noob question on photo equipment for wedding

[payit]

dear all,
hi...good day. my 1st posting in SA:redface:

would love to hear the c-foos opinions on my photography equipment for wedding + potrait session.

as of now, my line-ups are:

Nikon D80
Nikkor Kit Lense DX 18-70mm 4.5-6.3
Nikkor 50mm f1.8
Sigma 18-200 mm f3.5-6.3 OS
SB 600
3-Pod

encountered underexposed & blur pics with the Sigma in indoor session. used Nikkor 50 mm too but end up with soft pics.

haven't done any outdoor session.

just started in this photography field as a hobby. followed my gf, a 'real perempuan' mak andam, during wedding session to snap few pictures.

do i need to upgrade to a faster lense? i guess i need a wide angle lense too, rite?

your advise is highly appreciated by me. thanks to all....:)

[revelation]

best to comment only if you can post some sample pics with the exif intact.

[mon-fro]

Your gears are ok. I've shot with faster lens and partner/assistant with similar gears as your. Both sets of photos turned out good. In fact at times, I felt my partner's shot was better as lighting control with flash SB600 are great for fill-in. Your gears are lightweight too. :rolleyes::D

One more thing, use manual controls.

[noruazumi]

sell your sigma & nikkor 18-70 and get Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 if you want sharper images.
you need to practice more using your SB600 so that you know how to control your flash indoor.

[sh4hr1n]

Nikkor 85 f/1.8 is a good lens for portraits and with nice bokeh too. ;)


Err.. blur due to camera shakes or subject movements? Be aware of the SS used.

[chuah406]

yr equipment appears ok.

18-70mm is pretty sharp and useful for group/event shots. use wt yr sb600 and you should get decent pics.
50mm for low light and portrait wt f/1.8-2.8 to get acceptable "bokeh"...

sigma 18-200? keep for travel photography.....1 lens for all....and travel light! ;)

[gr2k]

i would go with

Nikon D80
T17-50 f/2.8
T90mm f/2.8 Macro 1:1

IMHO the S18-200 f/3.5-6.3 OS isn't a very good performer, i would sell that and the N18-70 f/3.5-4.5 to buy the Tamron 17-50..
if your 50mm is soft that's probably you were using f/1.8..try shoot around f/2.8 or so it'll be better..

indeed the N85mm f/1.8 would give you great bokeh, but the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro isn't that bad..plus you now have Macro reach..its about the same price as the Nikon 85mm anyway...i use my tamron 90mm more for portraits than macro nowadays...

[payit]

@mon-fro

thanks man for the advise. agreed that i need to master the sb600. i use A-priority for most of the time. due to my "not-so-fast lense" the pictures ended up blurry due to camera shakes+subject movement...mostly due to camera shakes:P. will use manual mode and try to tweak the setting for minimum shutter speed to 1/60s for handheld and let the pp to increase the exposure. lightweight? waaaaah....thot my gears like batu-bata already....wonder how heavy your gears are?

@noruazumi

thanks bro :) can my 50mm replace the tamron 17-50mm at the moment? i'm looking to get the 17-50mm f2.8 for my wide angle + portraits "2 in 1" solution. thanks for the suggestion...now...just need to korek my piggy bank...:( yes, i need to learn more with the sb600 indoor...

@sh4hr1n

10-q bro. blur due to both....hehehehe:D

@chuah406

thanks for the reply. hehehe...i will keep my sigma....a decent all rounder camera.

@gr2k

tq for the advise. hmm...all d pics i shot was at f1.8. will experiment to shoot at f2.8. i was looking into a lense to cover for the candid shots. i think i won't sell my lenses kot....hope to buy a second body and to have 2 setups during photo session....:cool:

from my little experience, if i have the $$$, will these be the correct setup? kindly advise your own preference for your individual setup...10q!

17-50mm f2.8 = indoor+group+portraits sessions
50mm f1.8 = portraits+indoor wt low light
24-70mm f2.8 = candid+indoor+outdoor

can any of these lenses to be used for the macro shots i.e wedding ring? tried with 50mm before, but hard to autofocus. changed to m-focus, but back then still lack of knowledge with the metering mode.

thanks to all for your c& c :)

[seethoe]

try not to overlap focal length esp between zoom lenses for budget sake. my current line up is:
tokina 12-24 f/4
sigma 24-70 f/2.8
nikkor 85 f/1.4
nikkor 105VR f/2.8
sb-800

u should sell off all yr lens and buy the 17-50 as above advised...and upgrade yr flash to sb800 or get a 85 f/1.8... but for weddings its the creativity rather than the gear...the gear is just a tool. i hv used the 18-70 n it was good enough then i sold it and then it was the 24-120VR which i sold it also & now its the sigma 24-70. hope this helps.

[zamrudku]

Nikkor 85 f/1.8 is a good lens for portraits and with nice bokeh too. ;)
Ehem......I can definitely vouch for this. ;)

[kiankheong]

as of now, my line-ups are:

Nikon D80
Nikkor Kit Lense DX 18-70mm 4.5-6.3
Nikkor 50mm f1.8
Sigma 18-200 mm f3.5-6.3 OS
SB 600
3-Pod

encountered underexposed & blur pics with the Sigma in indoor session. used Nikkor 50 mm too but end up with soft pics.

haven't done any outdoor session.

just started in this photography field as a hobby. followed my gf, a 'real perempuan' mak andam, during wedding session to snap few pictures.



Actually your current setup is sufficient.

You need to improve on your shooting technique and flash control before buying faster lens. Faster lens may still produce poor results if your shooting technique is incorrect.

I suggest you practise with Shutter Priority mode with shutter speed of 1/60 or faster. To include some ambient light, increase your ISO up to 400, and program your flash to rear sync mode. Later, when you are more confident, use Manual Mode on the camera.

As for the softness of your 50mm lens, it's either due to lack of depth of field or camera shake.

[karheng]

Agree with kiankheong. The D80, 18-70 and 50mm are enough for you to shoot at least 80% of the things u would wanna shoot in a wedding.

Dinner shots for groups are normally done at f/4 to f/7.1 depending on how big the group is. You don't need 2.8 lenses for that. You may instead get frustrated on the narrow DOF.

for creative close ups, the 50 1.8 is more than sufficient and a powerful tool. It's your composition and story behind the shot which matters more.

Make sure u use higher ISO, 400-800. Otherwise shooting at ISO 100 isn't gonna help u that much in lower light despite using the sb600.

[Mavik]

Actually your current setup is sufficient.

You need to improve on your shooting technique and flash control before buying faster lens. Faster lens may still produce poor results if your shooting technique is incorrect.


Agree with kiankheong 100% on this. Master your current setup before venturing into more equipment :)

[payit]

thanks seniors. will learn to master the equipment and technique before adding new lenses. will start with the S-priority first and move up to m-mode later.

will experiment with my current lenses. hope to post my first good pic soonest in the forum :) thanks to all again.

[gr2k]

S mode? haha okay i've never used that before in weddings//

i usually shoot with Aperture priority...you can set your shutter speed limit to 1/30 or whatever u're comfortable with (depending on how shaky your hands are) in the menu...so the minute an SB or pop-up flash is deployed the shutter speed will be limited (slowest) at 1/30..the SB/Camera will automaticaly compensate the FV for the lost of exposure (or u can fine-tune the FV to get the results you want)..

of course if it's really just too dark, increase your ISO (to whatever level is acceptable), or you need a more powerful flash..this hardly happens unless you're shooting something really far away (based on my experience, >105mm on SB-600)

[kyreoo]

forget the Sigma 18-200... better for money and happiness of shooting, go for used Nikon Push and Pull 80-200 2.8 which is miles better the sigma.

[kiankheong]

It depends on the type of your metering too, and I think most would set it to centre-weighted metering.

The metering affects the way your camera and flash compensate for the particular exposure.

I think aperture value/DOF is not particularly important in indoor weddings. Since most indoors are dim, the camera automatically selects the widest apertures.

[karheng]

It depends on the type of your metering too, and I think most would set it to centre-weighted metering.

The metering affects the way your camera and flash compensate for the particular exposure.

I think aperture value/DOF is not particularly important in indoor weddings. Since most indoors are dim, the camera automatically selects the widest apertures.

Well it does depend on your lense, but if you are using the 18-70, there is not much wrong which you can do as it doesn't allow you to make the mistake of overexposing the background.

Gear is not so much important until you can master your gear and understand the settings that you need.

[seethoe]

yup....camera metering is an art...when to use matrix, when centre-weighted, when spot....and spot where...and lets add in the complexity of exposure compensation....and then there are the artistic high key & low key shot... :) no worry, with practice you will know yr gear and how/where to meter....

[zamrudku]

yup....camera metering is an art...when to use matrix, when centre-weighted, when spot....and spot where...and lets add in the complexity of exposure compensation....and then there are the artistic high key & low key shot... :) no worry, with practice you will know yr gear and how/where to meter....
Hope these doesn't worry him even more............:D

[ShaolinTiger]

Hope these doesn't worry him even more............:D

If he doesnt know it...IT SHOULD WORRY HIM.

Especially if he wants to take weddings, people's precious day - only one off chance to get it right.

[zamrudku]

If he doesnt know it...IT SHOULD WORRY HIM.

Especially if he wants to take weddings, people's precious day - only one off chance to get it right.
Well worry is a good thing sometimes....hope he'll learn fast.

[seethoe]

If he doesnt know it...IT SHOULD WORRY HIM.

Especially if he wants to take weddings, people's precious day - only one off chance to get it right.

lol! yeah, wedding is one event you can't ask them to repeat... :D