Oly 'Prime Lens' - advice required please...

[theMusicMan]

I am somewhat stunned to have been asked by someone if I would cover their wedding as their 'official' wedding photographer. They are friends of friends of friends if you know what I mean, and that is how they came to hear of my photographic exploits. They looked at my gallery, spoke to a few people, and called me up. I explained to them that I am not a professional photographer but that as they were stuck for a tog, that I'd do it for them for a very modest fee plus the costs of their prints etc.

Now - here's the part where I need advice.

The lenses I have are the standard Zuiko kit lenses that came with the E-510 and the E-400, plus the Zuiko 50mm macro, plus the excellent Zuiko Prime 11-22mm.

Should I be looking to purchase an additional lens for the wedding work; particularly indoors (it's a registry office wedding), and for portrait shots at the brides home as she gets ready for he big day. if so, can someone advise on what model lens I should be looking to get please...?

Many thanks.

[laingjd]

The Leica 25mm 1.4 in 4:3 mount would be ideal but it is as rare as hens teeth.
The next one I would suggest is the Sigma 30 mm 1.4 lens. It should be just what you need in a prime lens for low light and portraits without breaking the bank.

[Chillimonster]

I would also add to the above, that the 14-54 can be a good 'wedding' lens due to the versatility the zoom adds.

Most registry offices are quite well lit, unlike churches, so the 2.8-3.5 of the 14-54 should cope without problems.

[matthew]

Should I be looking to purchase an additional lens for the wedding work; particularly indoors (it's a registry office wedding), and for portrait shots at the brides home as she gets ready for he big day. if so, can someone advise on what model lens I should be looking to get please...?

First of all, no, you shouldn't be looking to buy anything to do a job that's barely going to cover the cab fare. Rule #1: don't take a loss.

Secondly, the range of lenses that you already have is excellent. The 11-22 and 50 f/2 are two of the best in the lineup and can certainly do what you need. I'd be comfortable shooting what you describe with just these two, and since you can toss the kit lenses into a spare pocket for insurance, why look for anything more?

I'd suggest that you're solving the wrong problem. Rather than looking for brighter lenses, how about looking for a brighter room? You could put together a decent lighting kit for a lot less than the price of a fast prime, and use it with all of your lenses. The FL-50 would work, but it's still expensive compared to non-ttl options. (Have a look at the setups you can get for not terribly much money here: http://mpex.com/Strobist/StrobistKits.htm )

[theMusicMan]

Hi Matthew

I have the FL-50 already. I'm guessing by what you folk suggest, that I don't really need to consider an additional lens then...?

Would you suggest I change lenses during the shoot if pics are required via different lenses at close times... or should I put the 11-22mm on the E-400 (fewer pics I guess) and the 14-42mm left on the E-510...?

[matthew]

Whether or not you change lenses depends on how quickly and comfortably you can do it without losing track of what's going on around you. Personally, I had no problem last Christmas when I was taking photos of the little ones and their accompanying adults. I'd put the 11-22 on, wish I had the 50, put the 50 on, wish I had the 11-22... I had no problem at all changing lenses.

I'd probably suggest using both bodies if their menus and controls are similar enough that you can use them interchangably. (But bring them both even if you only plan to use one.) I'd also suggest putting the 50mm on the E-510 and keeping the 14-42 in a spare pocket. Keep in mind that you're really photographing two separate events, and the best lens for each will be different.

I did photograph a wedding -- once, first and last -- and reception using just the 14-54 on my E-1. So my opinions are based on what worked and what I wish I had had then, as well as similar situations since then. I'm hoping that other people with more experience can provide better insight.

[Latemarch]

I also believe that you have all the lenses that you will need. The 50mm macro is an almost perfect portrait lens for those shots of just the bride. And the 11-22 will take care of the wide shots of all the participants. The kit zoom for everything else or zoom with your feet and the 50mm.

If the ceilings are white then an fl-50 in bounce will take care of the lighting.

I use a Flip-it on my flash http://www.dembflashproducts.com/flipit/ as it directs some of the light forward as well as up and it works very well once you get the hang of it. It's a nice addition to the fl-50. If you put it on the right way then when you rotate the camera for portrait and twist the head on the fl-50 to bounce to the ceiling the flip it will still be directing the light forward.....get it right ahead of time when you can think about it.

I'm going to suggest something else, if they have a little money in the budget for this wedding have them get a bunch of the disposable cameras with flash. Hand them out to the people that show up and then collect them all at the end. Some of the best candids of the event will probably come out of them.

Last I never do weddings. I tell them that if they are counting on me then they are having a wedding without a photographer. My camera will break, the card will be corrupted, and there will probably be no pictures worth having. If they are comfortable with that I will agree to show up and look like I'm taking pictures. If expectations aren't high then I can usually exceed them and they have no reason to be mad at me later.....I warned you!

And, I don't do prints. You can have a DVD of the shots (after I've edited them) and I'll suggest a lab to do the printing or you can go to Wal-Mart and get what you want.

[TrapperJohn]

Some personal experience here... I also volunteered to do a friend's wedding, and had never done a wedding before. It was a real experience.

You have plenty of glass. I shot the entire wedding with the 14-54 and 50 Macro, pausing to pull out the 50-200 once. Fired almost 1000 shots, should have shot more. The 11-22 will be great, as weddings tend to be crowded.

Your biggest problem is keeping track of what's going on. Weddings move very fast (despite what observers might think), they never go exactly as planned, and you're going to have a tough time keeping up, especially if you haven't been to a lot of weddings. Make A List! Sounds silly, but you'll need it. All the things you need to get done, all the groups you need to get shots of. You'll be distracted, especially if you know a lot of people at the wedding.

If things sound rushed, it's because they are. When something important happens, you'll need to fire several shots quickly, be sure you're ready. You don't want to get caught with a slow cycling flash, or a nearly full CF card.

The flash: I went to the wedding with two brand new lithium CR-V3's in my FL50, they lasted for almost 500 shots, flash cycled quickly. Refilled with Nimh AA's, they cycled a lot slower. A diffuser/bouncer like a Lumiquest 80/20 is extremely nice to have.

Backup memory cards? At least four 2 gig cards if you're shooting high jpeg, more for raw. Be nice to have a 4 gig, so you didn't have to change cards so much. I'd suggest you bypass raw, you aren't getting paid and it'll take forever to process that many raw shots if you don't have something to automate the process. PP'ing 1000+ shots without Photoshop's auto feature is a daunting task.

And next time someone asks - charge out the wazoo. It was a lot of hard work to do that wedding, took up about two days of my time.

[sokol]

if you'd like to buy another lens anyway, then my advice would be to buy it before the wedding - but as others have already mentioned, you should do quite well with what you already have