second shooting at weddings, help me spend £1000

lexie

lexie

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keith
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i've been asked to do some regular second shooting with a photographer friend(second wedding together coming up next weekend), and i know i need to sort out my kit bag preferably before that wedding comes round or very soon afterwards.

my current kit list comprises of a gripped canon 30d, canon 50mm/1.8, sigma 24-70mm/2.8 and a cheap jessops flash. i'll have about £1000 to spend on additional kit, hopefully keeping this as a maximum limit to keep my better half happy.

i've looked before at the canon 5d 'classsic' and now might be the time to pick one up, althought there are none in the classifieds at the minute. harrison cameras have one for £700 i decent looking condition which is tempting. the handling seems to be almost identical to the 30d so there shouldn't be any problems getting used to a new layout and i could get stuck in straight away. obviously a 5d mk2 would be the ideal upgrade but funds won't permit that at this point.

the only concern i have is about the mirror problem, am i right in thinking that canon will repair/replace this free of charge?

i've considered the 40d and 50d as well but i want to give fullframe a go, so unless someone can come up with a compelling reason to opt for either of these i think i'm settled on the 5d.

that'll leave me about £300 for a lens to go along with the new body. the 85mm/1.8 is looking good because of it's wide aperture, and the fact it can be used as a portrait lens on the 5d and on the 30d the crop factor will give that bit more reach. it's also just borderline on budget if i buy new, under budget if i go second hand.

the only other lens i could come up with was a second hand 70-200mm/f4 L, but what it gains in reach it loses in speed. it's also going to run me around £400 used so it'll be over budget.
i think i would rather wait and just get the f/2.8 vesion when the funds permit that make do with the f/4, as much as it's a great lens it won't be at its best in a dark church.

i think i have my mind made up on this matter, but any input into this will be greatly appreciated and any other recommendations on kit will be taken on board. i'm bound to have missed something obvious here lol
 
When I read the title I immediately thought of the 5D and 85mm f1.8 and you confirmed that in your message, excellent combination in view of your budget.

I had a sigma 24-70 and it was an excellent lens.

The only thing that concerns me is the flash. Just because it's cheap it doesn't mean it wont do the job. How effective is it?
 
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I've had a 20D for years and recently got a 5D. The handling is exactly the same and you wont even have to read the manual. As far as I know Canon will do the mirror fix on any 5D but you should be able to find out if it's been done as I'm sure (I think...) that the fix involved fitting some corner fixings to the mirror so it should be relatively easy to check.

I got a Siggy 85mm f1.4 for mine but the Canon f1.8 would seen a good match or how about a Samyang 85mm f1.4? Manual focus but cheap and IQ seems rather good.
 
footman said:
When I read the title I immediately thought of the 5D and 85mm f1.8 and you confirmed that in your message, excellent combination in view of your budget.

I had a sigma 24-70 and it was an excellent lens.

The only thing that concerns me is the flash. Just because it's cheap it doesn't mean it wont do the job. How effective is it?
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thanks for the positive comments laurence, the flash isn't too bad but is a prime candidate for upgrading further down the line. at present i only use it occaisionally, so if i find myself using it more and more because of the wedding work that upgrade will be brought forward quite rapidly.
 
woof woof said:
I've had a 20D for years and recently got a 5D. The handling is exactly the same and you wont even have to read the manual. As far as I know Canon will do the mirror fix on any 5D but you should be able to find out if it's been done as I'm sure (I think...) that the fix involved fitting some corner fixings to the mirror so it should be relatively easy to check.

I got a Siggy 85mm f1.4 for mine but the Canon f1.8 would seen a good match or how about a Samyang 85mm f1.4? Manual focus but cheap and IQ seems rather good.
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i had already seen your posts in the 5d classic thread alan, and read them all with interest because of the similarity between the 20d and 30d. i don't know if i would trust myself with an mf only lens for a wedding to be honest, i have a couple of old m42 fit drimes that i'm looking forward to using on FF though.

out of interest does the 5d use the same batteries as the 20/30d? i think i remember reading that somewhere before and if it's true it's a serious bonus.
 
lexie said:
i had already seen your posts in the 5d classic thread alan, and read them all with interest because of the similarity between the 20d and 30d. i don't know if i would trust myself with an mf only lens for a wedding to be honest, i have a couple of old m42 fit drimes that i'm looking forward to using on FF though.

out of interest does the 5d use the same batteries as the 20/30d? i think i remember reading that somewhere before and if it's true it's a serious bonus.
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Yeah it does use the same batteries
 
Diadem said:
Did you have a look at the sigma 70-200 2.8?
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yeah i did consider it but i find myself shooting at quite close quarters(perhaps because i don't have any thing with a longer range?) and the 85mm on a FF produces 135mm on a crop, so decent range for candids plus the faster aperture for the low light situations in church etc.

if i find that i do need something longer the sigma 70-200mm/2.8 will be a serious contender though. i've read some great reviews from users on here to make it worth consideration given the price difference between it and the canon version.
 
IF you do want a 85mm on the cheap, i can't recommend the Samyang 85mm Enough, it truly is an amazing len's. MF isn't that hard to get your head around either :) I don't find it too challenging on my Nikon
 
I may well be selling my 5D classic with grip and spare batterys plus a Sigma 24-70mm EX Dg f 2.8 lens shortly It's in good condition
The whole kit will be just under the £1,000 Just depends if the deal i have going on a 1ds mk 3 goes through so keep a eye on the Classifieds
Regards
Richard
 
lost said:
I may well be selling my 5D classic with grip and spare batterys plus a Sigma 24-70mm EX Dg f 2.8 lens shortly It's in good condition
The whole kit will be just under the £1,000 Just depends if the deal i have going on a 1ds mk 3 goes through so keep a eye on the Classifieds
Regards
Richard
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i already have the sigma you are selling, but i may be interested in the body if you are going to be splitting. i'll keep an eye on the classifieds and good luck with the 1ds 3 dude
 
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