Actual day wedding shoot for a friend...

[SnapSnap]

One of my friends asked me to help shoot his wedding for him! I am planning to rent a D200, 11-22mm f/4 and SB800, use my own camera (S2Pro 28-200mm) as backup... I suppose I will also need tons of CF cards...

I was wondering if these setup would be sufficient for normal HDB condition and hotel setting. Also if I can convert RAW file from Nikon using the Fujifilm software... ;p

Before I get pounded for taking on an AD assignment as a newbie, I would like to state that I am not new to AD assignment except that I normally do videography. (I told him that he will have to pay if I did video for him and so ended up with the photography job. :bsmilie

All tips are welcomed!! TIA

 

[ortega]

use your s2pro + 17-50mm range lens + sb800 would cover most situations

11-22 is kinda too wide for weddings (IMHO)
what you need is batteries, lots of them

do a search on this subject, lots of threads

 

[dennisc]

D200 eats batteries for breakfast lunch and dinner! I need to charge like 1-2 times on weddings. Get batteries batteries

 

[tribal.snake]

not that bad la... my d200 with grip just needs to charge once, in between the morning session and the night session.

i would suggest u get more batts for ur sb800, that one is a blood sucker.
the 11-22 kinda wide, people might get uncomfortable if u get too close.
if u can get a portable hd, u just need to rotate between 2 cf cards

 

[SnapSnap]

Thanks for the tips so far. Keep them coming!

Take away points for now...
1) D200 big drain on batt, get grip as well.
2) SB800 also sucks batt, get more batt to standby.
3) 11-22mm too wide. Think of something less wide.

Also considering if it is possible to just rely on my S2pro per ortega's suggestion... one thing about this is that it is my friend's big day and I just want to prepare for the worst...

Please let me know if I can convert RAW file from Nikon using the Fujifilm software...

 

[tribal.snake]

it is possible to rely on ur s2pro.
but always good to have a backup body or another body to provide u with a different view.
e.g. one with 17-55, one with a 105 for zoom and one with a FE for fun effects.

not sure the conversion, i use lightroom.

 

[ortega]

it is your friend's big day

don't go there and try new equipment
go with what you know well

actually hor the new nikon 16-85 VR should cover everything except the FE

 

[Fragnatic]

FE only for effects, else not really needed.

 

[SnapSnap]

Er... what is FE?

 

[catchlights]

if you using d200 +MB, you need at least total 4 batteries for the whole day, do note if you are using VR lens, shooting Raw, it will drain batteries like nobody business.

FE I guess they are referring to fisheye lens.

17 or 18mm is wide enough, anything wider will turn people at corner of the photos into alien very easily.

 

[billone]

Bring 28-70 or, even better 24-70. That will cover the majority of your work.

 

[chanxj]

Bring 28-70 or, even better 24-70. That will cover the majority of your work.

:nono: 28-70 is not wide enough especially for HDB flats unless u going only for half body portrait. a 17/18-70 focal length should be good enough.

 

[scaredcloud]

This is my 1st wedding with D70s + 18-70 + SB-600
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scaredcloud/sets/72157603523608577/detail/

This is my 2nd wedding with D70s + 18-70 + SB-600
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scaredcloud/sets/72157594520461090/detail/

This is my 3rd wedding with D70s + 17-55 + SB-800
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scaredcloud/sets/72157603523569753/detail/

Personally I think having a fast glass of 2.8 is really helpful, most probably you will only be using 17-55 (or tamron 17-50). A flash is useful, but I see no different between SB-600 & SB-800 (just me maybe).
It's handy to have another body attach with 70-200 / 85 / 105 / 135... for candids.

Cheers! Enjoy it, it's really fun shooting wedding.

 

[Yapster]

Personally, i feel you may like to learn how to make use of the flash as well, like bounce flash, direct flash etc. I'm not sure about your familiarity with external flash, so pardon me if i assume wrongly.

Bouncing flash wise, take note of the ceilings. The height and the surface. Some surface may not be good to use for bouncing.

As for zoom lens, personal experience (shoot for fun one) is when you use a long zoom lens, you tend to zoom more than moving yourself more. And if you use bounce flash in this condition, there is a tendency the light may not be evenly distributed, ending up in shots with here dark there dark. And ya, i guess like what Ortega suggested, 50mm is on the safe side. Try not to go beyond 70mm i feel.

And ya, many many batteries for your flash. And must know when to change them man. You wouldn't want to see your shots coming out dark during the crucial moment. If you are following the couple through the whole day, suggest you bring your charger as well la. Just in case.


As for your 11-22, if you are driving, i think just bring along lor. I personally like to use my 12-24 to cover events. Can make quite a lot of fun shots with it. If possible, try to find out how big your friend's family is. The last ROM i shot with my another friend, who is using 17-40 on a Canon System, we nearly fainted. My friend's family is so big that my shooting friend got to step back very far to cover them all in his 17mm. The wide angle lens may come in handy also since you most likely got to cover table shoots right?

Just my 2 cents la. Correct me if i am wrong.

 

[joe]

One of my friends asked me to help shoot his wedding for him! I am planning to rent a D200, 11-22mm f/4 and SB800, use my own camera (S2Pro 28-200mm) as backup... I suppose I will also need tons of CF cards...

I was wondering if these setup would be sufficient for normal HDB condition and hotel setting. Also if I can convert RAW file from Nikon using the Fujifilm software... ;p

Before I get pounded for taking on an AD assignment as a newbie, I would like to state that I am not new to AD assignment except that I normally do videography. (I told him that he will have to pay if I did video for him and so ended up with the photography job. :bsmilie

All tips are welcomed!! TIA

No need to spend that kind of money to rent D200 for helping your friend's wedding.It should be more then enough.For CF cards you need to bring more not tons of CF cards.Maybe 3 or 4 and also bring extra batteries for your flashlight and your cam.

 

[emptycan69]

I am using a Nikon D50 and the raw file is in NEF format instead of .raw.

You may have to check out the "Help" function of your Fujifilm software to find out whether it supports raw file or not. Or, you may need to download some plugins for the software in order to open raw files.

 

[BlueBull]

one thing to note is, dun wait until your CF card or batt is flat to change them. If you CF card has like 10 more shots, change to a fresh one. If you battery is down to its last indicator change to a fresh one before the indicator even blinks.

Dun get caught out.