Will I be able to get by with a 5DII + 70-200/f4LIS?

jmphotocraft

...and a 24-70/2.8L? I also have a 580 and a 430 speedlights. I'm shooting my cousin's wedding in June as my gift to him. I'd rather not buy the 70-200/2.8LIS for this event. I will have one someday but I don't need it yet.

Moogle Pepper

jmphotocraft wrote:

...and a 24-70/2.8L? I also have a 580 and a 430 speedlights. I'm shooting my cousin's wedding in June as my gift to him. I'd rather not buy the 70-200/2.8LIS for this event. I will have one someday but I don't need it yet.

Yep.

Mishka

Moogle Pepper wrote:

Yep.

I second that...just be sure not to go too low on your shutter speed. Better to have grainy high ISO photos than blurry, unrecognizable ones...

tenoverthenose

I'd be a bit hesitant indoors. Sure I shoot my 70-200 2.8 at f/4 or deeper all night long at a wedding (with added light), but focusing can be difficult with any f4 lens. When I first bought the 5d kit, I tried the 24-105 at a wedding and had ugly results once the lights went out. Sure I had flashes around the room, but they did me no good in focusing on a subject. I would look into renting/purchasing an 85 1.8 to keep your options open without spending too much money.

Blurmore

I use a 70-200 f4 L IS, and never want a 2.8 (unless it comes with a sherpa) I feel comfortable hand holding this lens down to 1/30 sec@ 200mm for ceremonies, 2.8 schm00 8 at IS0 1600/f4 in most churches you'll be fine.

jmphotocraft

! Thanks for the replies.

As for signatures, I have to admit that I like knowing what lenses people have when considering their advice. Chances are, someone doing portraits with a slow kit lens probably isn't quite "there" yet. Of course I could be wrong, but I think those are the odds.

mmmatt

If that is your only lens you may struggle some. I agree with Ten on the low-light focusing. I even had some trouble getting the f2.8L to focus in lower light and especially on dark skinned people. 70mm isn't going to be easy to use for group shots. A 24mm-ish f2.8 would be a great addition even if it wasn't a zoom. That being said, you should be able to shoot an entire wedding with that lens but you will be foot zooming and getting a lot of tight crops if the 70mm is as wide as you go. I love my 70-200 f4L though... I had the 2.8 for a bit but sold it and rebought the f4. I prefer fast primes for low light and that 2.8IS is a flibbin tank! The f4 is as sharp or sharper in good light which is when I use it most anyways.

matt

jmphotocraft

mmmatt wrote:

If that is your only lens you may struggle some.

please read the OP before responding, thanks.

mmmatt

jmphotocraft wrote:

please read the OP before responding, thanks.

whatever

jmphotocraft

mmmatt wrote:

whatever

I said I also have a 24-70/2.8 in the first sentance of the OP. I don't get people who will spend 5 minutes responding to a post they couldn't spend 60 seconds reading. But, whatever.

mmmatt

jmphotocraft wrote:

I said I also have a 24-70/2.8 in the first sentance of the OP. I don't get people who will spend 5 minutes responding to a post they couldn't spend 60 seconds reading. But, whatever.

I don't get how people get so bent about an errant post when someone is trying to be helpful, that they have to post to call the person out over it. I made a mistake and overlooked the first couple of words so I'm sorry that my post wasn't as helpful as was intended. Not such a big deal, so hence the "whatever". Lighten up pal.

Matt

JohnBiggs

I think the f4 is too slow. My second shooter uses it and he has lots of trouble. Though he is limited to ISO 1600. This is of course in dark churches.

As for the SIG Line thing. I've always posted my equipment even when I had very little. I always figure that someone may see the sig line and want to PM a question to me about something in particular. Also if I recommend certain equipment that happens to be in my sig line the reader hopefully takes more consideration of the recommendation over someone who is basing their recommendation on what they read in another post.

However the sig line is getting a little long and I may just make it a link.

mmmatt

JohnBiggs wrote:

As for the SIG Line thing. I've always posted my equipment even when I had very little. I always figure that someone may see the sig line and want to PM a question to me about something in particular. Also if I recommend certain equipment that happens to be in my sig line the reader hopefully takes more consideration of the recommendation over someone who is basing their recommendation on what they read in another post.

This is my thought on it to. I'm not bragging about my gear but I want people to know what I have so they can ask about something I use if they want to. Maybe on smaller low-res screens the sig line takes up too much real estate, but on my screen it is certainly not distracting...

Matt

jmphotocraft

the only real problem with gear in the sig is that it makes the forum search function useless when searching for gear info.

mmmatt

jmphotocraft wrote:

the only real problem with gear in the sig is that it makes the forum search function useless when searching for gear info.

ahhh... never thought about that, but I wouldn't go with useless if you find people who are using the gear.

matt

Tango

"shooting my cousin's wedding in June as my gift"

The thought of me doing something like this makes me want to crawl into a hole and never come out....

Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Blurmore

AaronNelson wrote:

"shooting my cousin's wedding in June as my gift"

The thought of me doing something like this makes me want to crawl into a hole and never come out....

Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

I know the feeling kinda...I have bartered for wedding photography services 2 weddings for kitchen rehab skill and labor. I have never "gifted" a wedding before though and this year I am shooting 2 family or close to family weddings, which I have only done once before. I'm confident enough in my abilities to do the job and neither are bridezillas, momzillas or familzillas, so its all good.

jmphotocraft

AaronNelson wrote:

"shooting my cousin's wedding in June as my gift"

The thought of me doing something like this makes me want to crawl into a hole and never come out....

Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

I do and I don't blame you. However this will serve two purposes for me - 1) it will satisfy my curiosity of whether or not I want to get into the Wedding market, and 2) if I do, I'll be able to use this as an example and reference.

JohnBiggs

jmphotocraft wrote:

the only real problem with gear in the sig is that it makes the forum search function useless when searching for gear info.

This is not true... just try to do it. Sig lines don't affect the search because the forum doesn't store the sig in the post. That's why when you update a sig all your old posts are instantly updated too.

However, As I said, my gear list is already too long and I've shortened things for what I can, but I think I'm going to use this method for my gear list now.

Moogle Pepper

I have to say, you should have kept your 135L.

Art Scott

AaronNelson wrote:

"shooting my cousin's wedding in June as my gift"

The thought of me doing something like this makes me want to crawl into a hole and never come out....

Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Been there done that and swore never to shoot a family members wedding again.....that is where everything that can go wrong will........I was so nervous that I borrowed equipment from friends to have more than my 2 backups and hauled it across 2 states for the wedding...........that was in my film days.......I handed the rolls off and found out that they had Walmart process it after I told them not too.....now that nephew is scrambling to get the fading negs scanned and processed......my bro, his dad, wanted me to scan and fix......I told them they could not afford to have me to do it.............wink

jmphotocraft

JohnBiggs wrote:

This is not true... just try to do it. Sig lines don't affect the search because the forum doesn't store the sig in the post. That's why when you update a sig all your old posts are instantly updated too.

Aha, I stand corrected! Cool.

However, As I said, my gear list is already too long and I've shortened things for what I can, but I think I'm going to use this method for my gear list now.

That's a silly waste of forum space. You can list all your gear in your member profile. You can then put a link to your member profile in your sig, for all the people who haven't realized this, or that everyone's username is a hyperlink. Creating a post with your gear listing is redundant.

jmphotocraft

Moogle Pepper wrote:

I have to say, you should have kept your 135L.

Damn straight. However at the time I needed to fund the purchase of my 5DII. I had purchased the 135L just days before the 5DII and it wasn't paid for yet. Keeping it then simply wasn't an option.

I thought I'd be able to afford to buy another one in time for this June wedding, but alas, because "someone" lied about their "campaign promises", my taxes did significantly increase even though I am making way less than $250k. :pissed

Anyway, I'm not sure the 135 would be long enough on FF for the ceremony. Also I'd think I doubt I'd be able to discretely move around enough to zoom it with my feet. Reception, sure.

JohnBiggs

jmphotocraft wrote:

That's a silly waste of forum space. You can list all your gear in your member profile. You can then put a link to your member profile in your sig, for all the people who haven't realized this, or that everyone's username is a hyperlink. Creating a post with your gear listing is redundant.

Ahh, That could be better too. I didn't read the whole thread, just the first post. I'll check the profile thing.

EDIT: Checked it out. The edit box is annoyingly small and limited. I think I'll try the post thing.

jmphotocraft

JohnBiggs wrote:

Ahh, That could be better too. I didn't read the whole thread, just the first post. I'll check the profile thing.

EDIT: Checked it out. The edit box is annoyingly small and limited. I think I'll try the post thing.

Well, it is small to type in, but the limit is fairly generous. I guess if you want to craft a beautiful, bulleted resume of all your toys the post method is the way to go. But there's no telling when the admins may tire of that and delete that thread.

Back to the search thing, you know what, I was thinking of dpreview. Last I checked, over there the sigs are stored with the posts, so listing your gear in your sig there does mess up the search engine.