Another PM question

Scott_Quier

Instead of starting another thread, I thought I would just ask you. How much memory do you carry with you? I have an 8 gig card and a 4 gig card for one camera, and if my other one gets repaired in time I have an 8 gig card for it. But so far I don't see it coming to me yet. And also, would a 50 mm 1.8 be worth buying? I am sorry I ask so many questions, but I am the kind of person to be prepared, or try to be. I really appreciate your help!

Well then, I'll just have to start the thread for your

My first response would be, "Have you read My thoughts on photographing a wedding?" (see link in my siggy). And, that's all well and good, but your camera is relatively new to you. A 40D RAW file is in the neighborhood of 11 - 15 megs (depending). So, if we assume you shoot 1,000 shots, that would mean that you would need at least 15G of memory. Now then, since I know you won't be re-cycling your memory (dumping them to a laptop or portable harddrive and then re-formatting them) while you are at the wedding and since I also know that you will have at least twice the memory you think you'll need - I would have to say that you are looking at having around 30GB of card. Not too bad. I think I would recommend you get it in 4GB increments - that should get you in the 200 - 250 shots per card range.

The nifty-fifty - for casual shooting, the bang for the buck offered by this lens is hard to beat. I had a copy of this lens and the optics were razor sharp when stopped down anything more than about 1/2 stop. Even wide open and focused at a distance, it was amazing. But, I read that there have been instances of QC problems with this lens.

For a wedding. Ummmm .... NO. And here's why

• It's slow to focus - especially in dark environs, like the caves they call churches and reception halls
• Focus is not sure - it will sometimes report a good focus lock and still be out of focus
• One bump and it could be done for - it's good glass in a plastic body, with plastic mount.
• The aperture is only 5-bladed - the bokeh produced by this lens is not very sweet.

I believe you would be much better served by the 50mm f/1.4 or a good copy of the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 (though I understand there are come QC issues with the Sigma lens - hard to get a good copy).

KTBoom2006-E510

Scott_Quier wrote:

Well then, I'll just have to start the thread for your

My first response would be, "Have you read My thoughts on photographing a wedding?" (see link in my siggy). And, that's all well and good, but your camera is relatively new to you. A 40D RAW file is in the neighborhood of 11 - 15 megs (depending). So, if we assume you shoot 1,000 shots, that would mean that you would need at least 15G of memory. Now then, since I know you won't be re-cycling your memory (dumping them to a laptop or portable harddrive and then re-formatting them) while you are at the wedding and since I also know that you will have at least twice the memory you think you'll need - I would have to say that you are looking at having around 30GB of card. Not too bad. I think I would recommend you get it in 4GB increments - that should get you in the 200 - 250 shots per card range.

The nifty-fifty - for casual shooting, the bang for the buck offered by this lens is hard to beat. I had a copy of this lens and the optics were razor sharp when stopped down anything more than about 1/2 stop. Even wide open and focused at a distance, it was amazing. But, I read that there have been instances of QC problems with this lens.

For a wedding. Ummmm .... NO. And here's why

• It's slow to focus - especially in dark environs, like the caves they call churches and reception halls
• Focus is not sure - it will sometimes report a good focus lock and still be out of focus
• One bump and it could be done for - it's good glass in a plastic body, with plastic mount.
• The aperture is only 5-bladed - the bokeh produced by this lens is not very sweet.

I believe you would be much better served by the 50mm f/1.4 or a good copy of the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 (though I understand there are come QC issues with the Sigma lens - hard to get a good copy).

what is QC? And where do you buy your memory cards?

Scott_Quier

KTBoom2006-E510 wrote:

what is QC? And where do you buy your memory cards?

QC --> Quality Control, roughly speaking this refers to the steps and procedures implemented to ensure products or services are designed and produced to meet or exceed customer requirements. For much more on this, you can read here.

I buy where I find the best price for the brand I prefer. Some places to look include:

• B&H Photovideo
• Adorama
• NewEgg - They have a reputation almost (or better) then that of B&H for service and responsiveness
• CostCo - I'm a member and sometimes they have the deal

I'm sure there are other places - check out this thread for some other ideas.

ziggy53

Scott_Quier wrote:

... (regarding the Canon 50mm, f1.8)

For a wedding. Ummmm .... NO. And here's why

• It's slow to focus - especially in dark environs, like the caves they call churches and reception halls
• Focus is not sure - it will sometimes report a good focus lock and still be out of focus
• One bump and it could be done for - it's good glass in a plastic body, with plastic mount.
• The aperture is only 5-bladed - the bokeh produced by this lens is not very sweet.

I believe you would be much better served by the 50mm f/1.4 ...

I absolutely agree with this. The Canon EF 50mm, f1.4 USM is just a great lens to use for the ceremony and natural light shots (when you can get them).

Nikolai

Ditto on 50/1.8. It's a nice "fast" inexpensive lens, but its AF is as slow as it gets.
Memory wise, my current setup is: two 40D bodies, 16Gb in each, plus 2x8Gb + 3x2gb in the backpack/jacket. For multiday event a portable 160Gb HDD with built-in reader. 16Gb are my recent addition (nice deal on sundisk memory), before that 8Gb were my primary cards, and there were a few occasions at a large fast-pacing events (runway show to be a good example) when I was running out of memory, and even switching cards leading to losing some precious moments. With 16Gb Extreme III CF (x300) in each body I'm feeling pretty safe - at least for now :-)

Andy

Scott_Quier wrote:

Well then, I'll just have to start the thread for your

AMEN BROTHER!

Don't answer PMs like this one privately. Answer them in public so that the world can benefit.

Bless you, Scott!

KTBoom2006-E510

I guess I will have to buy more memory then, lol

Moogle Pepper

Dgrin needs a note scribbling smiley...

More info to jot down and process!

ChatKat

Wedding Minimums
I would never go to a wedding without 8 4gig cards;

2 flashes - at a minimum - and preferable to have more with Gary Fong or Stofen (your taste may vary)

For the formals : Lightstands, reflectors, umbrellas or softboxes and being short, something to stand on for the group shots.

You need batteries up the wazoo (4 BP-511's for two cameras)
and a ton of AA's for the flashes or a battery pack and grip.

For Canon lenses the 85 1.4 is wonderful as is the 50 1.4; but you might like longer for back of the church and wider for ceremony and reception.

And at least a main and backup camera or if you can dual shoot then a third body.

Oh, and make sure you have a wriiten contract and insurance because what if you blow it because you don't have the right lights, your camera fails or your car breaks down on the way or you get a brain freeze and hit the format button when you go to chimp your images?

Scott_Quier

ChatKat wrote:

I would never go to a wedding without 8 4gig cards;

2 flashes - at a minimum - and preferable to have more with Gary Fong or Stofen (your taste may vary)

For the formals : Lightstands, reflectors, umbrellas or softboxes and being short, something to stand on for the group shots.

You need batteries up the wazoo (4 BP-511's for two cameras)
and a ton of AA's for the flashes or a battery pack and grip.

For Canon lenses the 85 1.4 is wonderful as is the 50 1.4; but you might like longer for back of the church and wider for ceremony and reception.

And at least a main and backup camera or if you can dual shoot then a third body.

Oh, and make sure you have a wriiten contract and insurance because what if you blow it because you don't have the right lights, your camera fails or your car breaks down on the way or you get a brain freeze and hit the format button when you go to chimp your images?

Hey, Kathy, have you read my wedding thoughts on photographing a wedding? You should be very scared - everything you said is already there. That means you are thinking much like I am and that should scare you!

Scott_Quier

Andy wrote:

AMEN BROTHER!

Don't answer PMs like this one privately. Answer them in public so that the world can benefit.

Bless you, Scott!

I've seen you do this once or twice in the past and thought it was a good idea. I'm just following your lead.

KTBoom2006-E510

What brand of memory card is good? I am looking at A data, is that one ok?

Scott_Quier

KTBoom2006-E510 wrote:

What brand of memory card is good? I am looking at A data, is that one ok?

This is almost a religious question. I like sandisk. Art Scott likes a couple of other brands, Lexar and Transcend. I'm sure other's will drop in and voice a preference.

As an alternative to waiting for that, I know that there are other threads on DGrin asking and answering this same question. Here's just one that I found with a quick google search: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=46272

Nikolai

KTBoom2006-E510 wrote:

What brand of memory card is good? I am looking at A data, is that one ok?

Never heard of them... Which doesn't mean they are not good.. Mine are all sundisks and kingstones

ChatKat

San Disk

Nikolai wrote:

Never heard of them...

Mine are all San Disk Extreme III and Hoodman; I had a couple Lexar go south on me but was lucky. San Disk makes recovery software easily available.

Scott, I think we both went to the same class about a year ago that might have impacted our thinking about Weddings; But now with some more experience under our belts, well....great minds (lol)

Scott_Quier

ChatKat wrote:

Scott, I think we both went to the same class about a year ago that might have impacted our thinking about Weddings; But now with some more experience under our belts, well....great minds (lol)

Yep - I did the WPBC in Denver (with Lynne and Andi, among others) and I think you and Nik did the show in LA? I learned a lot for Shay and have been modifying it to better fit me ever since.

Nikolai

Scott_Quier wrote:

Yep - I did the WPBC in Denver (with Lynne and Andi, among others) and I think you and Nik did the show in LA? I learned a lot for Shay and have been modifying it to better fit me ever since.

Kathy and me went to SD, but yeah, it was a West Coast conference, so to speak :-). And I agree - it was a great kick-start, upon which it was much simpler to build out own experience and develop our own style, processes, and such.

KTBoom2006-E510

What are your opinions on polarizer?

Nikolai

KTBoom2006-E510 wrote:

What are your opinions on polarizer?

For doing what???

Scott_Quier

KTBoom2006-E510 wrote:

What are your opinions on polarizer?

On reasonable focal length lenses (or longer) and with ample light, they serve a very useful purpose. Outdoors, the can add saturation to foliage, contrast to clouds in the sky (by darkening the blue part of the sky) assuming the sun-camera-subject angle is appropriate. They have other uses, but those are the most commonly mentioned.

Inside, usually not enough light to make them useful.

KTBoom2006-E510

I bought some with the thought of using them during the outside wedding... but not sure if I should use them for that

Nikolai

Scott_Quier wrote:

Inside, usually not enough light to make them useful.

Aren't you forgetting about the enhancing/reducing reflections/glare?
CPs can be *very* useful inside:-)

NateWagner

going back to the memory cards, from what I have seen A data are very inexpensive and tend to match that in quality.

In addition they have extremely slow write times (there are video tests on you tube you can check out for this). Although this would probably not effect you too bad unless you were using a burst timer I would say spend the extra money and get the nicer cards. They aren't that expensive and I would say the extra security and performance is well worth the extra cost.

Scott_Quier

Nikolai wrote:

Aren't you forgetting about the enhancing/reducing reflections/glare?
CPs can be *very* useful inside:-)

Assuming you have the light. In a church during the ceremony? At the reception? Yup - that's gonna work!dunno

Nikolai

Scott_Quier wrote:

Assuming you have the light. In a church during the ceremony? At the reception? Yup - that's gonna work!dunno

I'm more talking about reception, where the light tends to be better and you can often use flash, too:-)

Scott_Quier

Nikolai wrote:

I'm more talking about reception, where the light tends to be better and you can often use flash, too:-)

At my next one, I might take a couple of test shots just to see how they turn out. But, I'm not sure I can afford the 1.5 stops that a CP eats.

Moogle Pepper

What about wedding albums?

Who do you recommend to create and print wedding albums?

urbanaries

Moogle Pepper wrote:

What about wedding albums?

Who do you recommend to create and print wedding albums?

What kind are you looking for?

Traditional matted album?
Coffee Table Book?
Flush mount?

What are your layout skills like? What's the budget range you're looking in (wholesale)? What are the couple wanting to spend?

Depending on your answer, here are a few vendors I have personally tried and liked. Ranked from low end to high end.

Blurb (easy to design, inexpensive coffee table)
WHCC (press printed coffee table)
Asuka (press printed coffee table)
Kiss (custom flush mount)
GraphiStudio (the biggest, baddest flush mount albums out there).

HTH

Scott_Quier

Moogle Pepper wrote:

What about wedding albums?

Who do you recommend to create and print wedding albums?

Lots of sources for that.

I've seen and been impressed with the work delivered by GraphiStudio. For a while they were having QC and delivery issues. Don't know what their status is now.

I've actually ordered and been very, very happy with the Kingston Flush Mount album from Albums Unlimited (link).

For the more budget minded, there's places like Asuka Books - which do a pretty good job as well.

You can get better answers from urbanaries, should she see this thread...

Moogle Pepper

Look above, Scott!

Hahah!!! Thanks!

I have created a portfolio coffee book by Blurb, but I don't think it would be a place where I would want to create a wedding album. So right now I am writing and bookmarking all great wedding album sites.

Scott_Quier

Moogle Pepper wrote:

Look above, Scott! .

Oh man - she beat me to the punch! Told you she would have a better list, didn't I!!