Gear question?

mpriest13mpriest13 Registered Users Posts: 222 Major grins
edited July 21, 2011 in Weddings
I am shooting a wedding in about a month in a pretty dark church. I have shot in churches before without issue but this one is going to be very dark. I am guessing it will most likely be a candle lit type (except with Christmas lights) atmosphere with the stage lit somewhat by house lights.

The church is rather small and I won't have a ton of room to move around as it will most likely be packed.

My D300 isn't going to cut it so I am renting a D700 for the better high ISO performance. I will have it for a good week before the wedding and plan to shoot everyday to be sure I am comfortable with it and I have used it a few times already.

My question is...do you think my 24-70f2.8 is going to be enough or should I think about renting a 35mm 1.4 along with the d700. Will I need to go beyond the f2.8 and need the prime lenses? I have no problem renting whatever I need for this wedding.

Comments

  • FoquesFoques Registered Users Posts: 1,951 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    i'd rent a d3s if you are looking to rent a camera of that level for how dark you are describing.

    I love my d700, don't get me wrong, but I found that the d3s gave a much better high ISO quality.. (and way bigger price tag..)
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  • mpriest13mpriest13 Registered Users Posts: 222 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    Foques wrote: »
    i'd rent a d3s if you are looking to rent a camera of that level for how dark you are describing.

    I love my d700, don't get me wrong, but I found that the d3s gave a much better high ISO quality.. (and way bigger price tag..)


    Yeah, I know I said I was willing to rent anything but I am not sure I want to go that far. :DI was under the impression the D700 was pretty impressive at very high ISO.


    I have used it a couple times but never under those conditions. I mean, even a D3 can't shoot in the dark...I really just need the shots of the stage to be clean and it will be lit somewhat by the house lights. I figured I could shoot wide open for the procession etc and they may come out a " little " less sharp but that is the price you pay for it being so dark. They already understand that and are ok with it. I am doing my best to manage expectations. They just want the stage shots to come out good and that will be lit much better than the rest of the church.
  • FoquesFoques Registered Users Posts: 1,951 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    d700 is fantastic, and I shoot local bands more than anything.. and do not shoot weddings, yet..

    one of the shows I shot with a friend of mine we were in a "basement" environment.. where his 16000K iso came in quite handy..

    I guess what I am saying is my take on wedding is to be overprepared, rather than under. that's the only reason why I suggested that.
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  • mpriest13mpriest13 Registered Users Posts: 222 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    Foques wrote: »
    d700 is fantastic, and I shoot local bands more than anything.. and do not shoot weddings, yet..

    one of the shows I shot with a friend of mine we were in a "basement" environment.. where his 16000K iso came in quite handy..

    I guess what I am saying is my take on wedding is to be overprepared, rather than under. that's the only reason why I suggested that.

    I totally agree with the overprepared part of it and now you got me thinking about going for the d3. I will have to think about it. The ceremony is going to be something like 20 min and the rest of the day is outside including the reception. Do I really want to go that far for just those few shots...but again those shot are priceless so maybe the answer is yes.

    How much noise do you get with 160000k?
  • FoquesFoques Registered Users Posts: 1,951 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    for now : http://mansurovs.com/nikon-d700-d3-vs-d3s-high-iso-noise-comparison

    I'll have to ask him if he still has any of the images handy. It's been a while.
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  • mpriest13mpriest13 Registered Users Posts: 222 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    Foques wrote: »
    for now : http://mansurovs.com/nikon-d700-d3-vs-d3s-high-iso-noise-comparison

    I'll have to ask him if he still has any of the images handy. It's been a while.

    Not overly impressed with those results for the D700. Kinda surprised. HUGE step up from the D300 but another pretty big step to the D3. I am thinking that you can shoot differently to better performance. The pictures are a little underexposed to begin with...
  • FoquesFoques Registered Users Posts: 1,951 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    I find that I end up overexposing images when shooting with high ISO, just so I could reduce the noise in PP.

    i'm really anxious to see the d800 specs.. one more month..:)
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  • mpriest13mpriest13 Registered Users Posts: 222 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    Foques wrote: »
    I find that I end up overexposing images when shooting with high ISO, just so I could reduce the noise in PP.

    i'm really anxious to see the d800 specs.. one more month..:)

    yeah, no kidding. That is my plan. The D800. Thanks for you help
  • tenoverthenosetenoverthenose Registered Users Posts: 815 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    My recipe for dark environments is my 5dII & fast glass. I would say that flash glass is more important than hi iso (1.4 is two stops faster than 2.8 - lots of light) but if you are not familiar with it, a dark church is not the place to experiment. A fast wide & tele will do wonders in a dark church. And with the lighting you are describing, it will look great opened up.
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  • mpriest13mpriest13 Registered Users Posts: 222 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    tenoverthenose wrote: »
    My recipe for dark environments is my 5dII & fast glass. I would say that flash glass is more important than hi iso (1.4 is two stops faster than 2.8 - lots of light) but if you are not familiar with it, a dark church is not the place to experiment. A fast wide & tele will do wonders in a dark church. And with the lighting you are describing, it will look great opened u.4 p.

    Yeah, that is kinda what I was wondering but the problem I have with shooting primes wide open is I can't seem to get them very sharp. The depth of field is so thin that I get too many less than tack sharp pictures. Do you think that would improve with a D700 when compared to the D300.

    I have a 501.4 that I use on occasion around the house with the kids but when I shoot at 1.4 I get some nasty halo effects and less than sharp pictures. I LOVE the lens most of the time but I am scared to use it for a wedding. I would rather use the pro 35 1.4 and 85 1.8 for something as important as a wedding.
  • tenoverthenosetenoverthenose Registered Users Posts: 815 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    Yes, shooting at 1.4 or 1.2 is tough - there is no way around it. With modern bodies, I can't recommend calibrating your lens/body combo perfectly. Shooting wide open on a fast prime will often reveal slight flaws with your autofocus. With such a shallow DOF it will be tough at best to nail your focus, and you will need to.

    A higher quality lens will reduce CA (haloing) a bit, but shooting wide open in with bright contrasty scenes will be problematic. Of course, each lens is totally different. Some lenses will be acceptably sharp at 1.4, others might need to be stopped down just a bit.

    All of this to say that you need experience knowing what tool to use when. For example, I know that sometime I may be better off to use my 85 1.2 at f2 and 3200 iso because of lighting conditions instead of f1.2 and iso 1200. You need to know your gear inside and out.
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  • QarikQarik Registered Users Posts: 4,959 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    d700 with 24-70mm with good shooting technique should be fine. If you want to make sure you can try iso 3200-6400 on your D300 at 2.8 and 1/50 sec in a similar lighitng scenario to check for exposure only..3200 on D700 is fine, 6400 needs some attention to technique.
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  • Matthew SavilleMatthew Saville Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 3,352 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    Honestly, when the light gets really bad, I don't mess around with f/2.8 or stabilization. I go to f/1.4, and if necessar I shoot wider and closer. (A 35 f/1.4 will let you shoot at a slower shutter speed than an 85 1.4, I mean...)

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  • bnlearlebnlearle Registered Users Posts: 102 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    I agree with Matt. F/1.4 or f/1.2 are key for low light situations.
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  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2011
    Matthew Saville wrote: »
    A 35 f/1.4 will let you shoot at a slower shutter speed than an 85 1.4, I mean

    =Matt=


    ...and with more dof

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