Those that shoot weddings on prime lenses

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mart77

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1.How do you find that works out?
2.Do you find yourself having times where you wish you had a zoom
3. what is your focal range covered by your primes? im particularly interested in what people find at the telephoto end and how people that stop at 85mm cope with that in ceremonies etc.
 
What he said ^

Also I think it depends how you normally shoot, I only shoot prime lenses so that's how I think and frame shots in my head.
 
i should add on to this what lenses do you use as well!
 
- It was OK, I moved to primes towards the end of my time shooting on Canon kit having shot 16-35, 24-70 and 70-200 previously. When I switched to Nikon I went back to the zooms 14-24, 24-70, 70-200mm. Sharper results than I was getting from Canon primes on the 1D MKIII - and I'd got over myself :oops: :$

- Yes, particularly when I was restricted to a fixed position in a ceremony. Having 2 bodies and only two focal lengths (no time and didn't want to risk changing lenses during the ceremony) gave me a lack of variety in the images I could take and I was happier with the flexibility I got from the zooms. I still typically used primes for bridal prep though, mainly for shallow DOF

- 24mm to 135mm - and only the 135mm for picking off candid images during the drinks reception, and sometimes speeches again when restricted in positioning and movement - mainly 24mm & 85mm.
 
theurbanclown said:
35mm 1.4
50mm 1.4 (soon to be the 1.2)
85mm 1.8
135mm f2

(All Canon)
Click to expand...

I have the same set up plus 28mm 1.8 and to answer your questions:

1. fantastic, wide angle on one body telephoto on the other and you never need a zoom
2. No never, always try to anticipate what focal length I will need and use my legs to zoom in and out if neccessary.
3. answered above, but unlike Ben I would never get rid of my 135mm - that lens absolutely kicks ass.
 
mart77 said:
i should add on to this what lenses do you use as well!
Click to expand...

24mm f1.4 L
50mm f1.2 L
85mm f1.8
100mm macro (non L as it wasn't released at the time)
135mm f/2 L

All Canon.

I personally didn't want the 85mm f1.2L - it is much slower to focus than the 1.8, significantly larger and 8x the price. The 50mm f1.2 L is a much better lens than the f1.4 both in terms of contrast and quality with the 50mm 1.4 having a reputation for the AF failing with regularity.
 
I shoot with all primes + the 70-200 2.8 II. Although, to be honest, I could easily do without the 70-200 2.8, its just me being lazy and its nice to have it if for some reason you cant get to your kit bag for prolonged periods of time, and might need the versatility.

I could quite happily cover a wedding (and do regularly) with just primes

15
35
50
85
100
135

35 / 85 being the killer combo
 
I guess the question is if you are taking, and using, 6 primes at a wedding are you really better off than using two zooms which cover the focal lengths of those 6 lenses - and everything in between...with maybe a single 1.2/1.4 prime in the bag for very low light when an f2.8 won't cut it

;)
 
Shot all my wedding on primes because they were no good zoom about,but nowadays their are some great zoom about,but its always handy to have a couple of fast primes.

:)
 
simonblue said:
Shot all my wedding on primes because they were no good zoom about,but nowadays their are some great zoom about,but its always handy to have a couple of fast primes.

:)
Click to expand...

I still think that a couple of cheap-ish primes will have a better price to quality factor than most zooms, not to mention the extra stops of light to play with. That was my reasoning when I started out plus i just like using primes.
 
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