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Camera Recommends for Wedding Photog?

R

Rustynuts

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Feb 6, 2003
Messages
10,346
My sister has the idea of getting some equipment and starting a wedding, etc., photography biz. Wants a digital SLR. Any certain level recommended to get at least semi-professional shots? $1,000 level OK (5-6 MO)? She can always upgrade to a $5,000 Nikon later!

Wedding she went to recently, the camera guy got around $1,500-2,000 just to show up (that could pay for a lot of equipment!). Pics and negatives extra! Also what would peripherals like a pro-quality printer cost.
 
let's just say it's not the field you want to start out in if you want "semi-professional" shots. you're dealing with one of the most important event's in someone's life, they are not going to settle for half-assed work.

your standard crop of equipment in your $1000 price range, say Canon 20D or Nikon D70 or D100, etc. is not going to cut it. You need top-notch, reliable, extensible equipment, and you need to have backups just in case. Not to mention top-notch skill, since you are often shooting in challenging lighting situations. you also need to have a great protfolio and excellent communication skills. Simply put, this line of work is for the pros.

one little camera does not a professional photographer make.
 
maw said:
let's just say it's not the field you want to start out in if you want "semi-professional" shots. you're dealing with one of the most important event's in someone's life, they are not going to settle for half-assed work.

your standard crop of equipment in your $1000 price range, say Canon 20D or Nikon D70 or D100, etc. is not going to cut it. You need top-notch, reliable, extensible equipment, and you need to have backups just in case. Not to mention top-notch skill, since you are often shooting in challenging lighting situations. you also need to have a great protfolio and excellent communication skills. Simply put, this line of work is for the pros.

one little camera does not a professional photographer make.
Click to expand...

That being said, I went to a wedding recently where they were shooting with the Nikon D70 and D100 with the SB800 flashes. The pics turned out awesome. Maw is right though, lighting is usually a challenge, and you really need to be able to have backups in case of equipment failure, which is probably rare. Also, I saw them shooting with at least 3 different lenses, and they shot for at least 4 hours off and on, so massive storage would be an issue as well.

I wish your sister the best of luck.

Blake
 
Well, my sister was at a friends wedding recently and they liked her informal shots better than the Pro's! I think she has a decent Canon non-dig SLR. Would regular equipment be better than digital for something like this, at least starting out?
 
Rustynuts said:
Well, my sister was at a friends wedding recently and they liked her informal shots better than the Pro's! I think she has a decent Canon non-dig SLR. Would regular equipment be better than digital for something like this, at least starting out?
Click to expand...

well, i wouldn't take the opinion of one friend's wedding as indication that she can take this on professionally. there is a reason why most people do not choose to have all their friends show up with cameras to take their wedding pictures.

i'm not trying to burst your sister's bubble here, but she needs to realize that this is not some casual undertaking, it really requires a high level of skill and commitment.

now if your sister is an advanced amateur or even semi-pro and really knows her way around a camera and has done things like this before, then i take it all back and my only suggestion would be to invest in good, reliable equipment to start with and have backups handy. but i assumed from your initial post that maybe this is not the case.
 
Rustynuts said:
Wedding she went to recently, the camera guy got around $1,500-2,000 just to show up (that could pay for a lot of equipment!). Pics and negatives extra! Also what would peripherals like a pro-quality printer cost.
Click to expand...

I've done a few weddings and this is, by far, the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. Whomever's wedding it was,...they got ripped.....bad. lol
 
I just got married a few weeks ago. Photographer was using a D70. Pics are here:
http://www.wired-pc.com/wedding/wedding.htm

Edit: Oh yeah... just FYI. I bought the rights to all of the photos, so that's how I have them. Otherwise, having them printed is major $$$. Since it was all digital, it was easy for me to get them. Also, the pics there have all been run through a bath process of cleaning. The full size photos you can also see there have not had any touch ups.
 
$1500 for a wedding is not unreasonable. That is about what we paid and didn't hire top-end either (and wished we had afterwards).

cmosdos: I don't want to sound mean, but I hope you didn't pay too much for your photographer.
 
foxforcefive said:
That being said, I went to a wedding recently where they were shooting with the Nikon D70 and D100 with the SB800 flashes. The pics turned out awesome. Maw is right though, lighting is usually a challenge, and you really need to be able to have backups in case of equipment failure, which is probably rare. Also, I saw them shooting with at least 3 different lenses, and they shot for at least 4 hours off and on, so massive storage would be an issue as well.

I wish your sister the best of luck.

Blake
Click to expand...

Here are some of the pics that were taken at this wedding...I think they turned out awesome. My son was in the wedding (and my neice, you'll see them)

http://www.nicolecphotography.com/Portfolio/bapweb/frameset.htm

Blake
 
royjr said:
I've done a few weddings and this is, by far, the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. Whomever's wedding it was,...they got ripped.....bad. lol
Click to expand...


thats becuase you arent a credible wedding photographer


a good wedding photographer can be $5,000 or more
 
PS-RagE said:
$1500 for a wedding is not unreasonable. That is about what we paid and didn't hire top-end either (and wished we had afterwards).

cmosdos: I don't want to sound mean, but I hope you didn't pay too much for your photographer.
Click to expand...

No hurt taken... After I saw the pictures taken, i was very disapointed. I think it was even worse because I am familiar with photography. There are a few pictures I thought were good. But, the sad thing is that I had my A80 with me the whole time and I had more shots turn out well and liked much better. We were origionally going to go with a very reputable photgrapher who we both knew from previous weddings we've been to. But, we found out that he had a previous arrangement that weekend. Before we went with the photographer we did... I was extremely hesitant. I wasn't highly impressed with the equipment and most of all, I was worried about her ability. After seeing how many out of focus shots, bad lighting, and over all 'bland' photos, my feelings were confirmed. But, I'm trying to put on a happy face for my wife... if I bash it much, it will upset her cause she thinks the photos are good.

As for price... I think it was $750. This is her website:
http://www.hatfieldphotography.com/index.htm

I hate to bash her, cause... she was a really nice person. But her photo skills are lacking. I believe 100% that I could have done better myself.

To the origional poster... unless your sister has excellent skills, please keep her away from wedding photography. Just because she went to a wedding and saw they make good money doesn't mean it's something she should do. As somebody else said, weddings are a memorable moment in life that normaly will only happen once. It would probably be better for her to start off doing portrait photography or product shots for companies. At least this will allow her to perfect her skills before ruining some poor girl's special day.
 
My suggestion to your sister, before investing a lot of money, would be to find a pro and ask to see if she can be an assistant so she can test the water. That is what I did, and I find it to be fun, but I've decided that wedding photography is not something I want to do full-time.:D
 
not much on recomendations for a camera..... but take the other peoples advice on taking photos. Becoming a photo assistant is definatly a thing to do... as for Equipment....

You have 2 Lines to go really, Nikon or Canon (or Fuji for body)

For the Nikon a D1x, D2H or D2X (coming out soon) is the way to go.

For canon, 1D, D1s, 1D Mark II etc... D20 may be good...

As for lenses on either, get a nice wide angle (~12mm or so), a good 50mm Prime, a wide zoom (18-35 or so) and a mid tele range lens (50-100). For the Nikon, go with the AF-S version of lenses, and for Canon go with the L version (or VR/IS).

Memory cards... stack up about 10gb worth, because you are going to want to shoot in RAW to get the best quality you can.

For a Flash, the SB-600 or 800 will be good for nikon, not sure about canon. Either way Flash is VERY important in weading photography, and I suggest taking a class on flash.
 
I know a guy that does weding photography as a side business. He uses a 10D and a 20D. You don't want to miss a shot while swapping lenses so that's why he uses two cameras. You're going to spend alot more on other equipment than you are the camera, for example you'll need studio strobes if you plan to take portrait shots.
 
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