Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Hope everyone had a great long weekend, I know I had a blast. Anyways, long story short I did my first wedding shoot on labour day monday and found there are a few things my team and I can improve on.

I am an assistant to 2 photographers, aside from me lugging around equipments I act as a command centre constantly giving them advices and time reminder for any subsequent events. Two photographers are on the run on the floor constantly, it would be mad for me to join them and run around too so I sit at a fix spot and I text them with my cell phone.

Would a walkie-talkie system be ideal for this type of communication? It's easy to talk to each other, 3 way communication without interrupting or be an eye sore to the client and their party. Does anyone actually do this?

Second thing is, batteries! Aside from the batteries used in the camera body there's also the batteries used in the flashes. They take 4 AA batteries (2 x Canon EX 580 II) I find myself constantly looking for plugs on the wall for me to charge them. Does anyone know if there's a reliable gadget that can recharge these batteries without looking for them on walls? Something like a UPS system except portable and not too heavy and last throughout the day without charging?

Cheers,
Rick

congrats on getting through your first wedding!

As to the batteries, forget charging. That's too complicated to keep track of i say. Buy a bunch of Sanyo Eneloops, which hold their charge for a year, and just swap in fresh ones when the others are empty. You can even buy battery cases to hold multiple AAs so its easier to carry a stack of them.

Messing around with chargers and changing locations, etc. would be a nightmare and proper re-charging takes many hours anyway. the 15 minute charges wear out your batteries a lot faster.

Ditto.

Radios may work but use a headset as to not interrupt the vows

Sanyo Eneelope batteries, I have 5 sets of 4 and my second has similiar amount. We usually bring the charger in the car so if we do (rarely) has a break before the reception, we recharge whatever we can.

Walkie-Talkie. Never try it. will it have some kind of noise whenever one is talking to other 'Over?!' Probably won't work in a ceremony. Reception maybe ok.

I have several packs of eneloops too (sets of 4). but I actually ran out halfway through so we had to improvise, by improvise I mean I ran around and looked for an outlet lol.

Anyways, for the battery solution, I was just looking for alternate charging station just in case I run out of all sets. It really depends on the condition, this wedding gig we were doing in-theater reception so generally the audience area is fairly dim so flash was required so we used more batteries than usual.

As for the walkie-talkie solution, we will need to look for ones that uses headset for communication so we don't disturb people during their vows.

I agree with have charged Eneloops on hand. Personally, if I saw a photographer charging batteries on site I would think they weren't prepared properly.

well, i have seen portable battery charges that you don't have to plug in (ironically called Battery powered battery chargers). But in terms of efficiency, costs, speed, and professionalism, its just better to buy 4 more sets of Eneloops than to spend money on one of those.

Command centre? Walkie-talkies? Do you think you guys/gals were so hectic because it was your first time? Maybe once you establish a routine (and most weddings are pretty routine) you won't need to communicate so much?
I'm no pro but the only time I call or text the other photographer is when I'm about to re-join them from doing split coverage (ie. I would text to say that the bride is on the way to the church).

As for the flash/batteries, I would just get some more batteries and make sure they are charged before a job. I'm not sure how effective it would be the recharge them on-site since unless you get some of those quick charge batteries most others (like eneloops) takes maybe 8 or so hrs to fully charge.

If that's still not enough maybe you should get flash heads that plug in to the wall - but then you will need a light stand, remote triggers, and a wall to plug them into.



Battery powered battery chargers?? Most of these that I've seen take AA batteries and allow you to charge small non-AA battery powered devices like cell phones and ipods. Wouldn't make much sense to use something like this to charge another set of AA batteries! lol

I agree it's our first time working together, though the photographers have worked with each other in various occasions. I'm just thinking up ways to coordinate it better with ease of communication. Any moment your finger is off the camera and you are reading text from your phone is a moment that you might miss a good shot... I don't want to compromise that.

Each wedding is different, the schedule is always different. Why not let the photographers not worry about the schedule and let the assistant do the reminders.

Just thinking of ways to improve

what kinda wedding is it to require 3 people and constant time scheduling

I have known weddings with up to 5 independent shooters not counting assistants. Some people really do go BIG

All photographers, not videographers?

Wheres a good place to get the eneloops you speak of??

dell usually has them for sale

including currently! I am ordering mine right now. I can get 20 batteries with a charger for $79.07 with tax. compared to other times I have looked they are a lot cheaper as they are a current Dell Hot Dealz item

But now to properly add to the OP: I would also suggest the "buy more batteries" option because, as others have mentioned, the look of the photographer/assistant charging batteries on the go seems slightly unprepared. I keep like 3 times as many batteries as I assume I will need. That way you never run out. I also just keep a pack of cheapo batteries for items that do not require as much intensity (other accessories then flashes such as light meters, slaves, computer accessories, etc.

I would also say that the use of walkie-talkie's with headsets could be a useful item to have but not useful in all situations. If the need is present then sure, use them over cell phones but otherwise the cell use is ok.

Dell on sale or Costco.

thanks for everyone's input it looks like the general consensus is to just bring more batteries which I will do for sure in the future.

Now I will hunt for a good set of walkies and wish me luck on any future event shoots

Ditto on the extra batteries. For the speedlights, I have an external battery pack to speed up recharge times and can also work as a backup. Charging on the go is way too risky and as others pointed out, always carry twice as many batteries you think you may need and ALWAYS start with a fresh set of batteries in your speedlights as part of your setup routine. Ditto for camera batteries. This is where knowing your gear helps so you can gauge how much batteries you go through the more events you shoot.

As for walkie talkies, you may want to look for a set that supports ear-buds or earpiece to keep the hands free AND also one that does not always squelch when the talk button is depressed. A full-duplex one is probably best so you can chat like a regular phone without having to press a button to talk. Personally I find them cumbersome.

If you shoot with a regular partner, you begin to understand each other a bit better without always needing to communicate every few minutes. When I shoot, my bro-in-law and myself both have copies of the itinerary on hand and we normally communicate across a crowded room/church by simple hand signals. Rudimentary but very effective. We have a preset game plan. If there are any speeches, one of us will focus on the person speaking and the wedding party while the other focuses on the crowds' reactions. That helps minimize missing great reaction shots of parents crying/laughing etc. Again, quick glances at your shooting partner for any visual signals every so often keeps each other on the same page and reduces confusion.

It can be a lot of fun but weddings (esp ethnic ones) can make for a LONG, LONG tiring day.

Get at least 4 sets of batteries per photog.

Forget the walkies, I have GMRS units with headsets and they don't work well for weddings.

Whoops, I meant squawk not squelch... duh. lol

I have about 20 batteries and I don't really think it's enough. I always end up throwing some in a charger at the end of the night JUST in case. But yeah, it's definitely more professional not to have to do that.

As for Eneloops, they are a great battery for low discharge electronics such as wireless mice, keyboards and wiimotes or something. But they are 2000mah compared to the Duracell's I use that have 2650 mah. I don't really see why the ability for them to hold a charge for months at a time is important when we're putting them into a speedlight that will discharge them in a matter of hours.

Personally, I'd rather use 2650mah batteries and ensure i have them charged the night before the wedding. Besides, I'm WAY too paranoid to just presume that the eneloops I charged a few weeks/months back are still good to go, i'd still throw them in the charger, so they're not exactly saving me any charging time or hassle.

It's a good idea to have a few Eneloops around in the event that you have an unanticipated shoot and don't have time to charge batteries. But this isnt really the case for weddings.

I wonder what ISO everyone's shooting at?
I charge my batteries leading up to a wedding - that said, I usually, over an entire day unless I shoot at ISO200 all the time, use one set of 4 with a battery pack.

Since switching over to the NiZn batteries, I rarely have to switch out a set throughout an entire day of shooting (8-10 hours).

My style of shooting however may be (and likely is) different from most. I'm a lot less trigger happy and end up with a maximum of 1500 images over a 10-12 hour day.

Shooting at higher ISOs (especially with the newer cameras) means less wear/tear on the fill/main flash.

Cheers,
Dave

Do the NiZn batteries hold more at say 2700Mah? Or is it a faster recycle time?

I use walkie talkies and they help. No heavy usage but it helps for bigger venues where the team would be spread apart.

During ceremonies, we use hand signals for things like "cover me", "overheating" (Canon 7D on video...heat issues), "no shot, cover me quick!", "time check", "dolly shot"

AA batteries we use Powerex bought from the US Amazon. Duraloops are available from Shoppers drug mart and Best Buy, and they're great.

Text messages I find sometimes there's network delays, which suck. Google Talk or MSN works better for instant messaging.

For a new team, I guess its a learning curve but panic can be cured by better preparation and planning. I find communicating with the wedding planner/coordinator is best as they act as the time keeper of the day and typically know who is where and when.

As for portable power, we just use a power inverter in the car to top up if needed, but typically runs our MBP's.

We have a power bar to keep our battery packs charged for the 7Ds as we go through all 9 packs twice a day. We charge and top up as we set up for the reception, which typically weddings give an hour beforehand.

I believe both.
Definitely faster recycle time but I'm not positive about how much they hold.

I'm using SB900s on D700's.

I've only ever had one wedding in recent memory where I had to actually switch out batteries on the flash but that was because I was shooting a lot of it at ISO200.

Dave

Forget the walkie-talkies. Stick with texting and use vibrate, rather than an audible notification. It's far less obtrusive and won't have the family ready to throttle the lot of you, after the event is over.

Eneloops are good. A battery pack is better.

I hate shooting weddings.

Yep Eneloops are good, battery packs better, but then you can also use your Eneloops for anything else requiring AAs

I have a pair of Cobra microTalk GMRS radios with headsets, but I've used them on three weddings, and ditched them after that. No, you can't have them because I still bring them with me when camping where they are actually useful.

I know of relatively few wedding photography teams that use and like their walkie-talkies. For me, I hated having something stuck in my ear the entire day, and it also meant a cord dangling between my face and my belt, which is just something else that gets in the way or gets tangled up with a camera strap, etc. I also found it difficult to listen to a conversation in many circumstances, just because of ambient noise and because my attention is (rightfully) focused elsewhere. Nothing like working on a nice intimate shot of the B&G, only to be suddenly interrupted by someone squawking in your ear.

Personally, my philosophy is to be better prepared to lessen the need for long-distance communication. Commit the schedule to memory, and keep a paper copy on you if you need to show someone else. Learn and remember people's names. Have a plan of attack so you can work more or less independently of each other.

But the walkie-talkies may work well in your situation. I don't know if you can rent units to try, but I bought my Cobras at Canadian Tire a few years ago for about $60 per pair. These look identical to mine, except they have removable lithium ion battery packs. You don't have to worry about them going dead after sitting in a drawer for a few weeks:

http://tinyurl.com/27dm94l


As others have said, there is no point in going this route. You're just proposing that you buy a bigger battery to recharge a bunch of smaller batteries. Just buy more batteries to begin with! You should never go into a wedding with too few memory cards (forcing you to back them up and reformat), and the same applies to batteries.

Eneloops NiMH and Powergenix NiZn AAs are about $4 a piece worst case, so they are likely the cheapest bit of gear you'll need. Don't be a cheap-ass by skimping on them. I generally only need to switch out AAs once per flash (two SB-900s and one SB-600) at a wedding, but I'll bring an additional change of batteries just in case. In total, that's 12 AAs in the speedlites, and 24 more AAs waiting in the bag. I have a bunch of those 8 AA holders from my various Thomas Distributing orders, and three of those don't take up very much room. I have about 64 AAs in rotation.

One's shooting style will also affect battery usage. I have no problems shooting at ISO 1600 and 3200 at f/2.8 with my D700's during receptions. I know some folks who keep things around ISO 400 and f/5.6 the entire time, and wonder why they are constantly swapping batteries and getting crappy recycle times even with an external battery pack.