I have been asked by a good friend of mine if I would be so kind as to take the photos at her wedding in Novemeber.
At the moment i have a nikon D90 with a 18 - 105 mm Lense and Im pretty sure im going to need a lens (or two) that would be more suited to portraits and group shots...Please can anyone advise me as to what would be a good investment.
Thanks in advance xxxx
A guide to adding reciprocal links can be found here
Hi Amy and welcome to the forum.
My immediate reaction is that you stick with your 18 – 105. Ideally something a bit wider might be handy but 18mm isn’t too bad. The thing is you don’t want to be changing lenses at a wedding, things happen too fast. It would also be nice to have something faster than your f3.5/5.6 but you’d spend a lot for little gain.
Do you know what the lighting is going to be like? Money spent on a good flashgun might be the way to go.
I'd also try and borrow a spare camera as an insurance. Camera failier would be a good way to loose friends.
Lot of advice (but no encouragement) on this topic in forum Digital Darkroom (abacus180) at the moment. A technical challenge is white dress + dark suit in unknown light + possibly difficult background. So need to practice, practice, practice. An incident light meter might help and, as already suggested, fill-in flash will surely be needed and more than a little camera-mounted gun. It might be possible to hire lenses that would be very expensive to buy - but again you would need to get very familiar with them first. Good luck - look at the other thread - the tone is very discouraging but there is some photographic advice inbetween. The focal length range you have is probably not too bad - need to make some test shots to see how lens performs wide open esp. regarding edge detail on groups.
Rent a Nikon 24-70 f2.8, crank up the ISO on your D90 to about 800 since the new cameras take such great pictures nowadays even at high ISO and tell your friend NOT to expect miracles. You are not a professional photographer.
Does the picture turn out differently than what you see in the viewfinder?
My usual reaction to this would be to say "Don't touch a wedding with a bargepole". You say that the event is in November and that changes things a bit. By then you will have sourced a second identical camera. Sourced a fast prime for indoor shots. Been on a course. Will have attended various weddings as a casual visitor but studying the way that the photographer fouls up,or hopefully gets things right.
At least you have 10 months to get worked up and neurotic about the upcoming experience. Best of luck.
Yes agree. Get (or hire) a second identical body; Sod's law says it'll fail just when you need it otherwise!
For interiors in November I also agree with Learning that fast primes would be nice. Nikon make a 35mm/1.8 for DX cameras and a 50mm or 85mm/1.8 would make a nice pairing. Using flash in church would be a real atmosphere killer I reckon. Outside you can stick the zoom on one body and keep the 50mm or 85mm on the other.
FWIW, Brett, a quite well known UK Leica photographer has done weddings armed with only a 50mm f/2.8 on an M8 in the past.
Above all, go through the day with the bride and identify exactly what shots she wants from beginning to end.
Tim BSRIPN
If I had all the money I've spent on drink, I'd spend it on drink
I'd agree with the f/2.8 lens in the range of 28-70 or thereabouts. Thing is, you may also benefit from something like a 10-20 to get everyone in on the group shots, and a 35 or 50mm f/1.8 for interior shots without flash (where it's banned)
Too many cameras, too many lenses.......
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
