Nervous with a weird set up

<p>Hi everybody,<br>

I'm new to photo.net. Anyways, I have been shooting for a couple of years now, and have gone through a couple of camera bodies (AE-1, Rebel XT-i, and now using the 50D.) I only have a couple of lenses that I purchased with my XT-i. So what are your thoughts on shooting a wedding with my current set up, do I need to purchase a lens (not really a viable option) or can I get away with it.</p>

<p>Canon 50D<br>

430EX II flash<br>

EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM<br>

EF 17-40mm f/4L USM<br>

EF 28mm f/2.8</p>

<p>Now I have always thought myself to be a fairly decent photographer, I have shoot as an assistant to other photographers and always been well reviewed. So am I just over stressing myself or can I pull off a wedding with my current gear?</p>

<p>Thanks for all the help</p>

<p>Kyle</p>

<p>Nothing wrong with the gear Kyle.....it's all about <strong>you. </strong><br>

A wedding isn't something you "pull off"....it's an important event you approach in a professional manner....and knowledge. So...really...what is your question?</p>

<p>It's not the violin, it's the violinist. </p>

<p>The guy who shot my wedding did it with a Rebel. I shot with a 50D for a good many weddings before upgrading and was more than fine. </p>

<p>Like what Robert said nothing wrong with your setup specially since you have a flash. The important thing is to get a backup body because you'll never know if something happens to your 50D.</p>

<p>If budget is tight you could always rent one there a bunch of places you could rent a decent body. One of them is lensrentals dot com</p>

<p>IMO your lens range will get you through, but you need a 2nd body and flash.</p>

<p>Henry Posner<br /><strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>

<p>Kyle,</p>

<p>I agree with Robert C. that YOU are the most important element here. Prepare yourself well and you should do fine.</p>

<p>However, since you ask about your gear, I will make two comments, which you can take or leave.</p>

<p>First my impression is that you have just one body, and just one flash. I expect I will not be the only one to tell you that, if you want to do this in a professional manner, you must have backups. Stuff breaks, jams, suddenly stops working. If you haven't ever had a body give you a problem or a flash fail on you, well, it WILL happen to you eventually. THE ODDS OF IT HAPPENING TO YOU AT ANY GIVEN WEDDING ARE OF COURSE SMALL. So if you want to take the risk—the risk of not being able to deliver—you can go with one body, one flash. It's been done before, God knows! But it's not a good idea.</p>

<p>Second point. If that's your entire lens line-up, then you have only one kinda fast lens: the 28 f/2.8. Wedding photographers like fast lenses because church interiors are seldom well lit. Inside the church I don't use anything that isn't at least f/2.8 and I prefer to be able to open wider. This is particularly important for you, because your 50D, while a perfectly wonderful camera, isn't by late 2010 standards a super performer in low light at higher ISOs. (My point here is that if you had one of the brand new cameras that can shoot pretty cleanly at ISO 6400, you could perhaps get by with the slower lenses. But I don't think that's the case with the 50D.) Ideally, you'd have something like the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 (constant f/2.8 throughout the zoom range) or a Tamron 16-50 f/2.8 or something like that. I apologize I don't know the Canon counterparts but these two Tamron lenses are both very good so I don't hesitate to mention them.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>Will</p>

<p>William Porter wrote: "So if you want to take the risk—the risk of not being able to deliver—you can go with one body, one flash..."<br>

If you roll those dice and lose, you will only be out some money. The bridal couple will be out images and memories of their lifetime, not to mention an eternal source of bad publicity. Being professional means being reasonably ready for negative eventualities and that includes camera and/or strobe breakdown (or loss or theft). Line up a second camera and strobe before you commit to any wedding. You'll be glad you did :-)</p>

<p>Since Marc St. O. followed up on my statement, let me be perfectly clear: I think going to a wedding without backups (backup body, backup flash, at least 2 lenses that you could use to shoot with) is tantamount to professional malpractice. I have never done it, not from the first wedding I shot for free.</p>

<p>If I didn't put it that clearly at first, it's simply because I know that many new photographers ignore this advice. And the truth is, the odds of your camera failing or your flash failing are fairly small.</p>

<p>But Marc is absolutely right. If you take this risk and lose, you'll really be in a terrible spot. It's a foolish risk to take. If you can't afford at least to rent a second body, you shouldn't be shooting a wedding.</p>

<p>Wil</p>

<p>I agree that your knowledge is the most important aspect of photography. However, and forgive me if this is harsh, your knowledge is lacking. I don't mean to be rude, but if you have to ask if your gear is up for the task, I suspect <em>you </em>aren't up to the task. If someone came to me with that gear and wanted to be an <em>assistant</em> that would be OK. But to be honest, to be an assistant <em>shooter </em>would require at least one more lens in the range of the 70-200. And to actually shoot a wedding for me would require a back up for everything, the afore mentioned 70-700 range and and least one fast prime. Ideally, on a cropped sensor camera I am looking for the 17-135/150 range covered at f/2.8 with one or two fast primes thrown in. It isn't a hard fast rule. You might me a prime only shooter. Fine by me, provided you have the primes 24-50-85-105 (full frame) and the know how to shoot them!</p>

<p>Kyle, I agree with Henry, Marc, & William, your outfit is short a spare body which will accept those lenses and a spare flash. Other than that you are good to go. Best, LM.</p>

<p>Not to rock the boat, but do Canon users have flash brackets in their bags? And use them? I would think a couple of flash cords would also be needed to shoot a wedding, along with the above advice for a second (backup) camera body and flash.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Hello Kyle, welcome to PN, I'm still trying to figure why you call your setup weird. It's a good basic setup, as already said you just need backup and of course a sturdy tripod, extra memory cards, flash diffusers/bouncers, maybe a reflector and maybe a bigger light on a stand. Right now you are very sparcely equipped and I don't recommend a professional wedding until you step up your backup eq some. While I know some think they don't <em>need</em> a tripod, I would never work without one. I shoot any bigger family groups and formals on a tripod. I also use electronic radio slaves for my big flash that I use off camera. There's a lot to it to do it right, so be as prepared as you can be before venturing on your own and walking with the devil. As far as lenses, for example, I carry three fixed lenses with 1.4 and/or 1.8 apertures, then go from there with basic zoom and a 180mm and 300mm. Your fastest is 2.8, that's OK for now, but eventually you should consider maybe a 50 and 85 f1.8 to get you some more light without breaking the bank. PS, I also always carry a Hasselblad 503CW with 50 and 100 lens and a flash plus several rolls of film.</p>

<p>I have a lot of different gear for weddings, but my preferred set-up is very simple: just two rangefinders and two primes. I've shot almost the whole year using this ultra light kit. So, in practice, yes -- it's perfectly possible to shoot a wedding with minimum gear, and your equipment list is perfectly adequate in that regard.</p>

<p>But you also have to be equipped for what <em>might </em>happen, as well as what you expect to happen. So, despite a strong preference for working with available light, this past weekend when I shot a wedding in adverse weather (-12 degrees C, 15 inches of snow, heavy cloud cover with little daylight and a late afternoon hailstorm), I just adapted and shot the day with flash, lightstands and wireless triggers.</p>

<p>Hence all the good advice about backups. I don't go to any wedding without a primary system, two redundant systems, and some form of additional lighting. Even though I expect everything except the primary system to stay in the car.</p>

<p>One basic rule of weddings is you'll inevitably need what you don't have. So it's best to make sure you have it.</p>

<p>Although I would hate to have to shoot a wedding without f/2.8 zooms and/or a selection of primes it obviously can be done. As everyone else has said back up gear is important. I've had a lens fail while being used normally (no drop or bash). It just went to f/22, and stayed there. Another time I dropped my flash, breaking it, as I removed it from the case for the first shots of the day. Make sure you have back ups for everything. I've had a flash cord fail, and then found I'd some how got it stuck on the bracket. I couldn't get it off, and not only had to pull out the back up cords, but the back up bracket too. Now I carry the tools that would've helped me solve that problem. The point is that you need back-ups for all gear that you need to get the job done.</p>

<p>"If you roll those dice and lose, you will only be out some money. The bridal couple will be out images and memories of their lifetime, not to mention an eternal source of bad publicity"</p>

<p>Let's not forget one could be sued by the couple as well.</p>