Toronto Photography Meetup Group

sounds like you need both in order to have the equipment you need to make money shooting... if you're confident in your abilities, take out a small loan or put it on your credit card... one wedding shoot should cover the expense of both...

I am under the same consideration. However, I do not have any gigs lined up.

From your paths above, I think getting a new body is your best best. Lenses are cheaper to rent, you might even be able to borrow one from someone. A better body will be able to shot at higher ISO with less noise so you shouldn't need so fast a lens. And not processing every photo to reduce noise means less time in from of the computer and more time in front of the camera making money to buy a better lens. I believe the 40D also has great autofocus in lower light too, which could equal more shots in total and with higher usable ISO more shots that turn out.

I hope that helps.

I would get the lens first, this is what will make or break your shot. It'll also be the best investment you'll make. Bodies comes and goes, by getting the 40D first, you'll still have crapy shots with the current lens you're using.

So you'll have to PP all the indoor pics you take, hey no pain, no gain. Besides you can automate the process if your sets of pics have the same settings.

I've seen some great pictures come from the XTi with quality lens from the Canon forums. Just my $.02 but I am still using an 8yr old Nikon for most of my shots and a 3yr old as back up.

Depends - what lenses do you currently own right now?

A 24-70 is just a bit too long to be your only lens for a wedding. Have you considered 17-50/2.8 type zoom from Tamron/Sigma or a used Canon EFS 17-50/2.8?

That'll be a fair bit cheaper, and you can probably find a 20D or 30D body for the balance.

What about a Tamron 28-75/2.8?

Do you really need the L at this point?

Sounds like a good plan. Go work your plan, doesn't really matter what we say because in the end it's your money.

You dont say which other lenses you have right now. But I would suggest get a second body. It's not the low light Id be concerned about. In case your body gives up on you, you're pretty much f!@#ed. You need a backup body. So Id say get the 40D, and do with the lenses you have. You are taking away a huge risk factor by doing that.

Second that, keep the XTi and get a second body.

You're SOL if your one and only camera experiences a shutter failure or some other terminal issue and your client isn't going to be appreciate either when you tell them at the end of the gig that you only covered half of the event!

You'll probably need a body with a higher fps than the xti. So a new body will be better. Just rent the lenses. It's easier.

Have you considered all the lenses that you will need? The 24-70 will get you decent speed but you'll probably need a lens that's wider/longer and a lens that's faster.

I assume you have one of the kit lenses so bring that with you just in case you need it for a wide angle shot.

Bring a prime with you just in case you run into a dimly lit area; which will probably happen. The 35mm f/1.4 will probably be the lens to go for. Remember, there's the crop factor as well.

And the most popular lens used at a wedding is the 70-200mm f/2.8. IS or Non-IS is totally up to you.

You'll probably need some flashes and either the Canon St-e2 transmitter or the cactus v2 ebay triggers. I'm not sure how equipped you are or if you have another buddy photographer with you.

Remember, there's no "take two" for weddings. Better to be prepared for anything to happen.

I think there are quite a few older posts on weddings. Read through them. Google will help you out as well. Whether it is what lenses to bring, what to expect, etc; a lot of other forums have gone through the same thing.

rhommel, what sort of gig are you shooting, or better yet, type of events?

haha awww that's too bad. Yeah, try to get a set of lenses. Weddings are a place where about almost anything can happen so you're client will be more than pleased if you can capture everything.

2 Camera Bodies
Wide Angle Lens/Kit Lens
A fast prime, either 1.2 or 1.4 @ 35mm x1.6 crop makes it like a 50.
The 24-70L f/2.8
A longer zoom. Best would be the 70-200 IS f/2.8. You'll need this for sure. This way, you don't always have to be in the middle of the action to take photos. I mean, who wants to see the wedding photographer snapping away at the bride and groom having their first dance?

Off camera flashes will help out your slower lenses a lot and take away the orange tint of your photos due to the lighting and high ISO.

I also suggest scouting out the place a day or two before the event. The church, reception, etc, just to see how and where things are placed, so you can see where is best to get the best shots of the bride and groom, family, and the guests. The bride and groom, as well as the family is most important. Photos of the guests come second. LOL Make sure you know who is family!

Another good tip is to ask the client to see if they can ask guests not to bring their cameras and not to use their camera phones. The "Only the photographers can take photos" will help you out a lot. It's a big favour but you'll find that you won't have to fight for space to take photos. And a good photo moment will be ruined by some guest in the background taking a photo with a camera phone. *yuck*

And finally, I suggest getting a 2nd or 3rd photographer. It'll be harder not to get a fellow photographer in a shot but with some extra help, you can make sure that you cover almost everything at the wedding. Different angles will also help you out. If your photo turns out to be crappy, maybe your teammate will have a different angle of the same thing.

There's quite a few things to worry about. I've never done a wedding, nor do I really want to. A friend asked me to cover her sister's wedding this coming summer but the responsibility is just too great. I told them to either get professionals or if not, I can do it with a few friend photographers.

Which reminds me... I might be asking a few of you to help me if my friend actually does decide to ask for my help.

lol yeah.. that would be good to know. Different environments and different lighting will determine what lenses you will need. If there isn't any space to hide near the dance floor or near the bride and groom table, you'll need a longer lens.

Since this is seasonal and you can't afford both right now, rent both the camera + lens that you need for every gig, if you're renting every weekend or regularly, you can work out a discount with the shop (Headshots?), and markup your prices to cover for the extra rental expenses.

I remember Brain Tao mentioning that he would go with the most inexpensive option (i.e. buying 2nd hand/auctioned/fire sale, etc gear):


if you want to make money, you've got to spend the least you can.

Borrowed a 24-70L, range was ideal for one I did last year even with a 1.6x body. Fast lenses are a big help, but gotta watch out for the depth of field! Borrow if you can for sure.

Brian used to use a 1D-series body but got rid of it, I think he's using two 30Ds or something like that now.

[quote="thericyip"][/quote]

Hey Eric,

Just out of curiosity, how many weddings have you shot before?

Sorry, misspelled Brian's name!

None. Am I giving out the wrong information? I've just read a lot about it but never had the guts to actually cover one. Please correct me if I said anything wrong.

Not at all, I was just curious

I'm a proud owner of a 30D ( ) and I've never had noise problems, on the contrary very good performance at higher ISOs (CMOS sensor).

The common problem seems to be folks are under exposing their photos, most of the time you need to do a +1/3 EC

How much is it to rent a 5D + 24-70? I don't think the 24-70 is wide enough on a crop body... the ideal focal length is the 17-55, which is designed to act like the 24-70 on full-frame.

Whether or not flash is allowed and if you want to use flash, you can get away with doing some strobing during the rest of the wedding except for the ceremony. To do the family group photos you'll probably want the 17-55 focal lengths.

Renting is my suggestion... since you'll probably want a full-frame camera anyway, and the 24-70 isn't as useful on a cropped sensor body (I never liked the 28-70 focal length on my cropped Nikon body, but the 17-55 was perfect).

Man, I don't know how you guys do weddings. I'm doing a very small locational wedding this summer in Greece for my sister (20 people including family on a beach) and I'm already nervous that I'll screw it up. Two bodies seems to be a must because it seems that whatever can go wrong will IMO. I'll be using my D200 with a 50 1.8 and a borrowed D300 with a 17-55 and 1 SB-800. I also will hopefully have a 70-200VR along for longer shots but don't really expect to need it.

I'd say buy the body if you know you'll keep it and rent the lens. This way you end up with 2 bodies for security. For comparison at Vistek the EF-s 17-55/2.8 IS is $30.00 for a weekend and the 40D is $140.00 for a weekend. You might even be able to work out something cheaper from Headshots if you're renting over a few weekends.

just to get you to think about something...

camera body will depreciate, L lenses do not depreciate as much and/or as quickly.

so, as the old saying goes..."rent/lease depreciating assets, own appreciating assets"

I know that lenses don't appreicate like a house, but over the long run, you will have more in your pocket when you sell the lens, than if you sold the body when compared to what you paid for.

Here's a tip I got from a fashion photographer who gave a talk...he regularly rents and as part of his work he has photographer's insurance (from Unionville) not only to protect himself, but also to protect any equipment he rents so that his deposit at the rental place is lower..."so that way rather than having to put down a $100,000 deposit I only have to put down a $500 deposit."

Of course he rents a lot more equipment than you might, but that way he's protected and it's less impact on the credit card in the end.

Get the 2nd body. A used 20D/30D is more than fine for a wedding. I've shot 5 with a 20D & 300D combo. My wife is the 2nd shooter with a XT.

I also keep a film body (EOS A2) loaded and ready to go as backup, and for the ultra wides with the fisheye and 15-30mm.

For weddings you should always have 2 bodies -- in case one breaks/stops working. Also the go to lenses for Wedding photography are the 24-70L or the 24-105L and the 70-200 2.8 IS or Non IS. So what I would do in your situation is buy the 40D and then rent any lenses you need for the weddings plus get insurance. I don't think you have any other options imho.

Ok, let's just analyze this for a bit.

Problem:
Current equipment is not suitable for wedding photography since it doesn

Just beg/borrow/steal a wide angle like the 10-22 or whatever it is. Worked for me, though I really only used it once for a wide shot of the dinner. I used the 17-40L most of the time for large group photos, 70-200 for outdoor shots for the newly wed. I'd probably use the 85 more often for the 'candid' type shots during the reception, the DOF on that is really sweet.

If the price of the rental is a concern, might as well chalk it up as a learning experience perhaps. The price you tell your client should cover these things (of course don't need to disclose the individualized items to them) and more such that you're not just making a few bucks after everything is said and done.

One suggestion is, if you want to gain experience but want to minimize the risk, go in and shoot as a second shooter. Sure the pay might suck but the experience will go a long way. of course I did this and then was asked to cover the groom's side in the morning while he shot the bride's side and I thought I really got in over my head but the results were great. Funny thing, he was *hitting himself as all of his memory cards from that morning went bad!! (Fortunately I was able to get most of the images back from him - NEVER work on your photos off the memory card!!)

I'm no wedding photog but that's my experience at least with the few weddings I've covered or help covered.

I hope everything does go well for you, but I think you're way over your head on this one. I do feel sorry for the couple you are about to shoot on one of their most important days. But then again, I guess you have to start somewhere.

How are you on flashes? You don't want to be switching the flash from one body to the next, that is if you get the 2nd body. But you can always rent or borrow this. Don't forget the batteries. Diffusers? Extra memory cards? Reflectors?

Yeah I tried that - doesnt really work that easy man. I contacted quite a few pros around here, and I only heard from this one guy asking me to be a second shooter out of nowhere. I checked out his work, and it wasn't even that good. I figured I'd rather second shoot with someone good, or not at all. I don't care about the pay. But the experience has to be worth it.