Im not saying is not doable, im saying its inconvenient. I mean, youd have to have more than two bodies with you at least. A 50 and a 135 on two bodies? great, but now all of the sudden bride and family are doing something together worth shooting and you certainly cant fit them in that 50mm so now what?
Look, I think we're mixing things here, its not that you shouldnt have preferences or styles of shooting but sometimes its just not about us. In a studio or on location heck you can bring just one lens if youre confident. Weddings are such events that are maybe 40% us, its much less of who we are artistically (ironically what we got hired for in the first place) and more of who we can be as photojournalist. Every wedding photographer that has posted here has probably gone through it: the hands down favorite photo is never the one you expect it to be, but rather a random shot that has an emotional story (often you dont know why) behind it. To you it seems snapshot even.
So i can concede on this: theres always a small session between ceremony and reception where you can be as creative as you want, in those cases I almost always use primes, an 85mm sounds perfect. In the ceremony itself a prime and a zoom go great, you can move around with that prime and zoom when you need to. But in the reception and such versatility is priceless. You have to be able to be wide angle, tele and everything in between real fast.
You know, I don't totally disagree with you. I used to be obsessed with being ready for anything. I was the swiss army knife of wedding photographers. It's a valid approach. The only disagreement I have is that it's the only approach.
My shooting partner is mostly a zoom guy. 24-70 on one shoulder 70-200 on the other. I shot that way for years. But now I work differently. At the reception I will select a couple of lenses based on the circumstances. The 75mm 1.8 stays basically glued to one body and then I'll choose a second lens based on the size of the room. Sometimes it's a 50mm equiv, sometimes 35mm. A couple of small lenses in a waist bag and I'm good to go. And you know what. Sometimes stick a 24-70 equiv (the 12-35) because I just need a rest.
A big part of why I choose primes is the same as why I choose m4/3 as my AF system. I prefer smaller cameras and lenses. m4/3 zooms aren't huge but the primes are smaller still. And I combine that with some Leica primes and I can carry 6 lenses in a belt pack. That makes me less obtrousive than a huge 70-200. I can shoot in close all Ninja like. I can move freely. I'm not a stand in one spot and shoot long kind of guy. I like to move, a lot. Small is good.
When I was the swiss army knife guy I carried a ton of gear. I was ready for anything. The problem was that I don't think I was as focused as I could be and the gear was getting in the way. Zooms make it easy for me to be sloppy and lazy. Primes keep me on my toes.
You mentioned capturing fleeting moments. After nearly a thousand weddings I no longer worry about what I miss. I worry about what I capture. Brides and Grooms don't miss them. They can't even remember them and I've done enough to know that certain things are likely to happen at certain times. You know that you're going to have a high chance of a nice moment between the bride and her dad either after his speech or the second dance when she dances with him. So you put the appropriate lens on and you put youself in a place where you can see them both and react appropriately.
I'm far more likely to capture moments with a pair of rangefiners and a couple of primes than I am with any complex AF system camera. In a dim reception I'm significantly faster with a manual focus Leica and a mechanical prime than I am with a viewfinder that only shows the scene wide open and only when it finds focus. It's because I'm on alert when I'm using simple gear and primes.
I certainly understand that I'm in the minority when it comes to how I approach weddings but I've done the zoom thing and it didn't work as well for me as shooting with primes.
Bizzarely, I got back into m4/3 to have a small set of zooms to compliment my Leica, manual focus primes. My kit was going to be what I recommended on the first page. A 12-35, 7-14, 35-100 and a macro. What I ended up with is exactly one zoom for weddings (I've got more but I don't take them or have them as a backup) and a bag of AF primes. I couldn't help myself. After 20 years I suppose I'm just an old dog.
Gordon
Gordon
85mm and 200mm are another good combination for me.
