Is this enough for wedding?


BrownInu

New Member
Sep 22, 2009
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Hi everyone,

I am aware that there are a few wedding threads on what type of lens to bring and so on. I did read and compile a checklist.
But still require your help in answering my doubts below. I am kind of stress up with the request, which will take place tomorrow.
Allow me to share what happen, I was told to help out my spouse friend to cover for a few hours before her actual photographer arrive.
The friend wedding is suppose to commence in the wee hours before sun rise, due to her constraint, the photographer will only be arriving 2 hours after her preparation for gate crash. I did mention that even thou I have been shooting, but it has been mostly on landscape/cityscape but never a wedding.
I am also require to play as a back-up photographer throughout the day as well.

With the equipments I have, I am highly aware that during indoor situation eg: marching in. I will be facing difficulties due to the lack of an external flash.
I am currently using the below setup:

Canon 550D + grip
Tamron 17-50mm f2.8
canon 50mm f1.8
canon 18-135mm kit lens

Situation:

1) indoor low light: shall i be using 17-50 f2.8 + iso 1600 or 3200 but there will likely be noises.
or 50mm f1.8 but no flexibility of width. Only way of zooming will be my feet. Are there sufficient time during marching in?

2) flash: I do understand that direct flash will be harsh, is it better to avoid?

Please advise.
Thank you.
 

rent a flash.

Go with the tamron. There will be alot of people at the wedding... you can't really zoom with your feet without falling over or crashing into someone.
 

Last edited:
Hi, don't know if you'll have enough time to change lenses while you're shooting on the go. Unless you have two camera bodies..? Suggest you stick with one lens.. And use a flash to back you up.
 

bounce the flash off the ceiling if it's low. get a white card to bounce the flash if there aren't any ceilings.

btw... this is too last minute for you to even ask. if you can't find a white card, get a white piece of cardboard and tape it to your flash head.
 

kei1309 said:
bounce the flash off the ceiling if it's low. get a white card to bounce the flash if there aren't any ceilings.

btw... this is too last minute for you to even ask. if you can't find a white card, get a white piece of cardboard and tape it to your flash head.

I can only say, lucky he is just the backup photographer
 

.....................................

Situation:

1) indoor low light: shall i be using 17-50 f2.8 + iso 1600 or 3200 but there will likely be noises.
or 50mm f1.8 but no flexibility of width. Only way of zooming will be my feet. Are there sufficient time during marching in?

2) flash: I do understand that direct flash will be harsh, is it better to avoid?

Please advise.
Thank you.
shooting marching in need a lots of practice. without flash is like 3X harder.


harsh lighting from direct flash is not acceptable is when the effect like "deer caught in car head light", unless you are shooting in the open field and has noting to bounce,
if you can balance the ambient light and flash very well, shooting with direct flash it is acceptable, the much easier way is to do a ceiling bounce.
 

If you are asking this question now, I think its better for you to just go out there and learn your equipment first.
Know what it can and cannot do. Then you'll know what is suitable for which situation.

Asking these sort of questions and then expecting a "right" answer is silly. Even if it is correct, if you don't know how to use your equipment, you're almost certain of missing the shot.

It would also be advisable to see the site and to discuss with the other photog which angles you and he/she are capturing, so that you do not get in the way of each other.
 

Agree on rent a flash and focus more on the part before the main photographer comes, after that I believe the main photographer can do his job so you just shoot whatever you please, don't need to be so stressed about being the backup because most of the time I don't think there is a need.

You can focus on capturing candid shots instead, shoot something the photographer did not cover and remember not to interfere with the main photographer.

Rent a flash now and u have 1 day to play with it. Just get one with ETTL flash, it makes your life easier. If you are unsure of bouncing light then just see if u can rent a diffuser or not. otherwise just follow what others said about cardboard.

Otherwise use in-camera flash and adjust through flash compensation to avoid overly harsh flash.

Gear wise I would just stick to tamron. F2.8 + zoom. The people might not have time to wait for you to change lenses anyway.
 

it really depend on what you going to shoot. I attended a wedding, saw the main photographer using a 35mm f2 lens coupled with a D700 and a sb 600 all the way. From morning till dinner.. :dunno:
 

it really depend on what you going to shoot. I attended a wedding, saw the main photographer using a 35mm f2 lens coupled with a D700 and a sb 600 all the way. From morning till dinner.. :dunno:

what the photographer have in hands,
what is he intend to shoot,
and what is the results

see all three to make a conclusion, :)
 

How about just use canon 50mm if u don't have external flash?
 

50mm is fine if TS don't find it tight indoor with crop factor accounted for. It may be fine if he is shooting f1.8 all the way but if he needs to take grp shots then he may need to stop down aperture and it is back to lowlight slowwwwww shutter speed and no flash. And his body is not superb in very high iso either.

End of the day there is a reason why 99.9% of wedding photographers will have additional sources of light.
 

50mm not wide for table shot
 

The gatecrash is over by now. I wonder how it goes. Now your role is a backup photographer. Remember to stay out of the way and cross fire of the main photographer and best to capture things things happening during the dinner that the main won't or can't capture. She can't be at 2 places at a time.
 

small pig said:
it really depend on what you going to shoot. I attended a wedding, saw the main photographer using a 35mm f2 lens coupled with a D700 and a sb 600 all the way. From morning till dinner.. :dunno:

Ops .. i sometime shoot with 24mm all the way .. haha .. lots of zooming with my feet.
 

If die die no flash, at least shoot in raw and "highlight tone priority" enabled. It will be your life saver and save probably 90% of your shots...
 

it really depend on what you going to shoot. I attended a wedding, saw the main photographer using a 35mm f2 lens coupled with a D700 and a sb 600 all the way. From morning till dinner.. :dunno:

You followed the main photog closely and monitored his lens usage from morning till dinner?

I find it amusing that people like to watch what other people do and pass judgements thinking they know better.

35mm fx is probably the most common focal lenght for wedding photography. It accounts to approximately 30% to 40% of my lens usage based on lightroom metadata stats. Other pro's shared similar numbers.

If I can only pick one prime lens, it's the 35mm, way more versatile than 50. Group shots, full lenght and half lenght portraits, mood shots, and even pseudo macros with it's 25cm close focusing ability. Most importantly it's perfect lenght for journalistic type of shooting.
 

You followed the main photog closely and monitored his lens usage from morning till dinner?

I find it amusing that people like to watch what other people do and pass judgements thinking they know better.

35mm fx is probably the most common focal lenght for wedding photography. It accounts to approximately 30% to 40% of my lens usage based on lightroom metadata stats. Other pro's shared similar numbers.

If I can only pick one prime lens, it's the 35mm, way more versatile than 50. Group shots, full lenght and half lenght portraits, mood shots, and even pseudo macros with it's 25cm close focusing ability. Most importantly it's perfect lenght for journalistic type of shooting.

It not amusing. The groom is my friend and he is a photographer too..

I agree that 35mm is a good focal length but I dont agree that the IQ produce by f2 is good enough, unless he is using the 1.4 lens.. that my 2 cents
 

It not amusing. The groom is my friend and he is a photographer too..

I agree that 35mm is a good focal length but I dont agree that the IQ produce by f2 is good enough, unless he is using the 1.4 lens.. that my 2 cents

35mm f/2 not good enough IQ?

The 35mm f1.4G is only released last Dec 2010. If the IQ of the f/2 AFD is 'not good enough', then what is 'good enough' before Dec 2010? This is what people use for the past 20 years and I am sure there are way more fantastic good images created from this lens all over the world than what you ever shoot in your whole life. Before that the 35mm f1.4 AIS manual was from 1970s and this AFD f2 version is an improvement over the AIS in IQ.

There is way more to good photography then just comparing gear and sneering at what other people use.

Nikon 35mm f2 AF-D Review: Why Zach Arias and Myself Like This Lens - YouTube!