I own a D7D now. If I had a wedding to shoot this week, I'd take my 9 bodies (I still shoot some B&W on a 9000) and possibly take the D7D to take a few test shots.

Shooting weddings can be a very stressful ocassion. If you've got film kit you're familiar with...take that as your main equipment rather than relying on a new body that's under one month old.

Either way, good luck and have fun.

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

oh no... den i super stress liao... i wonder y they dun have a main yet... so last minute...

anyway i suppose to do for the wedding dinner only... so still not so bad... 1 setting for all... imagine 1 day event... :x

oh ya, if i bring a 2gb 80x & 1gb normal, with 1gb microdrive as backup should be more than enough right? with raw etc.

use omnibounce ok? i dun have a bounce card... no time to meet with skyestang for the 12bucks bounce.

my last camera... F828... den never use film b4... oh no...

[Flare]

er... Don't have main ah... wah like tat hor....

This way will be super duper ultimate stress loh... Or is it that he got main, but this main one don't do table shots (save money), and u do instead?

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

mayb... i still only given 1/2 the info... i need more info...

[Flare]

Originally Posted by Del_CtrlnoAlt oh no... den i super stress liao... i wonder y they dun have a main yet... so last minute... anyway i suppose to do for the wedding dinner only... so still not so bad... 1 setting for all... imagine 1 day event... :x oh ya, if i bring a 2gb 80x & 1gb normal, with 1gb microdrive as backup should be more than enough right? with raw etc. use omnibounce ok? i dun have a bounce card... no time to meet with skyestang for the 12bucks bounce. my last camera... F828... den never use film b4... oh no...

Anyway you can always make your own bounce card...

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

aiya, i got omnibounce liao mah... i thinking of the lightsphere thingy... seem too good to be true...

[Flare]

The light sphere hor... dunnoe must wait how long before the guy will do it for the 5600... Anyway... dunnoe how true his pictures are...

[catchlights]

Originally Posted by Del_CtrlnoAlt oh no... den i super stress liao... i wonder y they dun have a main yet... so last minute... anyway i suppose to do for the wedding dinner only... so still not so bad... 1 setting for all... imagine 1 day event... :x oh ya, if i bring a 2gb 80x & 1gb normal, with 1gb microdrive as backup should be more than enough right? with raw etc. use omnibounce ok? i dun have a bounce card... no time to meet with skyestang for the 12bucks bounce. my last camera... F828... den never use film b4... oh no...

Hi,
Flare has given you some very good advice.

IMHO, bounce card works better then omnibounce in a ballroom or restaurant, you can simply cut a 5”x5” white card attach to your flash, anyway if you use direct flash or omnibouce also fine.

Since you have enough memory, you can shoot RAW, especially this is new to you, just keep you setup simple, always anticipate what will happen next.

Most importance, MUST tell your friend, you are inexperience in shooting wedding, so let him/she aware that he/she have to ACCEPT whatever result from you.

Hope this help

[Flare]

Originally Posted by Del_CtrlnoAlt aiya, i got omnibounce liao mah... i thinking of the lightsphere thingy... seem too good to be true...

Anyway, think Omni will be difficult to use, not so effective, the idea to use a bounce card here is to reflect some light straight towards the face/subject to soften the shadows created by the ceiling light/ceiling-bounced light... but the omni hor, diffuse the light all over the place, + a slight increase surface area may not be sufficient... But well, still can use lah...

For me I'm more like looking at the lumiquest system... butthey are like over priced bounce cards

[Flare]

Originally Posted by catchlights Hi, Flare has given you some very good advice. IMHO, bounce card works better then omnibounce in a ballroom or restaurant, you can simply cut a 5”x5” white card attach to your flash, anyway if you use direct flash or omnibouce also fine. Since you have enough memory, you can shoot RAW, especially this is new to you, just keep you setup simple, always anticipate what will happen next. Most importance, MUST tell your friend, you are inexperience in shooting wedding, so let him/she aware that he/she have to ACCEPT whatever result from you. Hope this help

[catchlights]

Originally Posted by Flare

Thank you.

Btw, Del_CtrlnoAlt, when and where is the dinner being held? Size of guests?

[espn]

DCA, if you need me to be your back up let me know

PM me if so.

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

Originally Posted by espn DCA, if you need me to be your back up let me know PM me if so.

i dunno can afford u anot...

[espn]

I'm not asking to be paid

I'll just compliment you