New Wedding Lens

One Moment One Shot

Some assistance please....

I am doing a wedding on April 14 and the bridal party is 22 people. This will be pretty wide when shooting the group shot and I want to make sure I get the best possible image.

I currently have a 70-300 Nikkor VR, a 18-55 VR and a 50mm and shooting with a Nikon D300S.

What lens should I consider adding without breaking my pocket? I am looking to invest around $300 at the moment for an additional one.

Any thoughts and feedback would be great.

Moogle Pepper

One Moment One Shot wrote: »

Some assistance please....

I am doing a wedding on April 14 and the bridal party is 22 people. This will be pretty wide when shooting the group shot and I want to make sure I get the best possible image.

I currently have a 70-300 Nikkor VR, a 18-55 VR and a 50mm and shooting with a Nikon D300S.

What lens should I consider adding without breaking my pocket? I am looking to invest around $300 at the moment for an additional one.

Any thoughts and feedback would be great.

I don't know anything about nikon lenses. But I would rent a really good lens.

Matthew Saville

One Moment One Shot wrote: »

Some assistance please....

I am doing a wedding on April 14 and the bridal party is 22 people. This will be pretty wide when shooting the group shot and I want to make sure I get the best possible image.

I currently have a 70-300 Nikkor VR, a 18-55 VR and a 50mm and shooting with a Nikon D300S.

What lens should I consider adding without breaking my pocket? I am looking to invest around $300 at the moment for an additional one.

Any thoughts and feedback would be great.

For $300, I don't think you will find a lens that helps with this particular situation very much. Some people may recommend an ultra-wide like the Tokina 11-16 2.8. (Although that's a $600 lens, but for a moment let's just forget price and talk lens-theory-101 here) Personally however, I'm not a fan of ultra-wides for group shots. Unless you have anorexia you will NOT look good towards the edges of any DX lens wider than 16-18mm. I'd rather shoot at a regular focal length, and back up. The only way this may not be ideal is if they ask to shoot a whole group portrait inside the church, and there are pews blocking people's feet / legs. If that is the case, then just take the shot with their feet blocked as best you can, and then request that you also shoot another photo outside somewhere so you can back up further and get a cleaner shot.

Most people think that the more people you put in a photo, the wider you have to zoom, but honestly I prefer shooting long and shallow, no matter what. Even for larger groups, I can usually manage to find a way to back up and fit everybody in. Here's a shot taken at 85mm on full-frame, which would be about the 55mm on your DX D300s. Of course I was shooting at f/2 so if your 18-55 is f/5.6 at the long end it won't look this shallow, but at least you won't be warping girls' shoulders and calves and making them look huge.

If I could pick any lens to suggest, it would be to rent the 17-55 DX and 50 f/1.4 AFS-G. You'll be much better off renting these two awesome lenses, than buying anything in the ~$300 range.

If you can stretch your budget a whole bunch and make a permanent investment, the 50 f/1.8 AFS-G is gorgeous, (I own it) ...and every bit as good as the f/1.4 yet it's only $200. Or there's also the 35 f/1.8 AFS-G if you plan on sticking with DX crop for a while. Then, speaking of sticking with crop, in addition to that prime I'd recommend buying something like the Sigma 17-50 2.8 HSM, (they make an OS HSM version too, but that's getting kinda pricey) ...and/or also the Sigma 50-150 2.8 HSM. (Again, they make an OS HSM version that is about to hit shelves, and in fact the older non-OS version is discontinued, however you can still find them from time to time and the older version is AWESOME, I also own it and it's "only" $550-$650 used...)

Good luck!
=Matt=

Art Scott

Matthew Saville wrote: »

Here's a shot taken at 85mm on full-frame, which would be about the 55mm on your DX D300s. Of course I was shooting at f/2 so if your 18-55 is f/5.6 at the long end it won't look this shallow, but at least you won't be warping girls' shoulders and calves and making them look huge.


Good luck!
=Matt=

Image missing???....

One Moment One Shot

Matthew Saville wrote: »

For $300, I don't think you will find a lens that helps with this particular situation very much. Some people may recommend an ultra-wide like the Tokina 11-16 2.8. (Although that's a $600 lens, but for a moment let's just forget price and talk lens-theory-101 here) Personally however, I'm not a fan of ultra-wides for group shots. Unless you have anorexia you will NOT look good towards the edges of any DX lens wider than 16-18mm. I'd rather shoot at a regular focal length, and back up. The only way this may not be ideal is if they ask to shoot a whole group portrait inside the church, and there are pews blocking people's feet / legs. If that is the case, then just take the shot with their feet blocked as best you can, and then request that you also shoot another photo outside somewhere so you can back up further and get a cleaner shot.

Most people think that the more people you put in a photo, the wider you have to zoom, but honestly I prefer shooting long and shallow, no matter what. Even for larger groups, I can usually manage to find a way to back up and fit everybody in. Here's a shot taken at 85mm on full-frame, which would be about the 55mm on your DX D300s. Of course I was shooting at f/2 so if your 18-55 is f/5.6 at the long end it won't look this shallow, but at least you won't be warping girls' shoulders and calves and making them look huge.

If I could pick any lens to suggest, it would be to rent the 17-55 DX and 50 f/1.4 AFS-G. You'll be much better off renting these two awesome lenses, than buying anything in the ~$300 range.

If you can stretch your budget a whole bunch and make a permanent investment, the 50 f/1.8 AFS-G is gorgeous, (I own it) ...and every bit as good as the f/1.4 yet it's only $200. Or there's also the 35 f/1.8 AFS-G if you plan on sticking with DX crop for a while. Then, speaking of sticking with crop, in addition to that prime I'd recommend buying something like the Sigma 17-50 2.8 HSM, (they make an OS HSM version too, but that's getting kinda pricey) ...and/or also the Sigma 50-150 2.8 HSM. (Again, they make an OS HSM version that is about to hit shelves, and in fact the older non-OS version is discontinued, however you can still find them from time to time and the older version is AWESOME, I also own it and it's "only" $550-$650 used...)

Good luck!
=Matt=

WOW! Very interesting. Thanks for all the information. I already own the 50mm f1.8 lens. I am gonna check on the other lens today.

VayCayMom

Listen to Matt, he has given you a lot to consider, but Moogle has the same advice I was going to post.. rent one!

tenoverthenose

For group shots I would use your existing lens, add light and stop it down. You'll need to stop it down anyway (for DOF ) and you can hit the lenses sweet spot easily. I can't recommend going wider than 35mm on a full frame because of distortion as others have clearly pointed out.

Matthew Saville

Yep sorry I forgot to add the IMG tag...

Matthew Saville

One Moment One Shot wrote: »

WOW! Very interesting. Thanks for all the information. I already own the 50mm f1.8 lens. I am gonna check on the other lens today.

Okay so if at all possible, get your bridal party outside, put them in an area with flattering light that is sort of hitting them in the face a little bit more than on top of their heads, and shoot at f/2.8 or f/4 on your 50mm. Just back it up until you can fit them all in!

Shooting this way, you'll be able to avoid any distortion on people, and have a very flat, sharp plane of focus, and lastly you'll be able to control your background and keep it clean and simple and un-distracting.

If you already have the 50, I would then consider renting either the Nikon 17-55 f/2.8 DX, if you prefer to shoot at closer distances, or the 70-200 2.8 VR, if you know you'll be shooting from a great distance in a larger or more restrictive church.

Other than that, the only advice I can give is to invest in flash (and invest in mastering it) before the wedding day. You should know how to bounce light off of ANYTHING, (anything that is close to white, that is) ...and if possible, you could get an extra flash, a light stand, and a set of cheap radio triggers with which to light people during the reception...

=Matt=

wave01

i would agree with the the flash. also have a backup plan for bad weather

One Moment One Shot

tenoverthenose wrote: »

For group shots I would use your existing lens, add light and stop it down. You'll need to stop it down anyway (for DOF ) and you can hit the lenses sweet spot easily. I can't recommend going wider than 35mm on a full frame because of distortion as others have clearly pointed out.

What do you mean step it down? So I should be okay with the 50mm? The D300S is not a Full Frame camera.

Matthew Saville

One Moment One Shot wrote: »

What do you mean step it down? So I should be okay with the 50mm? The D300S is not a Full Frame camera.

So yeah, don't go wider than 35mm on full-frame would roughly mean, don't go wider than ~24mm on DX for formals. At least, not if people's faces are going to be right at the edges of the frame. You can go wider if everybody is going to be quite central in the image; I've gone to 20mm on full-frame (which is like, 13mm on DX) and still done okay because I keep people's heads, arms, and legs towards the center of the picture. ;-)

Stop it down just means increase your aperture, if you're at 24mm on your 18-55 and your lens starts at f/4, go to f/5.6 or f/8 so that you get everybody's faces in focus, and hit the sweet spot of the lens... I don't know if you have the 18-55 "regular" or the VR version, but they BOTH have great sharpness when stopped down just one stop, heck you can shoot wide open too in any candid type of situation, for sure. You'll just have to "add light" like Patrick said, because you're at f/5.6 etc. instead of f/2.8 with a pro lens. (That'd be two extra stops of light) But anyways yeah, that is a MUCH better way to invest your time and/or money, is just flat-out mastering the understanding of aperture and all the other camera settings, or moreso than you already have, ...and then also practice using a single on-camera flash, bounced off the ceiling or a nearby wall preferably, to give you flattering, consistent images. If you have the time in the next couple weeks before the wedding, I would give yourself the challenge of understanding EVERYTHING about both your camera and a flash, and practice shooting in dark rooms, practice shooting in dark open spaces without walls / ceilings close by, etc. It takes many experiences to get it right, in the long run, so don't stress out too much about the ice-breaker!

=Matt=

avangardphoto

You can use your 50mm and just back up. Go with high small aperture to too everyone in focus.

zoomer

Use what you have, put them in three rows.