Advice on my set up

[ChrisMClark]

A friend of mine is getting married in September, and he mentioned in passing to his tog that he has a good friend who likes togging (me!) and the tog was good enough to offer me a second shooter slot. I'm still not sure if weddings are something I'd ever want to take on, but experience is experience and if nothing else it'll help my low-light and candid shooting. My question is where to go with my setup next. I'm hoping that by the time of wedding I should have between £800 (realistic) to £1200 (best case scenario). I currently have a D40 gripped body, 18-55 3.5-5.6, 55-200 4-5.6, a flashgun with trigger. I know I'm going to need a new lens for this, so I'm not ruling out selling one of my 2 kit lenses; while they're not worth much very little helps, right? So I'm open to suggestions. At the minute I'm thinking of a second body (2nd hand D200 or new S5, jusry's still out on which) and a new lens with any cash left over.


So please, any help would be much appreciated.

 

[SPS]

A second body is a must if your doing wedding photography - trust me... I dropped one at the back of Westminster Abbey.... was relieved I had a back up to carry on with.

I would also recomend a lower F lens for low-light work - I have a F2.8 70 - 200 for reportage low-light - great shots with that.

 

[Flash In The Pan]

S5 Pro over a D200 any day of the week, but hurry if you want a new one there aren't many left

I'd be tempted to flog the D40 and the lenses you already have and take this as an opportunity to move your whole kit up a notch, at the very least you need new glass. Assuming you have £1200 plus your kit lenses to sell, you should have £1300 or so to play with - an S5 will be £500 of that, which leaves you a bit limited as to which lenses to go for, especially if they also have to work on the D40.

You should be able to get something like a nice Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 and a later Tamron 17-50 with the motor for the remainder of your budget, which would give you a lens for each body...

 

[seriousrikk]

Is this just a one off or do you have a strange desire to do more weddings?

I think the answer to that will determine how you proceed.

A second body is a must if your doing wedding photography - trust me... I dropped one at the back of Westminster Abbey.... was relieved I had a back up to carry on with.

I would also recomend a lower F lens for low-light work - I have a F2.8 70 - 200 for reportage low-light - great shots with that.

Agree about the fast lens, but a second unpaid shooter does not need a second body at all.

 

[snapzz]

My advice is if you are going for a second body then get the same. Set both up identically and you shouldnt have any problems. Get a diferent body/make your not familiar with and you may spend half the wedding RTFM to find how to change a setting.

 

[david1701]

surely if your second shooting a second body isn't such a must as redundancy is less of a big deal

for canon I would recomend a pair of fast primes but you lose AF on a d40...... or maybe a fast standard zoom and like a 200 f2.8L (just fits in budget at a push)

 

[HoppyUK]

Is this just a one off or do you have a strange desire to do more weddings?

I think the answer to that will determine how you proceed.


Agree about the fast lens, but a second unpaid shooter does not need a second body at all.

^^^ Agree with Richard.

If you're doing it to help out and for a bit of fun, there's nothing majorly wrong with the kit you've got.

But if you have bigger ambitions, that's a whole different story. A wedding photographer needs a lot of quality, reliable kit, even if they don't use it all every time. See this link - so much gear he can't carry it http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=1550146#post1550146

 

[ChrisMClark]

Weddings aren't something I've totally ruled out, but it's not something I'll be starting for some time, I want to make sure I've spent the time building my kit up, along with my portfolio and all-important experience! A lot of the shooting I do at work can be likened to shooting a wedding: low light, restrictions on flash, large groups, unpredictable weather etc, so I've no real problem buying gear that's more specialised for that, most of what I enjoy shooting is portraiture anyway. A second body is very attractive, and has been for a while (see many threads I've started ) mostly because I hate swapping and changing lenses, and I'd want an upgrade from my D40 anyway. A second hand D200 would cost around £500, which realisticly leaves me around £500 for a new lens. Any ideas? Fast with a fair zoom range on it? Something like this?

 

[HoppyUK]

If you're serious about weddings and other commercial work, you should think about full frame. I'm not saying you should go there, but others might and if you have big investment in crop format you will invest yourself into an expensive corner, if you see what I mean.

Basic wedding kit would be a D700 and 24-70 2.8. If you stay crop, then D300 and 17-55 2.8. With an eye to the future, good lenses should be the first thing on your list. Quality gear always holds its value.

 

[sdb123]

As it's a 'one-off' atm I'd consider hiring the more 'exotic' lenses to enable the shots you want on the day. That way you could either stick with your D40 or splash out on a new body in the meantime.