An Obsession With Kit

CaptainPenguin

CaptainPenguin

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Nigel Cliff
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Just got my wrists slapped (Maybe desrvedly) with a post to another thread relating to kit carried by Weddfing Togs but it got me thinking.

Back in the film days I did weddings with a Medium Format camera plus standard and wideangle lens and today I use 17-35 24-85 and very occasionally a 70-210 zoom.And yet many photographers here seem to turn up with half of Jessops stock with many lenses with verlapping zoom ranges.

I just wonder why
 
they don't make them like they used to :)



the best wedding togger I've seen up close, traditional sort of stuff, just used 3 prime lenses on his medium format camera
probably took 50 shots in the day. and old pro. very nice chap too. in the age of digital bits and bobs people expect more, rapid fire gung ho photography...equally though the opporunity to take more photos is there too
the pro left a wedding I went to by the time the meal started, so I took some nice candids of the dinner/speech etc.
very well received by the family
 
Me and my wife have shot two weddings so far - and only used 3 lenses between us (17-40, 24-105 and 70-200).

I tend to stick with the 70-200 on my 5D mk2 and swap to the 17-40 when we need wide angle shots.

The wife shoots primarily with the 24-105 on a 30D (ocassionally taking the 70-200 for long candids)

We do have a 100mm 2.8 macro and a nifty 50 in the bag just in case - but havent had call to use these yet.

Aside from a flash unit each, a tripod for longer exposures and the usual complement of cards and batteries - thats pretty much it.

I do have flash stands, brolleys, radio triggers etc - but havent had call to use them yet.
 
CaptainPenguin said:
Back in the film days I did weddings with a Medium Format camera plus standard and wideangle lens and today I use 17-35 24-85 and
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sigh..

Are you driving the same car and wearing the same clothes as you did in film days?

Welcome to 2009 :)
 
KIPAX said:
sigh..

Are you driving the same car and wearing the same clothes as you did in film days?

Welcome to 2009 :)
Click to expand...

I did say that today I use the 3 zooms the question I asked is the large ammount of kit with overlapping zoom ranges some people use,I am not critisising just want to know why.
 
CaptainPenguin said:
I did say that today I use the 3 zooms the question I asked is the large ammount of kit with overlapping zoom ranges some people use,I am not critisising just want to know why.
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I don't carrry overlapping zoom ranges, but do carry some primes which are duplicated by my zooms.

Two bodies incase one fails/gets stolen whatever else. Two flashes for the same reason.

and twice the memory, batteries etc as I think I'll need because running out of either is just unthinkable now days

Hugh
 
I think there are 2 reasons

1) customer expectations have moved on quite a way - they want a whole lot more than they used to

2) wedding togs are understandably wanting to minimise the impacts of a single item becoming unusable (theft, mechanical gremlins or whatever) - I think this is even more concerning given the increase in litigation and the 24hour media with world wide coverage and very accessible archives where even a relatively small dispute over wedding photos (c.f. the NI wedding tog case) gets your business name plastered over the news and a simple google search for the person's name brings up the bad press.
 
CaptainPenguin said:
Back in the film days I did weddings with a Medium Format camera plus standard and wideangle lens and today I use 17-35 24-85 and very occasionally a 70-210 zoom.And yet many photographers here seem to turn up with half of Jessops stock with many lenses with verlapping zoom ranges.

I just wonder why
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Maybe they are just envious that you carry skill in your kit bag instead of glass and plastic.
 
Can you ever have too much kit?

b8bf42bd.jpg
 
i would guess it would be for backup purposes. Or pick the lens best for the job, 17-40 and 24-70 overlap, but if there isnt enough space for 70mm then the 17-40 might be better. Each to there own though i suppose.
 
You need the kit for the job, back-up for much/all of it and the odd quirky bit too for effect

Some venues require wide open lenses as they are so bloody dark, hence 35mm, 50mm or 85mm all f1.8 are a must

Some are so cramped you need something wide, hence my 'usual' kits starts at 12mm

Candid style requires longer length usually, hence the 70-200mm

And for a bit of fun/effect at times I use a 10.5mm

Typical day though...

Preparations - 85mm, 12-24 & a macro

Ceremony (if not too dark) 18-70mm if I can stand in front, but with churches it's often 12-24 & 70-200 from the back :(

Afternoon - 18-70 & 85

Evening & candids - either the 85 or 70-200 and a wide boy for up close too

So it's not really about having loads of gear all the time, just having a good range to pick from for the job in hand :)

DD
 
agree with diddydave (must be because I'm originally from south yorkshire)

I have 16-35 for wide, 24-70 for majority, 70-200 for longer distance, 28-300 to cover everything if it's bright enough and still have 50mm 1.4 and 100mm f2.

they nearly all get used over the course of a couple of weddings, although yesterday I only used the 50mm and 24-70.

then again my assistant also needs lenses, so split that little lot between two of us and it isn't that much kit
 
Moonhawk said:
Me and my wife have shot two weddings so far - and only used 3 lenses between us (17-40, 24-105 and 70-200).

I tend to stick with the 70-200 on my 5D mk2 and swap to the 17-40 when we need wide angle shots.

The wife shoots primarily with the 24-105 on a 30D (ocassionally taking the 70-200 for long candids)

We do have a 100mm 2.8 macro and a nifty 50 in the bag just in case - but havent had call to use these yet.

Aside from a flash unit each, a tripod for longer exposures and the usual complement of cards and batteries - thats pretty much it.

I do have flash stands, brolleys, radio triggers etc - but havent had call to use them yet.
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very similar to my set up, including the wife! I shoot ff and she shoots cropped.
 
I think its called lens disease. When your like a kid in a candy store, and want to buy every lens you see. It seems to only effect us digital boys and girls.
You kid yourself into thinking that it will improve your photography, that your next lens purchase will be the one to finally turn you into the next world famous photography. But just as buying a Fender SRV Lenny Tribute Guitar (RRP £14,000) isn't going to turn you into The Edge from ** over night, So spending £20,000 on a Hasselblad H3DII isn't going to improve your shots that much if you know nothing about photography.

The good news (so I'm told) is that, in most cases, lens disease only lasts for a few years, until you decide which lens is your favourite, and use only that one for the next decade, while the others just gather dust in a cupboard somewhere.
 
Just to add...

Diddydave makes a good point, you need the right kit for the job, but you also need to know what job you want to do!

For example, Andreas H. Bitesnich does studio photography, he has no interest in macro photography, no interest in sports photography, no interest in landscape photography etc. As a result he uses a small amount of kit. The same can be said for David Bailey.

Most of the people you see with loads of different lenses are still experimenting with their photography. It may take years for them to work out what type of photography they want to do, at which point their kit will shrink as they sell of the equipment that they no longer have any use for.
 
I got a book in the mid 70's (still got it) called 'Independent Photography - a biased guide to 35mm technique and equipement' by Robert Foothorap, and the cover was a picture of a pile of well used Nikon's and lenses. As a photographic mad teenager I used to fantasise that if I had all that I too would be a fantastic photographer.

35 years later I prefer to use as little, small and as light equipment as I can. :D
 
I did my first wedding last weekend (non-paid mind) and I exclusively used the Canon 17-55IS on a crop body. I could have done with something a bit longer, but only a few times did I feel a bit restricted.
 
I don't shoot weddings, or people as a rule, but I think we have just got used to using zooms. They're convenient, readily available, and the good ones are very good indeed, but they weren't nearly so common back in the glory days of film. I'm old enough to remember when a lot of pros used medium format SLRs and TLRs for weddings, but I think many of them would have jumped at the chance to use what we take for granted now.

There's a similar debate about whether the old school would have approved of post processing on the computer, or cursed it as a blight on "purist" photography. Well, we don't know, because it wasn't available then, but they did do plenty of darkroom manipulation and I'm quite certain they would have embraced CS4!
 
I cant say i'm obsessed with kit but i'm obsessed with getting the best image I can for myself or my clients, if this means i use the best kit, then i do.
 
SimonTALM said:
I think there are 2 reasons

1) customer expectations have moved on quite a way - they want a whole lot more than they used to

2) wedding togs are understandably wanting to minimise the impacts of a single item becoming unusable (theft, mechanical gremlins or whatever) - I think this is even more concerning given the increase in litigation and the 24hour media with world wide coverage and very accessible archives where even a relatively small dispute over wedding photos (c.f. the NI wedding tog case) gets your business name plastered over the news and a simple google search for the person's name brings up the bad press.
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I think this hits the nail on the head really. I would like to think that by the time you have got to the point where you are charging the going rate and have a good portfolio and reputation in order to win the business that 'showing off' by turning up with half of jessops is at that point way beneath you. :thinking:

Anyway. :D

If I was to pay the going rate for a wedding photographer I would exepct no excuses regarding equipment and would expect him to be taking pics of everything and everyone, becuase in the digital age if he ends up with a couple of thousand images it hasnt cost him anything extra other than a bit of time to sort out the best for selection.

My 2p.
 
Scouttrooper said:
Most of the people you see with loads of different lenses are still experimenting with their photography. It may take years for them to work out what type of photography they want to do, at which point their kit will shrink as they sell of the equipment that they no longer have any use for.
Click to expand...

Think it depends on the type of photography. I specialise in outdoor/nature photography which means I need coverage from 24mm to 700mm
 
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