Latest (Wedding) Gear Conundrum

[ac12]

Available light in many places that I've been to stink.
The old joke was "available gloom."

If you end up below 1/60 sec, that is too slow. The subject WILL move on you.

If you get a simple "auto" flash, you can use it on both the Olympus and Nikon.

If you don't have time to learn the new gear, that can be a liability.
Do what you can with the gear that you have.

 

[ooheadsoo]

I know the church will give me 1/80@f/4, iso6400 in the afternoon before any artificial lights are turned on, so I should be fine with my FF setup. If I have time, I can switch to one of my 35/50/85/105/180mm primes. If I'm parked in one spot during parts of the ceremony, I might swap the 24-120 for the 105/2.8 so I can bump the shutter to 1/160. I'll get my hands on the program in advance to do some planning. The main thing I want to make a mental note of right now is to change my custom modes to matrix metering from highlight metering.

Honestly, in review of the iso6400 photos from my D750, considering these are not the type of shots that will be printed large, I'm totally ok raising the ISO even higher. I'm not confident in freezing motion at 1/80. These shots are really quite clean, just missing fine detail/DR, which could be chalked down to the quality of the light itself, rather than a high iso problem. Forget m43, I shudder when I think of the photos I delivered years ago for an evening backyard party I shot with my nikon D40.

 

[ac12]

If the lighting does not match any of the presets, you may have to do a custom WB of the lighting in the church.
Or just shoot RAW and correct in post.

Sometimes auto WB work well, other times not so well.

 

[ooheadsoo]

If the lighting does not match any of the presets, you may have to do a custom WB of the lighting in the church.
Or just shoot RAW and correct in post.

Sometimes auto WB work well, other times not so well.

I always shoot RAW, no worries there. The lighting is always predictably terrible because the carpet is a purplish pinkish maroon and gives everything an ugly cast...but there's nothing to be done about it.

 

[ac12]

I always shoot RAW, no worries there. The lighting is always predictably terrible because the carpet is a purplish pinkish maroon and gives everything an ugly cast...but there's nothing to be done about it.

Ugh
I sometimes wonder about the people that choose colors for public buildings.

 

[davidzvi]

If you decide to get a flash unit for the D750, which you should, keep in mind that Auto ISO and Nikons do not play well together. You should also use a flash bracket which is not popular today, but could save your hide, and they’re cheap.

Tried using a bracket and yes they can help, but not really worth it to me. One issue is I almost always carried two bodies and flashes, so they were just TOO MUCH.

Auto ISO and Nikons don't play nicely together? I'd only agree because I'd go the other way, they work phenomenally together. I only ever turn auto ISO off when in studio.

 

[Aperture Don]

Tried using a bracket and yes they can help, but not really worth it to me. One issue is I almost always carried two bodies and flashes, so they were just TOO MUCH.

Auto ISO and Nikons don't play nicely together? I'd only agree because I'd go the other way, they work phenomenally together. I only ever turn auto ISO off when in studio.

Rather than criticize my advice, why don’t you offer your own. I want the OP to be successful.

 

[davidzvi]

Rather than criticize my advice, why don’t you offer your own. I want the OP to be successful.

Try looking on the first page at the 7th post or any of my other 5-6 posts in this thread.

 

[Aperture Don]

If you decide to use Auto-ISO with flash, you should probably read through and understand some of the facts in this link. I'm a big fan of AUTO- ISO, but not with flash.

https://www.scantips.com

As for flash brackets, you can buy a cheap Vello CB 100 for under $20.00 and a Vello cord for about the same price. A lot of wedding photographers today use one hand for the flash and the other for the camera. I can't do that, and I like to hold and control the camera with both hands. Using a flash in the hot shoe is asking for problems when you take a vertical photograph.

 

[ooheadsoo]

I've never seriously used auto-iso with flash, and am unlikely to use flash at this point except when I have time to shoot full manual.

Any thoughts on picking up an old tamron 28-105 2.8? 105mm is likely a bit on the short side, but it's really not that far off from 120mm, and I'll gain a stop over the 24-120/4. I seriously question if lens sharpness will be an issue the b+g will nitpick over. I also considered picking up an old 80-200/2.8 but the lack of vr is going to cost me at least 1 stop in iso. I don't think I would trust my hand holding below 1/250th without vr.

 

[davidzvi]

I would skip that Tamron. No I've never used it, but I did consider getting one and recall reviews weren't that positive. It's also a screw drive AF lens without VR. The 24-120 f/4 is a better option IMHO. I'd spend the money on a flash first.

 

[ooheadsoo]

The tamron would let me hit 1/160 at iso 6400, which is fairly hand holdable throughout the entire range of the lens. I know there are complaints about sample variation, but I believe the subject matter and setting are not pixel peeping material, and I don't believe the b+g are pixel peepers, either, or they definitely have no business asking me to photograph their wedding. I have to admit it is a bit tempting. With the 24-120, I have committed to raising my iso limit to 12800. Better noisy than blurred.

Since I have committed to the nikon for the ceremony proper, I will just live with my flash for m43. I don't know that I want to invest any more money into FF lighting. M43 is more than adequate for home "studio" work.

You're probably right, I should just keep it simple and bump the iso with the 24-120.

 

[davidzvi]

I guess I have to ask, why 1/160? The processional and recessional are slow / metered action and unless the bride is pulling a runner they stay pretty still during the ceremony.

 

[ooheadsoo]

Well I either have bad hand holding technique or I just have bad experiences with subject blur. The truth is likely both. When I was taking my test shots to get a bead on the metering, I got some random test subject blur when shooting 1/80. I know for my custom portrait settings on my g9, I set my min iso to 1/160, and I would honestly be more comfortable with 1/200 or faster, though admittedly my primary subject is my twitchy thrashy baby. Yes, taking multiple shots will minimize the chances of getting a blurred shot, and I guess I admitted early on that I was a spray and pray'er...