dangin

<p>if you're trying to save some $$$ and weight but still want a great long zoom lens? skip the nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 and go for the tamron 70-200mm f/2.8. it doesn't have VR but it does have the extra range, has VG IQ, is lightweight (for what it is), and is much less expensive than the nikon nikkor. </p>

<p>for starting off, i too would recommend getting a battery pack for your speedlites, perhaps a quantum turbo or nikon sb-8a. the quantum gives you faster recycle times and long usage but is more costly. the nikon doesn't really lower your recyle times but it does extend usage and costs less. also, i'd strongly recommend getting a tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 as a long lens. otpically, it's very good, it has very good build quality, it's pretty light considering the size, and it is relatively inexpensive compared nikon nikkor. drawback is that it lacks VR. if/when you switch to FX bodies, you can use it on that as well. </p>

<p>i personally shoot (2) D3 bodies and have D200 and Fuji S3 as my backup/assistant bodies. if you're going to jump into the FX bodies, be prepared to pickup some useful full frame lenses too (tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 or nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 and maybe an old 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 as a travel lens). i'd recommend saving your money for now until you can make a clean switch over to FX because it's not going to be cheap and by then you'll probably need extra memory cards, another flash head, etc.</p>

<p>stick with the tamron 17-50mm and 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses. they should be able to provide you with the range you're looking for on a DX camera. i have both of the aforementioned and the nikon 14-24mm, 24-70mm, and 70-200mm lenses. the tamrons are in my backup or assistant's bags and they do a really good job. not quite as fast or sharp as the nikon nikkor, but what do you expect for the price difference? :)<br>

i know a few fellow wedding photographers who have tried the sigma lenses and have nothing but problems with theirs. i have a couple of tokina lenses as well (12-24mm and 10-17mm fisheye) they have great build quality (better than tamron IMO) but are among the softest lenses i have.</p>

<p>i started using showit sites last november and have had an overall good experience with it. </p>

<p>pros: it's super easy to use. they've got some pretty good templates to start off with. there's an option for them to host your site. their email contact form works well. easy to integrate google analytics.</p>

<p>cons: sites will on rare occasions, not display spacing of elements (mostly text) correctly depending on browser + window size (IE tends to be worse with this). $39/month. can't embed coding.</p>

<p>in all honesty, i haven't reached out to their support because i haven't had a real need to so i can't comment as to how good/bad their support is. SEO with flash sites can be a problem so i've been told; although i'm no SEO expert.</p>

<p>for ease of use, i'd recommend bay photo. their pacific line of leatherette flushmount albums have quick turnaround times. using their roes templates, you piece an album together in a relatively short amount of time. i don't use them for all of my albums, but if i need somethin quick, they're hard to beat.</p>

<p>Nikon D3 : f/18 1/13s @ ISO200<br>

Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens @ 28mm<br>

<img src="http://dangin.smugmug.com/photos/373669082_ux7JP-M-1.jpg" alt="" width="299" height="450" /></p>

<p>I'm quite surprised at some of the responses in this thread. My rule of thumb is if the shooting day is 8 or more hours, I'm taking a 30 minute meal break. As far as weddings go, I think I've only had 3 in the last 3 years (and I did over 40 last year) where I didn't have a meal at the reception. One of those instances was a short shooting day, only about 6 hours. Maybe it's a Chicago thing, but it's generally expected that I'm sitting at a table with guests. <br>

I have to echo Ian's sentiment though; shooting during the whole reception? People with half-chewed food poking out of their smiles... That's attractive... :P As far detail shots; those are all taken before the dinner ever starts.</p>

<p>i have 2 D3 bodies... dual memory slots, longer shutter life, back of camera controls, speed (the D700 needs a battery pack to catch up)<br>

my cameras make me money, so i want the best equipment for the job.</p>

<p>i have the nikon 24-70 f/2.8, tamron 28-75 f/2.8 and 17-50 f/2.8 lenses and can say that the tamron does not measure up to the nikon. but what do you expect for the price difference? :) between the tamron and sigma; as i have shot the sigma, it feels better but the quality is questionable. i'd recommend getting the tamron as i did.<br>

like hans mentioned, i too, would suggest for a DX body, that you consider the tamron 17-50 f/2.8 if you are using this as a primary lens for wedding photography. the focal length just makes more sense than the 28-75 which is not as ideal for wide, group or landscape shots.</p>

i got back from the seminar a couple of hours ago and my thoughts:

<br>

1) yes, they're real. the seminar's real too, real good!

<br>

2) the Darr's are a super nice couple; straight shooters, very genuine, and truly gifted business couple.

<br>

3) their seminar made a lot of sense.

<br>

4) trevor reisz is a helluva sales guy and has some f'ing killer boots.

<br>

5) they're a super busy couple that had an unfortunate experience with the company that was managing the tour

mismanagement. lesson learned; they're doing damage control. crap does happen; sucks when it does but they're

trying hard to remedy the situation.

<p>

need more proof? i did take a couple of pictures during the day and they're up on my <a

href="http://danielgin.blogspot.com/2008/10/darrs.html">blog<a>.

i registered for their 2008.10.29 seminar in Chicago way back in July when i received their flyer. since then, i tried requesting the location information several times (via their seminar website, their commercial website, their 800#, even landon darr's purported cell phone number) all without avail for the month or so. until yesterday... i tried calling their studio's 800# again (which is actually an answering service that forwards their calls) and finally got transferred to "Mark" who gave me the location info. he said that i should've gotten the info and did not know why i never received it. he also didn't comment when i queried about why i never received responses to my numerous email and phone requests for information.

 

at any rate, i've got the venue info now. i even called the hotel where they're having it to confirm that they actually have something slated to go on. the event is tomorrow and i'll update this post after i get back from it to let you all know how it went.

calumet photographic. they have locations throughout the states and europe: <a href="http://www.calumetphoto.com">http://www.calumetphoto.com</a>

30k-45k cycles is probably pretty close. i've repaired 3 out of my 4 SB-800 flashes within 1-2 years of getting them. for reference, they go through about 40 weddings a year, numerous party/event shoots, some sports, and occasionally work their way in for on location portraits. to sum it up, they get used; a lot. repairs at Authorized Photo Service in IL have run on average $150 a trip; and that's to replace blow bulb or to replace the mainboard.

<p>

how do you extend the life of your flash? 2 simple things:

<br>1) don't drop/bang it into things.

<br>2) don't overheat it

<p>

easier said than done, i know. i've also added a couple of SB-900 flash units to my equipment list and one of its features is that it shuts itself off when the internal thermometer says it's too hot. neat feature that can definitely be useful for extending the life of the flash. not so useful when you need to capture the action of a bouquet toss at a wedding reception and it stops working just as the bride tosses the thing. :P

<p>

read more on my thoughts of the SB-900 on my blog: <a href="http://danielgin.blogspot.com">http://danielgin.blogspot.com</a>

elliot hit it on the head; to get the best results with the D300, UDMA CF cards are the way to go. my lexar pro cards (w/ wa) always seemed just marginally faster than my other "133x" CF cards when used with my D200.

Nikon's CaptureNX is likely going to give you the most data from an image captured from a Nikon camera. You can download a trial version of it from Nikon's website.

i usually get about 3 or 4 of these ridiculous situations a year and here's what i do:

 

1) let the client know about the restrictions imposed and let them know how it can be detrimental to capturing their special day. show them a short list of shots that i've taken during ceremonies that are "wow" shots that wouldn't have been possible if photography wasn't allowed.

2) asking the couple to talk to the officiant about easing up on the rules. (sometimes this works)

3) i'll setup a stationary camera on a tripod, usually aimed down the aisle at the alter, and set it to take shots w/o flash in 5 min intervals.

if i see it happening, i'll try to nip in the bud early on. but if it's one of those things where he/she just naturally prone to making faces that appear strange to me i'll let it go. chances are it's not the first time they've had their picture taken and they know that they may appear a certain way. it is what it is. i had one bride recently that looked like cruella deville from 101 dalmations... go with the flow, you can't make someone completely change their appearance.

 

although there was one time when i was doing police officer portraits and i had a hard time with some of the officers because they tried too hard to look tough. so i diffused the situation and got them to lighten up their expressions by cracking jokes about them at each other's expense. it worked (for the most part). full disclosure: i work with cops on a regular basis and know what i can and can't make fun of. kids, do not try this at home; if you get cuffed and roughed up don't look at me either. :)

if you're shooting from a distance, there's no way your flash is going to effectively illuminate the couple in the foreground as well as whatever's 15' behind them in the background. bouncing your flash in churches over a long distance and/or those with especially tall ceilings is essentially throwing light away. you could always setup additional strobes throughout the church and sync them all up to give you some artificial lighting when you shoot but that tends to get really annoying really fast...

 

coming from being a film shooter, we'd shoot w/ flash during the processionals and recessionals and available light on a tripod during the ceremony. increasing your flash intensity on wide shots like during the processional will more likely than not give you unflattering and unrealistic light. with full frame cameras like the 5D or D3, noise artifications introduced with high ISO is far more controllable and might be a worthwhile upgrade for you if you're a serious wedding shooter.

my Nikon 50mm f/1.4 exhibits the exact same symptoms. f/1.4 is soft and usable only under certain circumstances. but realistically, one shouldn't be shooting that wide open all of the time any way. :)

+1 on don't try to fix it yourself.

 

rather than sending it in to Nikon which does tend to take weeks on end, send it to Authorized Photo Service (APS). they're my Nikon repair center of choice; in fact i just had 2 SB-800 units repaired there (popped bulbs) and they turned them around in about 2 days. they are the Nikon authorized repair center in the midwest.

 

http://www.authorizedphoto.com

unless you shoot wide open at f/2.8 all the time, the tokina 10-17mm f/3.5-5.6 is a better alternative IMO. why?

1) the nikon wide open is f/2.8, the tokina zoomed out to match at 10mm opens to f/3.5, the difference of about 1/2 a stop is negligible unless you're shooting in the darkest of places.

2) you get zoom range with the tokina.

3) the tokina is actually usable on a full frame camera if you ever get one. at 17mm you can actually fill the frame.

just my .02 :)

i'd say this brides probably a lost cause. don't feel bad about getting out of it. this is not the first time something like this will happen and certainly not the last. 95% of the rest of them do go much more smoothly than this though.

 

i'm not sure what area you're in, but you're in the chicago area, the studio i shoot for is always looking for good eyes. :)

you've got a lot of good answers here and if anything this was just another lesson learned in the grand scheme of things so i won't reiterate what others have already said. one suggestion i would make if you're trying to build a portfolio and more importantly, learn the craft, is to to it the old fashioned way and apprentice under a good photographer. you could potentially avoid having to "learn" other things the hard way in the future. welcome to the wonderful world of wedding photography and good luck! :)

most teleconverters will only work with focal lengths greater than 70mm. if you're doing macro work, be aware that your MFD (min focusing distance) will also increase. also, TC will cause you to loose anywhere from 1-2 stops depending on the TC. i have to agree with eric arnold and get another micro lens with greater range.

get a Tamron 2x SP AF "pro" teleconverter. be sure that you're shooting with ample light (F/8 or smaller).