Best camera/lens combo for wedding photography

Rooster

Rooster

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John
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Hi there,

I've been shooting weddings part-time for about 18 months now. I use a Canon 5d mk II with Canon 24-70 L and 70-200 L (non-IS) lenses. I've been having a bit of trouble using the 70-200 in the churches and registry offices, the focusing is a bit off and I've missed some good shots because of it. I use just the central focus point and then recompose the shot. It struggles a bit with artificial lighting at f/4, my usual aperture in that situation. I'm thinking of getting a Canon 7D for the 70-200 and stick to the 5d 2 for the wider shots (many in natural light). Or maybe I'll just get a do-it-all 18-200 lens for the 7D and stick with that. Any thoughts?
 
Rooster said:
Hi there,

I've been shooting weddings part-time for about 18 months now. I use a Canon 5d mk II with Canon 24-70 L and 70-200 L (non-IS) lenses. I've been having a bit of trouble using the 70-200 in the churches and registry offices, the focusing is a bit off and I've missed some good shots because of it. I use just the central focus point and then recompose the shot. It struggles a bit with artificial lighting at f/4, my usual aperture in that situation. I'm thinking of getting a Canon 7D for the 70-200 and stick to the 5d 2 for the wider shots (many in natural light). Or maybe I'll just get a do-it-all 18-200 lens for the 7D and stick with that. Any thoughts?
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Why not invest a bit of time (which will save you £££'s) into your techniques such as manual focusing, focus recomposing etc. instead? I shoot two 5DMkii's usually wide open (f/1.4-f/2), and when I know auto focus won't cut it or I just need to, I switch to manual focus with no problems.
You have decent kit (used by some of the top professionals the world over) to do a great job but all the new cameras and lenses in the world won't make you a better photographer.
 
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I'd say if you're sticking with Canon, there's nothing wrong with your kit. Awesome wedding photos have been shot on that kit and millions on far inferior kit.

There'll be an improvement in AF performance and low light performance if you bought a mkIII, but it's far from a necessity. And a super zoom on a 7d is the opposite to an improvement, in fact it's difficult to think of a worse suggestion.

What's your current backup body?
 
Is the 70/200 f4 of f2.8 and are you sure its oof or is it camera shake, the 70/200 on a 5d2 should be getting focus even in low(ish) light, selecting f4 aperture has no effect on achieving focus its the lens' ability to get focus not the aperture you select. If its an f4 it might struggle a bit and a f2.8 might be better but if you're using a low shutter speed its more likely camera shake, especially as you don't have IS. Nothing at all wrong with the camera and I think you might be disappointed with the picture quality (especially in low light) if you use a 7d. The 6D would be better than the 7d but I'd look at your technique first.
Matt
 
More likely to be camera shake with the non-IS 70-200 than focus issues, I had a non-stabilized Nikon 80-200 2.8 before my 70-200 VR and the difference is night and day, couldn't imagine using a non-stabilized lens of that length in low light, you can get sharp people shots at 1/60th routinely with the stabilization.
 
Phil V said:
I'd say if you're sticking with Canon, there's nothing wrong with your kit. Awesome wedding photos have been shot on that kit and millions on far inferior kit.

There'll be an improvement in AF performance and low light performance if you bought a mkIII, but it's far from a necessity. And a super zoom on a 7d is the opposite to an improvement, in fact it's difficult to think of a worse suggestion.

What's your current backup body?
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I don't actually have a backup body so that's why I'm thinking of a 7D, might as well get a backup which will be in use rather than in the boot of the car. I usually have a mate as a second shooter too.
 
jpw said:
More likely to be camera shake with the non-IS 70-200 than focus issues, I had a non-stabilized Nikon 80-200 2.8 before my 70-200 VR and the difference is night and day, couldn't imagine using a non-stabilized lens of that length in low light, you can get sharp people shots at 1/60th routinely with the stabilization.
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Yes, I was wondering if it was just camera-shake but it's a big, big price increase for IS for the 70-200 f/2.8. I'm just jacking the ISO up.
 
Rooster said:
Yes, I was wondering if it was just camera-shake but it's a big, big price increase for IS for the 70-200 f/2.8. I'm just jacking the ISO up.
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It's not usually too hard to spot the difference between missed focus and camera shake if you look at enough examples. Camera shake will be affect the whole frame, whereas missed focus will show generally show areas of sharp focus somewhere within the frame. Without narrowing down the problem, it's unlikely you'll hit on the right solution.
 
Rooster said:
I don't actually have a backup body so that's why I'm thinking of a 7D, might as well get a backup which will be in use rather than in the boot of the car. I usually have a mate as a second shooter too.
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Sorry it wasn't clear you didn't have a backup. Of course you absolutely need a 2nd body, but a super zoom is still the least useful lens to take to a wedding.

They're slow and inferior, a much better option would be to put a fast prime on a 2nd body, although there's a school of thought that says if you're carrying your 2nd body it's not 'spare'.
 
Personally I would not bother with the 7D and instead get another 5D2.
Lens wise there are some very good deals to be had on the Mk1 70-200mm L IS in the used market. You loose a touch of overall sharpness the a couple of stops of IS are a huge bonus. Alternatively the Newest Sigma & Tamron 70-200mm OS lenses are getting some blazing reviews.
 
A quick and cheap solution for the focussing problem would be to grab an ST-E2 and use the focus assist feature.

Bob
 
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