ptn4egl

You didn't mention what type of lighting you have. How about a 580ex, 550ex, Pocket Wizards, or Radio Poppers?

 

Several mention this as well, but education will go A LONG way. I've been shooting for 22+ years and will be attending another seminar here in the next few weeks

Todd, pretty sure the percentage isn't 3-4%, more like 9-11% according to all the studies I've read and as high as 17-20% in SF and LA. Sure it's a small number, and there are going to be many that do not want to get married, but then again....

 

I am in the process of putting together an ad targeted towards gay weddings. There was a report on the news about a run on booking wedding planners and florists. Hopefully photographers will be next :)

I miss my F-2 :( Stolen with 2/3rds of my gear in 2004, and I never replaced it...

 

I actually don't have a camera bag anymore, bags (domke F-6 & Tamrac 614) are for lites and grip (4 VivitarHVs, superclamps, magic arms, universal stand adapters, studs, PocketWizards, RadioPoppers, homemade high capacity battery packs, clamps, zip ties, ball bungies, table top tripod, etc), then I tend to throw things like lite modifiers, batteries, cards, extra lens, etc into a waist bag and just sling the 2 cameras over the shoulders.

AA pack takes 12 batteries BTW :) Loved that motor drive on my A-1

Why not in manual mode? If it is a sunny day, meter on the face and leave the settings alone; your lite isn't going to change if there are no clouds, why have the camera work at looking for the right exposure when you can set it once?

 

Clouds... Aperture mode and overexpose my 1/3 - 2/3 a stop, detail on the face is more important than highlites in the background. Overexposure is more important if the players are wearing hats/helmets, etc.

Wait, you mean the monopod can come off the 400mm f/2.8? :-D

Adam-

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You still haven't told us what type of events your doing. Each has a slightly different workflow and needs. The biggest question you need to answer is "how will your clients view and order the photos?", if it is not simple, they will leave.

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♦ Parties/Proms/Reunions/Graduations, etc where you take a posed photo and have prints/packages available later?

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♦ Youth sports tournaments where you will have 16-100 teams with 1-8 photographers shooting and turning in cards every 20-45 min? Needing to keep track of the photographer, division, and game that was shot, having all the photos sorted, tagged and in a shopping cart so your clients can purchase them?

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<dl><dd>Equipment wise: min. 1 server, 3-30 ordering stations, generator, tables, table leg extenders, backup drives, UPSes, tents, displays, postcards, receipt printer, switches, network cables, etc, etc</dl>

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♦ Cheer/Dance competitions where you will be shooting 30,000-80,000 photos over a weekend w/ 2-3 photographers, and need the photos sorted in galleries and in a shopping cart available for purchase within 3 minutes of the competitors leaving the floor?

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<dl><Dd>Equipment wise: 1-2 servers, maybe a download system, 12-100 ordering stations, tables, table leg extenders, backup drives, UPSes, displays, postcards, receipt printer, switches, network cables, etc, etc</dl>

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I've used a program for the past 5 years called <a href="http://www.action-image.net/">Action Image</a> which handles the last 2 types very well. Don't do a lot of the first type of shooting, so haven't looking into software for that type of workflow.

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good luck

Services in California are considered non-taxable. Your "creative fee" and all time spent scheduling, producing prints, editing ,etc is considered non-tangible.

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Physical products delivered to your customers/clients are taxable at the various rates around the different districts.

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Here's an example: (assuming your business is in SF)<BR>

$2000 to shoot a wedding. Just to shoot, no prints, etc.<BR>

You sell $500 in prints and mail them to your customer in SF<P>

 

sales tax is charged on the $500. State, local, and district rates.

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Now, if your customer lives in San Mateo and you mail the prints to them. You still collect sales tax, but a different rate. Only state and local rate, again ONLY on the $500 of physical goods you sold them.

Ok, so I'm a little biased towards <a href='http://www.Action-Image.net/'>Action Image</a>. The website is UGLY and looks like a 5th grader designed it in 1995, but it's got all the info on the site :-D

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Just curious, but what type of sporting events are you looking to use this for? Certain sports have slightly different workflow needs.

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You can also contact me for info on the software, I use it all the time.

Completely not answering the original question, but...

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For those of you NOT using the metric system, the GN of the Canon 550EX is 180 @ 100 ISO @ 10' @ 105mm.

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Don't forget how the Guide Number changes with the ISO:<ul>

<li>200 1.4x

<li>400 2x

<li>800 2.8x

<li>1600 4x

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GN at new ISO = GN * sqrt(ISO / 100)

Sandy, I'm even closer than Jack, I'm in SSF. I have the larger, heavier big brother, the 400mm f/2.8 II, sometimes I wish I had the DO lens for the sheer weight factor. A senior Sports Illustrated photographer that I know has the 400mm f/4.0 DO as his personal lens and LOVES it. When not shooting with the Hassies and provia for SI, he's using this lens and his 1D.

Richard said: <I>"Digital is not even photography (yeah, I know most of you think otherwise). It doesn't even come close to the gratification of handling film, making your best judgment on composition and metering and then anticipating the results of your efforts in print or slide. You just can't replace that kind of emotion. Digital makes for a fun toy (kind of like a video game effect) but it just isn't the same! I'm not trying to insult anyone. This is obviously just my opinion but it is an important and meaningful debate. Long live film!"</I>

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What? Handling film, yea I really like trucking around bricks of film and changing rolls after only 36 shots.

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How is digital any different than film when it comes to <i>"making your best judgment on composition and metering and then anticipating the results of your efforts"</I>? I enjoy going through my shots after an event and picking out the best shots that were composed and metered correctly just as much now as I have from the previous 20 years of photography. It's no different than shooting film, except that I don't have to burn fossil fuels to drive back and forth to the photo lab, wait for the hazardous chemicals to be used on my film and then disposed of and let along all the canisters, bad pictures and film leaders that will eventually end up a landfill.

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Are you ASS-U-MEing that people who shot with digital cameras are chimping after every shot and don't think about composition nor exposure when making images? If you do, then I don't know what you are thinking. Nearly every pro that I know shoots with digital and ALL of us think about composition and exposure when making photographs. I typically shoot 500-3000 images a weekend covering tournaments and other sporting events, if I wasn't concerned about composition nor exposure then how would I make quality photographs for my clients and myself, yet alone money?

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<I>"digital is a toy"</I>? Now if you're comparing your EOS 1V, EOS-3 or even a Rebel to a $199 digicam, then yes, it is a toy. But, compare my EOS 1D to disposable film camera or a Canon T50...which one is the toy?

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Film has it's place, but for a lot of use who do this for a living, film is on it's way out. I held out before buying my digital camera(Jun 2002), heck I was still shooitng with manual focus T90's, F1-N and an A1. Attempting to scan all that film was costing my thousands of dollars in time and lost sales.

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Jay- I don't know what type of digital camera you <i>"fiddled with"</I>, but how is it any different than shooting with your film camera? You still need to know how to compose, expose and make a photograph. If you're a photographer and not a newbie snapshooter, it's just a box: Be it with your Rebel, a 1V, 1D(which is a 1V w/ a digital back), holga, toyo or my 110 vivitar camera from way back. You still need to know how to make photographs. We're supposed to be photographers, not camera pointers (term a lot of sports shooters have dubbed teevee guys covering events) :) LOL

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<soapbox>BTW, it's NOT a 'focal length multiplier', it's a crop factor. IT DOES NOT INCREASE YOUR FOCAL LENGTH! Think of it as a built in enlargement from the center of your negative. I shoot with wide angles and guess what? They still look like wide angles. You just don't have the excessive distortion on the exterior of the image :) <soapbox/>

You can always pick up a few of the FD lenses I'm selling :) <a href=http://www.actionathletics.com/forsale/> Canon FD lenses and bodies forsale</a>

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The <a href=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CanonFD/> Canon FD group on yahoo</a> is also a great place to get information. The archives are worth the free membership alone. Although, I think the archives are open to anyone.

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As far as third party lenses go, head to the <a href=http://medfmt.8k.com/third/cult.html> Third part Cult Classic</a> site.

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Before my switch to the EOS 1D, my main lenses were a Tokina 24mm f/2.8, Tokina 35-70 f/2.8 ATX, Tokina 80-200 f/2.8 ATX and a Canon 50mm f/1.4. These lenses along with a Canon A-1 with motor drive MA were my staple for many a job assignments for nearly 12 years. I later added some T90's, F1-N and a Canon 400mm f/2.8 and 1.4X's. I briefly owned a Tokina 300mm f/2.8 ATX, but sold that.

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Most of the Canon FD lenses below and at f/4 are great lenses. It's hard to go wrong. As far as focal length goes, I much prefer the 24mm over the 28mm. It's amazing what that 4mm does when you are shooting with a prime lens(the 24mm. The 28mm isn't a prime, it's a fixed focal length). <soapbox > Primes are defined my some fun mathmatical formula: esentially 1.4X the previous focal length. We round to make the numbers nicer: 17, 24, 35, 50, 70, 100, 135, 200, 300, 400. You'll notice that a lot of these lenses are quite popular. The exeptions are the 20mm, 28mm, 85mm and any of the fisheyes or super-telephotos.<soapbox/>

Didn't Canon make a 100 foot cord for the 300TL? I'm using the off camera cord from my T90 on my 1D with the 550EX with no problems. I'm assuming that the rest of the accessories with the 300TL and T90 would work with the newer Canon cameras

Great camera. I have 4 of them. Selling a few as I "went digital" with the EOS 1D recently. The T90 was the basis of Canon's current crop of pro-line EOS cameras.

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A few other places for great info are: <BR

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canonfd/ <BR>

http://www.canonfd.com/ <BR>

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/fdlenses/ <BR>

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/starka/CanonFD_ebay2.htm <BR>

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The last one is really helpful for buying Canon FD equipment. Vlad has compiled the selling prices of most FD gear for the past 2 years. The info is from eBay, but it can be applied anywhere.

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Go with the 24mm over the 28mm. It's worth the extra price to get the prime lens. The 28mm isn't a prime, just a fixed focal length. I was SO happy when I bought my 24mm f/2.8 Tokina lens back when I started college($75 used, I couldn't afford much either :) The perspective of the 24mm over the 28mm may not seem like a lot, but it really is a nice focal length.

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Can't really go wrong with the 50mm f/1.4 either. And in a pinch, pop on a 2X and you've got yourself a pretty decent 100mm f/2.8(great for basketball). Even if your "dinky lens" was the 50mm f/1.8, with the 2x it's now a 100mm f/3.5.

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As Christopher mentioned, I'd go with a 200mm f/2.8. I own one of these, but it's "on loan" to my sister who's shooting rodeo. I never took a picture with it. My main lens in this category was the Tokina 80-200mm f/2.8(owned for 12 years now). This focal length along with a 400mm are the staples of any sports photgrapher.

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I'd also add nice 2X to the mix. With this and the other 3 lenses you've got some range. 24mm-400mm

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24mm f/2.8 $146 <BR>

50mm f/1.4 $64 (nothing if you already have the 50mm f/1.8) <BR>

200mm f/2.8 $254 (there are 2 versions of this lens, the one with the crome attachment ring is a little cheaper) <BR>

2X (now, there are several roads to go here. If you stick with the ALL Canon glass route, the Canon FD 2X-B is about $146, although it can be had for around $100 with some shopping.

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Now if you go with a third party 7 element 2X(I'd stick with Tokina, Kenko or Vivitar), those run about $20-$40). The "7 element" statement is the most important here. PLEASE DON'T BUY A 4 ELEMENT 2X.

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You have several additional options. As I mentioned, I love the 24mm focal length. If you want to save a little cash, check out the Tokina 24mm f/2.8. Might also want to look at the Kiron or Vivitar 24mm f/2.0.

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Now, I know Vivitar made a 200mm f/3.0 lens(what's that 1/6 a stop slower than the f/2.8?). Might be worth checking out as well. Don't know how easy it would be to find that bad boy.

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Good luck, brian