Wedding Lens

collins82002

collins82002

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251
Name
chris
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi all,
I have been asked by a friend to shoot some photo's for there wedding as they are on a tight budget and cant afford a pro phographer. I know i'll do alright with what i've got but I am just a little curious to what lens to get if any.

I already have:
18-55mm
35-70mm
70-300mm

Would a flashgun be recommended?? As its in a registry office not a church and the evening venue at a pub stroke hotel.

Thanks
 
yes, id definitely get a flash and possibly a prime too?

think argos were doing the sony 42 flash for £130 recently...
 
Flash is a must, as is plenty of practice with it before the big day! A fast lens would help you too....Sony's 50mm f1.8 or minoltas 50mm f1.7 (y)
 
Register offices can have VERY poor lighting and some registrars won't allow the use of flash, so I'd check on that first otherwise you could have a very tough day. I had a nightmare room to deal with on Saturday, even with a 24-70 2.8 I had to shoot at 2500 ISO to get a decent shutter speed without flash.
 
You might want to look for some gels for that flash too for what they cost. Maybe see if the office will let you nip in for 5 minutes to see what it's like beforehand?
 
iv found that religious ceremonies dont like the use of flash but civil ones do? maybe thats just my (limited) experience.

whatever you get, make sure you know how to work your camera inside out because its a tough day!
 
Can't help you on that front chris, as i'm not sure, but do a search on here for budget flash guns, but i'm sure i saw that jessops or yongnuo(?) ones are quite good........they'll be better than the on-camera flash anyways! ;)
 
as long as they swivel then they shall be fine, the great thing about the sony 58 flash is it rotates so when shooting in portrait mode you can reposition it properly!
 
Make sure that the couple are under no illusion of what may go wrong, not what you hope to acheive.
For example a malfunction of the equipment means that part of their day has no coverage.
If everything goes well for you and i hope it does, they will be really happy and probably so will you. Just don't fill them with false hope and ruin it for them.
 
collins82002 said:
Is the jessops 360 AFD worth the money/quality as my budget is tight at the moment to and dont wanna be out of pocket.
:thinking:
Click to expand...

Cheap and cheerful....built to work straight out of the box, rather than to last you for years and years! ;)

It should have enough power to do the job, it definitely tilts for bouncing, and I think it swivels but I can't remember for sure....:thinking: If you can stretch to it, you should definitely go for one of these: http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/s...gId=1500002451&langId=-1&productId=1500801603 Serious bargain at that price.....(y)
 
33L said:
Make sure that the couple are under no illusion of what may go wrong, not what you hope to acheive.
For example a malfunction of the equipment means that part of their day has no coverage.
If everything goes well for you and i hope it does, they will be really happy and probably so will you. Just don't fill them with false hope and ruin it for them.
Click to expand...

The couple do know that im not a pro and there happy with that because they were going to just get guests to point and shoot and then make an album up like that. I said i'll do what i can cause already there getting more than they were gonna get.:clap::clap:
 
onefunkypenguin said:
as long as they swivel then they shall be fine, the great thing about the sony 58 flash is it rotates so when shooting in portrait mode you can reposition it properly!
Click to expand...

This is the spec for the jessops 360AFD.... C&C welcome

•Guide number 36m/ISO 100
•Bounce and swivel adjustment
•Built in diffuser and reflector
•Backlit LCD display
•Autofocus assist light
•Auto/manual Powerzoom settings
•24/28/35/50/70/85mm Head Settings
•5 Level power ratio : 1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16
•Trigger Voltage : 6V
•Requires 4 x AA batteries
 
collins82002 said:
Is the jessops 360 AFD worth the money/quality as my budget is tight at the moment to and dont wanna be out of pocket.
:thinking:
Click to expand...

I'm very pleased with mine, I think the only things it lacks compared to the Canon 430EX11 are build quality and recycle time (and it is slightly less powerful, but i've never found it lacking). If you just leave a few seconds between shots the recycle time is fine and as an amateur I'm happy with the build quality.
 
At my registry office wedding early this year they would not allow ANY shots taken during the service, did nt want any noise, but were happy for us to restage things afterwards and do what we liked including flash so do check beforehand, they are very helpful and want the day to go well.
I shot the second half of my daughters wedding last month, not a church wedding but in an old manour house, and again no flash during the service. The pro used a D3 and 24-70 f2.8 presumably at highish iso. with no flash during the service.
My own shots at the reception and party after were all done with an SB600 flash with a stofen type plastic diffuser, with the head vertical to bounce most of the light off the walls and ceiling, worked pretty well, no harsh shadows that way. No way could I have managed without a flash, very very necessary in my opinion.
I also found my Tamron 12-24 f4 useful for the disco part, I used a Nikon 18-200 for the rest as I only had one camera body with me and did nt want to keep changing lenses. Oh and I shot everything at 800iso on my D90 so the flash was nt firing at full power so recycled quickly, still missed a couple of shots though through it not having recharged quickly enough as the batteries tired so also take spare batteries and swap over well before they are exhausted, I left it a bit late.
Theres about 100 unprocessed jpeg shots on my website(below) if you want a look, and you can get some posing ideas as well. These are only of the second half of the wedding though as I was giving her away in the first half.
 
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All i know as yet untill thursday when i have a meeting with the couple is that im on the list at the registry office to take pictures and no one else in the premises and classed as the photographer which has pleased me as being some what important.:clap: Having a meeting to decide what photos they want with who's who etc etc.
 
collins82002 said:
Hi Luke,
I will ask the couple if they want a second photographer. what lenses you got?? Any for sale??
Click to expand...

Just be warned that a second shooter at a smallish wedding is not always a good thing. It can make the photography quite intrusive and change the way people act towards the camera.

In terms of what to buy, I concur with a flash unit and a fast 50mm. I could happily shoot a whole wedding on a 50mm if needs be.
 
Foggy said:
Just be warned that a second shooter at a smallish wedding is not always a good thing. It can make the photography quite intrusive and change the way people act towards the camera.
Click to expand...

I can see what you're saying, but if the second shooter has any common sense or respect for the primary tog, this should never be an issue. I certainly wouldn't let anyone just turn up and start filling their memory cards as 'official' second shooter, without knowing them!
 
collins82002 said:
The couple do know that im not a pro and there happy with that because they were going to just get guests to point and shoot and then make an album up like that. I said i'll do what i can cause already there getting more than they were gonna get.:clap::clap:
Click to expand...

That would normally be fine, but you've said they've insisted on paying £150 towards a lens, so they WILL expect results regardless of what they say. The fact money has now been brought into the equation means you're under a bit more pressure to get the shots, especially if you've told them this lens is required to get the best results.
 
Foggy said:
Just be warned that a second shooter at a smallish wedding is not always a good thing. It can make the photography quite intrusive and change the way people act towards the camera.

In terms of what to buy, I concur with a flash unit and a fast 50mm. I could happily shoot a whole wedding on a 50mm if needs be.
Click to expand...

hi Foggy,
The flash and 50mm is the route im going down. As its only a registry office and small reception i think it would be a little crowded with two photographers and change the way people act. Luke i will find another opportunity for you to tag along and do a shoot sorry.
 
collins82002 said:
hi Foggy,
The flash and 50mm is the route im going down. As its only a registry office and small reception i think it would be a little crowded with two photographers and change the way people act. Luke i will find another opportunity for you to tag along and do a shoot sorry.
Click to expand...

hey yeah no problems, it would have probably been pointless me going anyway if its a small wedding because there's only a few people needed to be photographed, hope it goes well:)
 
Dman said:
That would normally be fine, but you've said they've insisted on paying £150 towards a lens, so they WILL expect results regardless of what they say. The fact money has now been brought into the equation means you're under a bit more pressure to get the shots, especially if you've told them this lens is required to get the best results.
Click to expand...

I did not state that the lens would be required to get good results. They offered money after several refusals so i said i'd like a new lens costing xxxxx amount instead of blowing the money else where....

They agreed and ive told them several times and i'll tell them again when we meet on Thursday that i'm not a pro only an ameteur and i'll do what i can to make good out of what ive got..
 
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