What to rent for a wedding?

[randmc]

I'm shooting my second wedding in two weeks, at the same church as the first. I have an XSI, 17-55 2.8 EF-S, 85 1.8, [oh, and the 18-55 kit and the 28-135], a 270EX, and I am planning to rent a 70-200 2.8, a 28 or 35 L, and a 580EXII. I will also rent a second body, and I'd like advice on what to get. Since I have a bunch of SD cards and batteries for the XSi, I'd love to get a camera compatible with *both*, yet that is also an upgrade in terms of ISO, autofocus system, etc. from the XSi.


Does that exist? Right now, I have a 60D on reserve, but I think it takes a different battery.


PPR has the following Canon gear: ppratlanta.com/canonrental.php ("http://ppratlanta.com/canonrental.php)


Suggestions?


Thanks,


Randy

[peety3]

If you don

[randmc]

I

[Colin500]

Hi,


no offense, but you might want to read www.lensrentals.com/.../fwigtew-and-other-first-wedding-acronymss ("http://www.lensrentals.com/news/2010.07.25/fwigtew-and-other-first-wedding-acronymss) because it might at least partially explain why people are reluctant to answer this question.


Colin (who never shot a wedding)

[randmc]

Answer: The XSi battery does not work for any of the more advanced cameras.


Yes, Colin, I have read those. Quite amusing, aren

[neuroanatomist]

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The word 'intrepid' comes to mind...best of luck!


Regarding rentals, you'll most likely want something longer, such as a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS (I or II). The 35L is a wonderful lens.



Since I have a bunch of SD cards and batteries for the XSi, I'd love to get a camera compatible with *both*, yet that is also an upgrade in terms of ISO, autofocus system, etc. from the XSi.
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That's going to be a challenge. The only other cameras that use the LP-E5 battery in your XSi are the XS and the T1i, neither of which represents a significant upgrade in ISO performance or AF (and neither of which is on that rental list). So, unless you can borrow one of those from someone else, or rent from someplace else, or just rent extra batteries (they are listed under accessories in the link to your local shop for $5/day). The 60D is a modest upgrade in ISO performance and a bit of an upgrade in AF performance, shutter rate, etc., and the 60D is your only option for using SD cards - unless you have the budget to rent a 1DsIII or 1DIV (which have dual card slots, one CF and one SD).


I'm not sure that I completely agree with peety3 on not renting something better than or different from your current kit. The catch is the learning curve. If you're renting a T2i, you'd find the controls to be pretty similar to the XSi, no real problem. But if you rent a 60D, 7D, 5DII, etc., the ergonomics and controls are substantially different - so, you'll want to rent it ahead of time and set aside time to actually use the rented camera to get a feel for it. How much time does depend on the gap between the bodies - I can easily switch between 7D and 5DII since the controls are quite similar; it took a couple of days to gain familiarity when I moved from a T1i to the 7D. But, peety3's warning is good - consider that you'd have two cameras with different control ergonomics (especially exposure controls and AF point selection), with different lenses, and be switching back and forth between them. That might be a challenge. From an ergonomics standpoint, you'd likely be best off renting a T2i (can't do that locally, but both lensrentals.com and lensprotogo.com rent them - and they also rent out CF cards, if you decide to rent a camera that uses them).


--John
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[peety3]

<div>I'm not sure that I completely agree with peety3 on not renting something better than or different from your current kit. The catch is the learning curve. If you're renting a T2i, you'd find the controls to be pretty similar to the XSi, no real problem. But if you rent a 60D, 7D, 5DII, etc., the ergonomics and controls are substantially different - so, you'll want to rent it ahead of time and set aside time to actually use the rented camera to get a feel for it. How much time does depend on the gap between the bodies - I can easily switch between 7D and 5DII since the controls are quite similar; it took a couple of days to gain familiarity when I moved from a T1i to the 7D. But, peety3's warning is good - consider that you'd have two cameras with different control ergonomics (especially exposure controls and AF point selection), with different lenses, and be switching back and forth between them. That might be a challenge. From an ergonomics standpoint, you'd likely be best off renting a T2i (can't do that locally, but both lensrentals.com and lensprotogo.com rent them - and they also rent out CF cards, if you decide to rent a camera that uses them).
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To me, it's not just the learning curve for controls. It's that you're going to be inclined to use the better camera for more of your shots, and if you don't know the camera as intimately as your owned camera, you might overlook settings, leaving you with a majority of shots that are "off" in some manner.


My Rebel XTi was "the little camera that could" - I'd taken it on several 150-mile bicycle events, which puts it in a world of sweat and a lot of bouncing, and it never quit. But when we bought our first 7D, we had four cameras (1D3, 7D, 40D, XTi) that took four different cameras, but the Rebel was clearly the odd-man-out from a controls perspective. Three weeks later, we bought another 7D and sold the Rebel.

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

Randy


Go to Lens Rental and rent 2 T2is, extra batteries for them, the 70-200 f/2.8L IS and a 580EX flash. Rent all the gear in advance so that you have time to learn the differences between the T2i and the XSi. The reason for the T2i is that they

[acooper]

Kind of unfortunate that there is so much negative feed back to your question... Everyone has to start somewhere.


I would say renting another camera in the rebel line would be a safe bet (read T2i or T1i). Other than that - if you get a 70-200, I would think with that on one camera and your 17-55 on the other you would be in good shape for just about every shot you would want. I did not notice you mention a tripod, you may have this covered but I find it an essential item for this kind of work.


With that said, if you really wanted to step up in terms of image quality, I dont think you get a truely noticable gain until you go to the 5D Mrk II. And I agree with some of the others here, learning a new camera at a shoot for money is very risky. It would be better to rent that for a fun/practice shoot so you are ready to use it at the next opportunity.


Good Luck!

[randmc]

Thanks for the great advice and encouragement, Nate and Mr. Cooper! PPR includes two batteries &amp; a charger with every rental camera, and they rent extra batteries, so I

[randmc]

After all that, the wedding has been cancelled/postponed. So, if anyone needs a second shooter in Atlanta for the afternoon of Feb. 12, I

[freelanceshots]

Bummer! Did you already rent the gear?

[randmc]

I had it on reserve at PPR in Atlanta (they

[Dallasphotog]

I promise this isn

[Sheiky]

After all that, the wedding has been cancelled/postponed. So, if anyone needs a second shooter in Atlanta for the afternoon of Feb. 12, I'm available. ;-)


Randy, in that case you have plenty of time to practice with a different kind of camera. As of first, I wouldn't have recommended you to hire the 5D2 since you aren't used to a full frame camera. However I now shot 2 weddings with a 5D2 (2 actually) and I have seen photos of a wedding shot with a Rebel camera. And to top it, I saw photos from my 5D2 by a goo friend of mine, who used to shoot a rebel.


I saw a few things things. The detail and quality of the 5D2 outperforms every rebel/XXD/7D photo easily in my opinion. The fact that I could very safely use ISO-800 even for important shots was a major benefit. I shot indoors with a flash at ISO-1600 and ISO-3200 and I'm for sure that the results are killing the rebel-shots in that playground. Even with these high-ISO's I was still assigned to very wide apertures, since indoors is really dark. And in the church I shot, we weren't allowed to flash.


The shots I've seen from the rebels were not bad. Don't get me wrong, but in lesser circumstances like indoors, I'd rather have my 5D2 at ISO-3200 than a rebel on ISO-1600.


The final version was the interesting one. My friend used my 5D with another friends 24-70. However this is the interesting part. He used the 5D2 occasionally for video, however he clearly wasn't used to it for photography and it showed in his photos. He was used to a 350D and so he didn't dare to put up the ISO, which caused him low shutter times, since he didn't dial up the ISO in the 5D either. I personally wouldn't be happy with the photos.


When I stepped up from a 50D to a 5D2 I must admit that I needed time to get used to it as well and had some very very bad shots at first. The DOF is very shallow and very noticeably different. I did some group shots where I'd normally used f8 and it was alright, but now even with f8 I had some slightly out of focus parts of the group shots. Once you get used to it though, it's so much better in my opinion.


So since you now have some time and you're sure that you're going to shoot this wedding at some point. I'd recommend you to try the 5D2 for a few days and see if it convinces you too [;)]


By the way my gear at the last 2 weddings:


2 * 5D2


Main lenses: 24-105L on 1 camera and 70-200 f2.8 IS on the other (and the 24-70L at the 1st wedding as well)


Additional lenses:


50mm 1.4


100mm f2.8 macro L





I shot the weddings together with my brother and we are a pretty well oiled machine I think. He knows what I mean when I give a signal from a distance, and it works the other way around as well. Still we have "missed" shots at both weddings anyway, but those things happen.


By the way, I personally prefer the 24-105 over the 24-70. It covers a very nice focal range which allows you to go from whole-body to head-portraits with one lens. And often the f4 is good enough. Especially when you want both people in focus. I think very shallow DOF works only for a small amount of specific shots. And for those specific shots we had the 70-200 f2.8 and the 50mm 1.4.


Good luck,


Jan



I swear 2010's cancellation rate ran 40%.


Ouch, I never even heard of a cancellation other than a definite cancellation(which isn't good). Good weather or bad weather, the wedding is on!

[peety3]

...and when you start making money at this, think about a 5DMKII backed up by a 50D / 60D. The 5DMKII is my favorite body for weddings!
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In my opinion, this doesn't work. If the 5D2 dies hard, the crop factor will change the applicability of all lenses; it would necessitate a spare super-wide which would probably never get used except during 5D2 failure (which makes it an expensive insurance policy). The cost of a 50D/60D plus an EF-S 17-55 is comparable to a 5D2, so get a second 5D2 instead.


Now, I will add that as the money continues in, adding a third body with crop factor might be a good addition.

[Dallasphotog]

Peety - I like the way you think! Why own just one 5DMKII when you can own two.


I have a 5DMKII (actually one at work and one at home) and a 50D that usually serves as a backup. The nice thing about the 50D is the menus and controls are close enough to the 5D not to force a lot of re-learning.


When I shoot sports I usually use the 1DMKII with the telephoto and the 5DMKII with the wide angle. The change between controls and menus causes me a lot of grief.