Weddings - Cheap camera Vs. Expensive camera

These days Digital cameras are rated by their shutter count...

Given that the average wedding photographer shoots about 50+ weddings per year, that means a replacement every 2 years or so for the Top-Notch camera and 1.75 years for the cheaper camera... If they use an assistant, the assistant will most probably use the back-up camera and if they are trigger happy...

 

Given those numbers, what would you do if you decided to shoot weddings. Or what do you do if you already are shooting weddings ?

 

I think that some assumptions are a bit off the mark, for example I think 50 weddings per year, would be a full time occupation more toward 'above average' number of Wedding Clients per year; also I think that it is more likely any 'assistant' (or 'second shooter') would probably be using their own camera and not a camera owned by the lead shooter.

 

Those minor two examples mentioned, I think that most full time wedding pros would give very little emphasis or bias to "shutter count" when choosing their cameras: if one has a business churning out that productivity then (as already mentioned) the camera purchases are business choices and are scheduled choices with factors such as tax write offs and depreciation factored in: the cost of regular maintenance and the repair of any broken shutter assembly (or a fried flash or dropped lens etc.) is also a cost of business and would be calculated.

 

There would be other factors influencing what cameras are purchased and when those cameras are purchased and I don't think it would be shutter count that would be influencing those buying decisions very much.

 

I had new 5D shutter fail at around 60 clicks. It was a matter of dropping that one in the bag and continuing with the other two main working cameras - the "back up camera" was never used.

 

WW

I know little about business and money. - I think rule of thumb is: Voice your wage, charge it 4 times to pay

• yourself
  
• the business
  
• tax & insurance
  
• future & disasters
  

equal shares. Looking at those figures: A fully booked year should be 52K; 13K for me are fine and even include a bit of padding. The business' share would buy a new Sony kit every 2 years.

 

"Minor" issues: How to get entire years booked? / Triple D = Digital darkroom discipline, to get 2 weddings off your SSD within 4 days, before shooting the next one. / A whole lot of self doubts / Not enough money to get the starter kit together.

 

To get into a financially bearable spot, I'd have to team up with somebody, keep my day job and try to work my way up from something like two used 5D IIs with Tamron 24-70 and a 35 + 100mm combo (added to my current 5D IV behind 70-200). <- Not my dream kit but I could stretch to get it.

 

I'd worry more about wearing out f2.8 zooms than having an odd shutter replaced for a couple of hundred Euro. - Shutter repair success is easily checked after getting your camera back. - Arguing with Nikon over "within specs" vs. "still out of whack" would be my nightmare.

 

Assistant shooters: Why should you hire an eager but entirely empty handed average person? - Subcontracting another shutterbug makes more sense. Look at Uber (the taxi killer): Giving proud owners of fancy toys a chance to exploit themselves to make a few pennies is a stunning business plan.

 

Cameras are less than 1/8th of the entire business. - Given a chance, I'd pick whatever promises the least physical and PP effort, since hours spent in front of your screen are what really reduces the wage of a photographer and aching shoulders are obviously painful.

Keep in mind that you have just one reputation to loose. - If you quit another job, to try weddings as a business, how easy will it be to get back into your previous position, after you failed? What can you do to get through slow months without bookings?

 

Looking at the current / recent digital offerings: Is sticking to whatever you could buy right now really desirable? People seem to expect Canon & Nikon to release some mirrorless FF awesomeness. Sony rushed through 3 iterations of their A7 product line, Fuji might just have released their first entirely serious offering. - I wouldn't be surprised to see more desirable gear in the future and wouldn't fancy toting 9 AF spots for the rest of a working career.

Back in the 50's and 60's a good friend worked for the local studio, shooting portraits during the week and doing weddings on Saturdays using a 4X5 Speed Graphic. I don't know how many film packs he took with him but I doubt if he took more than 150 or 200 shots. (He had to develop and print them). I liked most of his results. A few years back I went to a family wedding where the photographer used a digital camera. The results looked like a movie camera was set up and left running. We were all told of a web site to log on to and pick out the images we wanted to buy. Most images had one or several guests shoving food in their faces, picking their nose or some other flaw. People were probably more aware of a big camera being pointed in their direction and posed a bit but the results were much better on average.

Seems the OP's caught in a bit of a circular argument.

doing weddings on Saturdays using a 4X5 Speed Graphic. I don't know how many film packs he took with him but I doubt if he took more than 150 or 200 shots.

 

I have to admit that sounds like an absolute nightmare.

 

I'm sure it gets easier with practice, but it takes me probably 1-2 minutes to load a two sheet holder and probably 5 minutes to load a Grafmatic. The latter would probably be easier if I used them more. Just the thought of transporting that sounds like a nightmare also. A Graflex brand 2-sheet holder(most of mine are Graflex branded, although I have holders from other sizes that are effectively the same size) is about 3/4" thick-do the math on how big 100 of those are. Admittedly the old Graflex wood holders are light, and newer plastic ones are even lighter. A Grafmatic is probably 1" thick, although you still save a lot of bulk because 200 sheets would be ~34 of them. They're heavy, though, and I'd want some spares since they can jam in a way that might require a trip to the darkroom.

 

Once back, I know I don't trust myself "shuffle" developing more than a dozen sheets or so, and I normally do four at a time. Most of the old open top 4x5 tanks are the bottom half of a 6V "tar top" battery(of the same sort that my MG would have had two of when it was new) and can only hold a dozen hangers or so. I suppose a practiced person could probably shuffle more sheets, but you also have to make sure your tray has enough volume that you won't deplete the chemistry(however it's diluted, Kodak says you need 24 oz. of D76 stock to develop 12 sheets of 4x5). Then, there's contact printing-one roll 120 will fit an 8x10, and one of 35mm-36 will ALMOST fit. You need a single 8x10 for every 4 4x5s.

 

There again, though, I'm sure it's all in practice. I could easily churn out 35mm or 120 in that volume, but I feel like I've had a busy day if I've shot 12 sheets of 4x5. Admittedly my darkroom practices are at "I'm doing this because I enjoy it" speeds, but I probably wouldn't get 12 sheets developed in one day unless it was color and I was pushing myself to use up the chemistry. At $4 a sheet, though, it would probably have to be a spectacular fall day for me to shoot that many sheets of color film. Of course, roll film is a different story-I probably shoot 2 sheets of film per roll of 120 and 3-4 for 35mm when I'm REALLY going at it.

I'm sure it gets easier with practice, but it takes me probably 1-2 minutes to load a two sheet holder and probably 5 minutes to load a Grafmatic.

Believe me, it gets a lot faster, even in a hanging bag. A Grafmatic is no harder to load than three double holders. With practice, you use fingers on one hand to guide the film into the grooves, and the other hand to push the film into the holder - 5 seconds a side or less. However Stobbs referred to film packs, which hold 10 or 12 thin sheets of film on a paper backing, much like a Polaroid camera. You open the package, stick it in the pack holder with one tab out, snap the holder shut, and you're good to go. Pull the paper tab to ready the first shot.

 

Tray development is risky with film. I used hangers in an open-top tank. Nothing touches, nothing gets scratched or stuck together. Now I have a reel that holds half a dozen sheets in a cylindrical tank. Hangers are easier, but gone the way of dinosaurs.

 

Using a digital camera doesn't prevent you from interacting with your subjects. Ask them to stop eating a moment and fact the camera. At events, I follow up by asking for names and writing them in a reporter's notebook. Get the spelling right too. It's easier to track names with digital than film - I just record the first frame number of the set.

Edited March 13, 2018 by Ed_Ingold