Wedding Lens

Fstoplife

So I am looking to purchase another lens, I hear phenomenal things about the Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G, does everyone agree? Is this lens also suitable for portraits? I love my prime and I was also thinking of going in that direction and getting another one, but I do have a wedding coming up, and I am hoping to get some more after that so I think I should go with the 24-70. Any other lens recommendations?

ssimmonsphoto

My go to lense in my case is my Tamron 17-50 2.8. I bought mine before they came out with their newest model of it, but I absolutely love the lense. I bought it thanks to the recommendations on it and it is definitely worth it.

ARKreations

The 24-70 is my go-to lens for most situations and is a great all-around lens for wedding work. In close quarters, it can be a bit long on a crop body. In those cases, the 17-50 lenses may be a better choice. I've heard great things about the Tamron and it appears to be a great lens for the price.
I'm sure either one would serve you well, but a lot depends on your budget.

Fstoplife

ARKreations : I see you have the D80, that's my main camera, although I am looking to upgrade to the D700 and keep the D80 as a backup, I love my camera. Do you use that camera for wedding photography? I love it, but I feel that it's too noisy at the higher ISO's, which does not make for a good church lens. Luckily the wedding I am shooting isn't until next July, I plan on having the D700, or something like it by then. How do you like the D300? I hear amazing things about the Canon 5d, but I have so many lenses for my Nikon already, and I love my Nikon, I really don't want to switch, but I want to find a Nikon that is comparable, the 700 seems to be close to it, except for the pixels, which isn't a huge deal anyways. I am going to go to BH on my lunch break and look into both those lenses. I have a 70-300 now, but I believe it's 4.5, the other night I was trying to take pictures of flowers in a room, with that lens, the light was on and I had a speed-light that I was bouncing and it was terrible, I need the wider aperture.

Ozzwald

Fstoplife wrote: »

ARKreations : I see you have the D80, that's my main camera, although I am looking to upgrade to the D700 and keep the D80 as a backup, I love my camera. Do you use that camera for wedding photography? I love it, but I feel that it's too noisy at the higher ISO's, which does not make for a good church lens. Luckily the wedding I am shooting isn't until next July, I plan on having the D700, or something like it by then. How do you like the D300? I hear amazing things about the Canon 5d, but I have so many lenses for my Nikon already, and I love my Nikon, I really don't want to switch, but I want to find a Nikon that is comparable, the 700 seems to be close to it, except for the pixels, which isn't a huge deal anyways. I am going to go to BH on my lunch break and look into both those lenses. I have a 70-300 now, but I believe it's 4.5, the other night I was trying to take pictures of flowers in a room, with that lens, the light was on and I had a speed-light that I was bouncing and it was terrible, I need the wider aperture.

The D300 ergonomics are similar to the D700 and i love the button setup, canon is a little cleaner but i dont like how some buttons have control 2 different settings. Try to get a hold of both and see which one feels better. Either the D300 or D700 will be an upgrade over your D80. The D700 will definitely give you what you want with noiseless images at 3200 iso!! If your worried about the D700 only having 12mp dont worry unless your doing some tight cropping on your pictures. both the 5d mark ii and D700 are great full frame cameras, but dont hassle yourself and just stick with nikon unless your prefer the ergonomics of a canon body that much more.

As far as lens i'd get either the 70-200mm f/2.8 or the 24-70mm f/2.8. i like the 70-200 cause you can get up real close with out interrupting the wedding or reception. as said before the 24-70 is a staple for most. pending on the primes you have see what focal length you need the most. Might not need a 70-200 cause you could probably pull off decent light shots with a D700 and your 70-300mm, but f/2.8 never hurt anyone.

ian408

I can't speak for it as a wedding lens but it is a great lens. A good addition to the collection.

Art Scott

I shot weddings for over 20yrs with only a 70-210 (now they are 70-200), then I added a 28-70 and that was not wide enuff, traded up to a 24-70
and for me it is not wide enuff for a lot of venues.....my next wedding lens will be a sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 that little bit of difference won't matter to me,
with a D300........but when i go FF then it will be 70-200 / 24-70 as that will be a killer combo.......all I am lacking is the extra MooLah for the D3X or its
replacement.....so anyone wanting to donate to my cause just let me know........ :-}}

ARKreations

Fstoplife wrote: »

ARKreations : I see you have the D80, that's my main camera, although I am looking to upgrade to the D700 and keep the D80 as a backup, I love my camera. Do you use that camera for wedding photography? I love it, but I feel that it's too noisy at the higher ISO's, which does not make for a good church lens. Luckily the wedding I am shooting isn't until next July, I plan on having the D700, or something like it by then. How do you like the D300? I hear amazing things about the Canon 5d, but I have so many lenses for my Nikon already, and I love my Nikon, I really don't want to switch, but I want to find a Nikon that is comparable, the 700 seems to be close to it, except for the pixels, which isn't a huge deal anyways. I am going to go to BH on my lunch break and look into both those lenses. I have a 70-300 now, but I believe it's 4.5, the other night I was trying to take pictures of flowers in a room, with that lens, the light was on and I had a speed-light that I was bouncing and it was terrible, I need the wider aperture.

I like the D80 and it was a great body for me to start with, but I bought the D300 for 2 reasons. 1. I needed a second body for wedding work. 2. The D80 is definitely noisier in low light settings. So I use the D80 as a second/backup for now with the intent of adding a D700 in the future. The D80 noise factor has nothing to do with the 24-70 being a good lens - for me, it's a great lens on either body.
(There's a reason it's part of the Nikon Trinity)

That said, I really like the D300. While it's not quite up to the noise performance of the 700, it's hard to beat for the price. And Megapixels are mainly just numbers for the sales department. Yes, it does give you a little more room to crop. But even a properly framed/exposed 6Mp image can be enlarged beyond belief. 12Mp is just fine and anything larger just starts wasting drive space. And ergonomically, I like having a little bit more mass and size in a body. The D300 just fits me better than the D80.

CTMKimberly

How about the 24-70? I'm debating on this one right now...any opinions about this piece?

emeraldrose

I've used it for the last 2 weddings I've done with the d700 and LOVE IT!!! It's a very crisp lens and it's actually the only lens i used for the weddings. Don't get me wrong I'd love to have a more wide angle and telephoto lens, but you work with what you have and both my brides and their families and friends have been beyond words.

CTMKimberly

Thank you...I just ordered it to try out. I can't wait to try it out!

ARKreations

You WON'T be disappointed! That's my daily work-horse lens. But then I'm really starting to love the 14-24 as well - I'll be using it on its first wedding today.

quasparagus

Well, the 24-70 is pretty good. Honestly though, I've had better luck with the AF Nikkor 35mm f/2.0D. It's very sharp, and just fast enough if you need it to be. It's rumored that Nikon plans to replace it with a 35mm f/1.4, so if I were you, I'd wait a little while to get either of the 35mm's. The Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 is terrible. Don't even consider it. Also, what's great about the 35mm f/2.0D is that it won't break your budget like the 24-70 would.

For a wedding I would recommend the following:

Nikon 35mm f/2.0D
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 (it's sharper and has better color than the Nikon)
Nikon 80-200/70-200 f/2.8 (both lenses are amazing, the 70-200 has VR, so it'll be better in low-light)
Depending on the venue, a super-wide could be helpful....14-24, 16-35 (this is a very fun lens), or 17-35 should do...they're all rather pricy, but worth every penny!

CTMKimberly

Thank you so much for all your input here...it's very useful!
I shoot outdoor elopement packages here in Montana...so I don't need anything for low lighting so to speak.