First wedding coming up - lens combo question?

redmonkee

redmonkee

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PHILIP
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Hi guys i've agreed to shoot a friends wedding in August this year. Now i've never shot one before so would appreciate some advice on which lenses i should use.

At the moment I have
2 x 1D3

135 F2L
17-40 F4L
35 1.4L
1.4XTC

Now my question is which lenses would you have fixed on each body? I don't want to be worrying about changing lenses so I figured i'd be best with the 135L on one body with the 35L on the other.

I want to stay away from the zoom due to it only being F4.

Do you think this combination would be enough to get most of the shots needed. By the way I know they should get a pro and I have advised them of this but they say they have no money and the only other option after me would be an uncle bob with a P&S :D

Any thoughts and advice are greatly appreciated :)

Phil
 
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135 on one, 35 on the other... 17-40 in your pocket for the occasional wide. And enjoy it :)
 
I shot a wedding a couple of months ago with 80% of the pictures taken using a 135/35 combination but with the 35 on a 5D body and the 135 on a 1dIII.

FWIW, I'm not sure 35 will be wide enough on your second 1DIII for lots of shots and the 17-40 is possibly too slow for indoor non-flash use.

My advice is to borrow or rent a 24-70 f2.8, better still, maybe, a 14 f2.8 or 5D I or II.

Just my 2p worth.
 
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Hi Philip

I really do not think that the 35 would be particularly good for group shots.

On a 1D3 I 've done a lot of these using a Siggy 15-30 at the 15 mm end. It depends on your style of shooting but I doubt you would be happy shooting groups at an equivalent of 45.5 mm FL. Maybe get some mates together and give it a try ? I like the shooting-down-on-a-cowd kind of image which requires the shorter FL.

the 17-40 will not go down in value any day soon so unless you need the cash I would suggest keeping it for this purpose.
 
You need zooms to shoot a wedding - or it gets harder work! 24-70 on one 70-200 on the other - anything else is a compromise.
 
Assuming you're getting paid for the wedding, I would ditch the 17-40 since f4.0 is a tad too slow and try to get a 16-35 secondhand or hire one. IMHO a 16-35 on a 1D3 is a wonderful combination for mingling among crowds. Your 35 on a 1D3 won't be wide enough for group shots unless you're shooting small groups. Remember that the FOV is equivalent to 45.5mm

My 2c


Good luck with the wedding

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I agree with the post above up to a point.

The 16-35 is ideal for groups on a x1.3 crop but making the most of what you have I think the 17-40 would be ok for outdoor group shots.

My best advice is to practice beforehand with friends/family to see for yourself. If necessary, the 16-35 can be hired at no huge cost or better still borrowed.

Best of luck.
 
you guys have to remember the mkIII has good ISO handling so it does not really matter whether he has a 17-40 lens.
you can't really use f2.8 if you are shooting a crowd or group as you wont be able to catch all of them sharp!
 
35 1.4 and 135 f2 all day long. Keep the zoom to hand, as a compromise, if you need to i.e if you can't back up enough during the ceremony

You won't need luck, just enjoy it

Regards

Danny
 
Hi guys, thanks for all your comments.

Now in terms of lens recommendations I will only be shooting this one wedding as a favour so I want to base my lens collection on what will suit me personally as opposed to what will suit a wedding shoot.

If I only had a 50mm lens they would get the whole wedding shot with that as I am their only option.

With the above in mind I am now thinking of the 24mm 1.4 II instead of the 35mm 1.4 (which I have on backorder)
Which do you think would be the best lens on a 1.3X crop for portraits and family shots indoors?
How does the bokeh performance of these two lenses match up?

If I'm starting a whole new debate I apologise and will pose the question in a separate thread.
 
Buy it and see - if you don't like it you can sell it to me cheap! :)
 
redmonkee said:
I'm now umming and arrring over the 24mm 1.4, do you think this would be wide enough on a 1.3X body for group shots?
Click to expand...

You've got a lens that covers 24mm so easiest way to check is to pop that lens on the body and set it to 24mm and check out the FOV and distances you are thinking for your group shots. Group shots are a bit of a piece of string really... how many people/how many rows to limit length of rows etc etc
You probably don't want to go much wider than 24mm though to prevent noticeable distortion. Times when FF helps I guess.
 
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