Best canon lens for wedding photography? 24-70mm f2.8

[iND]

I upgraded my 70-200 f4 to the f2-8 with no regrets. My background is indoor sports. but my last wedding with the 17-49mm f2.8 was forgetable. Even with flash Im not satisfied. Is the 24-70 f2.8 my best bet since I can only afford one new lens a year


I dont mind heavy I just want great shots.


How is the 24-70 wide open.





I also upgraded 20D to 50D


Any other wedding recommedations.


I have the 580EX II and a Gary Fong clear dome


Do I need an external battery pack?

[Dallasphotog]

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This was shot with the EF24-70MM F/2.8 L USM on an XTi


This was F/2.8, 1/20, ISO 800, 25MM. I was using a 580EXII asa master and triggering a 430EX low left in slave mode.





I Love the EF24-70 F/2.8 and it is always on one camera at a wedding. I mount my EF70-200MM F/2.8 L IS USM on my 1DMKII for shots from the back of the ceremony. Just make sure you have lots of spares. Something always fails at the most inopportune moment.

[Daniel Browning]

If you want a normal to telephoto zoom on your 50D, the 24-70 f/2.8 is the best choice. I've shot a few weddings with the 20D and the 24-70 f/2.8 and it worked great, but I really missed having a wide angle. You can


For a wide-to-normal zoom, though, the 17-55 f/2.8 IS is the cream of the crop. The image quality is a little better than the 24-70 f/2.8 L, but the biggest difference is the field of view and image stabilization. You couldn't ask for a lens with more resolution or contrast. Build quality and focus ring is lacking, though. If you don't need IS, you can get the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 for less than half the price.

[Madison]

It really depends on your personal style of shooting. Whether you do natural light only, or you incorporate flash (and how you incorporate it).


Some people, like Canon Ambassador Jeff Ascough, shoot it documentary style with the 16-35 on a full frame, and with the 35mm 1.4 for low light work, all without flash. Others, like my sister's wedding photographer, shoot it with a full frame as well but with the 70-200 and the 24-105, and use flash in low light situations (which in my opinion is a no no during the party but that is a metter of personal taste).





So experiment, find your style, your way of working, what makes YOU special as a photographer.


It won't be your lens choice. You see what I mean? 'What is the best lens' is a start but the answers depend on what you want to do and what your vision is.


I shot one wedding (for a family member), all black & white, all documentary (non posed), with the 24-105 in broad daylight, on a 400D body back then, with as little flash as possible. Here is one example from that shoot:

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[Madison]

PS: Diffusing flash is great, but you *really* want to look into doing off-camera lighting for weddings. Seriously, you should read into it.


'I just want great shots' depends a lot on where light is coming from and what it is doing to people's faces when shooting wedding (posed shots and unposed shots alike).





Is the only tip I wanted to make sure you did not forget to check out. Previous posters mention it too, and they are right. Really great wedding shots almost always have off camera flash. You will learn to sculpt with light faster than you think. Just position some people in your back yard and test things out for a day or two and you will get a feel for the lighting for certain situations.

[Todd Reichman]

My favorite lenses for weddings are the 24 1.4, 50 1.2 and 135 2.0. I don't need anything else. I pay attention to directional light and can add it when I need it but I find off-camera flash to be a hassle and I can generally find some great light on an available basis and when it isn't there you can often bounce on-camera flash directionally to great effect.


I could do whole weddings with the 35 1.4 and 135. I do enjoy the 100 macro and 200 2.8 occasionally as well. My wife does the whole wedding day with a 24, 85 1.2 and limited 70-200 during the ceremony. You gotta find what produces the look you like best.





- trr

[mzemljic]

Hi there


Upgrade to f/2,8 is professional choice and smart decision in my opinion!


Full frame is a must in my case!


I am full time wedding and fashion photographer and my personal style is; Think, Think, Think......KLIK :)


In my personal opinion, 24-70 f/2,8 L would always be my first choice for weddings and it is fairly sharp wide open!


24-70 is a very best wedding lens, special if You pair it with 70-200 f2,8 L IS and You already use a "full frame".


I am using a lot of other equipment... And it's true... Zoom lens could only dream what primes can do if You have time.


Example of my creamy princess on this forum:


http://community.the-digital-picture.com/forums/p/313/1270.aspx#1270

[Stuart]

Personally, I believe the 24-70 f/2.8 is the best if you had to choose one all-around lens for a full frame body like the 5D II. It gives decent quality pictures, but it isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, especially wide open. For a cropped sensor like the 40D,the 17-55mm f/2.8 is much sharper than the 24-70mm f/2.8 - a much better lens for the money.


Now, if you're intorazor sharp images,creamy smooth bokeh, natural (low) light photography, color and contrast that need practically no tweaking in Lightroom or Photoshop, and you have a big budget, prime lenses like the 24mm f/1.4, 35mm f/1.4, and 85mm f/1.2 will give superior images. You'll geta lot of exercisemoving back and forth for zooming,and it'll take more time to change out lenses, but you'll be much happier with your images.

[Keith B]

I hate to admit it but the 24-70 is on my camera 90% of the time. I kept telling myself I didn't need this lens/range. I was wrong.


My copy seems to be super sharp. I have to test it against my 16-35 at 24 and 35 to see which is sharper someday.


Look up Annie Leibovitz on youtube and check out what lens she is using in just about every shoot (except the Profoto one, Nikon ponied up some serious cash for that from what I heard).

[lculpin]

The 24-70 is great on a FF, and either throw the 70-200 on a crop body or do a wide-angle on the ff and the 24-70 on the crop... depends on how you shoot though. Like others here have said, off-camera flash is a biggy (assuming you're using flash at all). And you can definitely go the prime route (and I know that technically primes are sharper and that there are all sorts of charts and table that have cataloged this, but if you go buy a 24-70 are you gonna be looking at your pictures and saying "Oh, my dead lord, these are just NOT sharp enough"? Kinda doubt it ;) )

[Maleko]

I shoot weddings part time "professionally".


My setup for weddingsgoes as follows, 50D (ideally a 5D), 24-105 f/4 which stays on 90% of the day, other 10% I may use 100mm f2.8, 50mm f1.8 or 18-55mm for wide. 580EXII flash, bounce flashing 95% time, then use my hand held umbrella for indoor flash - technically on and off camera flash, but it never leaves my hand :P
Other things in my bag, backup camera & batteries. Tripod on standby.


Don't rely on the lens to get you great shots, rely only on yourself.

[peety3]

I have the 580EX II and a Gary Fong clear dome


Do I need an external battery pack?
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I'd highly recommend the external battery pack. Faster recycling, and more consistent results.

[jimgarvie]

I use the EFS17-55 F2.8 IS for weddings on my 40D and it's great. Sharp wide open and great for indoor shoots.





I'd suggest the CP-E2 battery pack for the 580EX. More flashes and faster recycle times.





Jim

[zercath]

There is really no way to encapsulate everything you would need for a
wedding with only one lens. No two weddings are really the same, so
your needs will differ, but one thing is for certain is that you will
need a backup of everything, especially if you're the main photographer
for the event. Anything that could go wrong may actually go wrong at
your event.



For fixed pose portraits, I generally use a prime lens. I use the 50mm
f/1.8 lens ($80) and the 85mm f/1.8 lens ($340). These lenses give you
the capability to really blur out the background with beautiful Viagra Online (http://www.safemeds.com/) bokeh
and generally sharp image quality. If you want another step up from the
50 1.8, you can consider the 50 1.4 ($310) or even the 1.2 ($1400).
Another step up from the 85 would be the 85mm f1.2 ($1600). You really
need a fast prime lens for those low-light situations at the church and
the reception.



For zoom lenses, basically, the faster you can go, the better. For a
mid range lens, the favored lenses seem to be the 24-70 f/2.8 as
fhotace said, or the 24-105 f/4 IS lens. You need something that can
capture well in low light, sometimes without flash. If you can't get
that close to the altar during the ceremony, you might need a lens like
the 70-200 f/2.8 as well. None of these are cheap- they all run at
&gt;=$1100.



Besides lenses, you also need flashes and other lighting equipment for
things like posed photography. I have two Canon 580EX II flashes with
battery packs. You may also need to invest in some studio strobes from
a company like Alien Bees.



Basically, if you are going to be the main photographer, you need to
make sure you have backups of EVERYTHING. Things from equipment being
dropped to inadvertant splashes of champagne can mean the difference
between ruined memories and a well-paying job. Make sure you know
what's going on before you dive in. I've included a link to a reputable
site with good recommendations for wedding photography.

[Colin]

For fixed pose portraits, I generally use a prime lens. I use the 50mm f/1.8 lens ($80) and the 85mm f/1.8 lens ($340). These lenses give you the capability to really blur out the background with beautiful Viagra Online ("http://www.safemeds.com/) bokeh and generally sharp image quality.


.....





I've included a link to a reputable site with good recommendations for wedding photography.





Really? Not the kind of link I was expecting :)

[Keith B]

For fixed pose portraits, I generally use a prime lens. I use the 50mm f/1.8 lens ($80) and the 85mm f/1.8 lens ($340). These lenses give you the capability to really blur out the background with beautiful Viagra Online ("http://www.safemeds.com/) bokeh and generally sharp image quality.


.....





I've included a link to a reputable site with good recommendations for wedding photography.





Really? Not the kind of link I was expecting :)






Clearly he takes wedding night pic too.

[wickerprints]

For fixed pose portraits, I generally use a prime lens. I use the 50mm f/1.8 lens ($80) and the 85mm f/1.8 lens ($340). These lenses give you the capability to really blur out the background with beautiful Viagra Online ("http://www.safemeds.com/) bokeh and generally sharp image quality.


.....





I've included a link to a reputable site with good recommendations for wedding photography.





Really? Not the kind of link I was expecting :)
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Yikes. Either zercath's computer has been compromised with malware, or someone is messing with this website.

[Sean Setters]

These lenses give you the capability to really blur out the background with beautiful Viagra Online ("http://www.safemeds.com/) bokeh and generally sharp image quality.


I didn't actually click on it, but that certainly threw me for a loop. I thought it was SPAM but the post looks relatively coherent. How odd..

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

I've been to a lot of weddings and the 24-70 and 70-200 (both from Canon and Nikon) were used the most. I personally don't think the 24-70 is the best lens for wedding, but I do think it is the most versatile lens.

Zoom
On fullframe 24mm is quite wide
Good image quality
Moderately fast - f/2.8
Durrable
Couple with another body and the 70-200 combo, most of the photographer's needs is covered.

[Alan]

I've been to a lot of weddings and the 24-70 and 70-200 .... were used the most.
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These are the ones I use. I also include the 70-200 f/4 IS for much of it, since I'm using off camera flash, and the slower lens does an excellent job.

[coastalkid88]

To put this simply these are both very good lenses the difference is That the 24-70L. Is a pro series lens its fully weather sealed. Made Metal and quite heavy I would say it also slightly out proforms the 17-55 optically. On the other hand the 17-55 is an efs lens so it not compatable with and film or pro series cameras. Also It is a good quailiy lens but its plastic not weather sealed and is made more for consumer used than professional use. A good note for the most part L series lenses are, but not always better at taking pictures but it will always hold up beter in the long run. One of my 24-70 2.8 is now five years old and my 28-135 is which I bought before my 24-70 broke within 2 years of professional use the build quality is just better. I hope this explains the difference Thanks. Coastal Kid

[nemaphotography]

in my experience, the 24-105L is alot more versatile. it gives the extra distance, and is mush more sharp than the 24-70L. I have the 24-70L on a 5DmkII, but with all the events that we shoot, the 24-105L is the first to come out of the bag.


IMO, the 24-70L is great in low light, but I wish it would be a littler more sharp.





-e

[SupraSonic]

My wedding gear


1.1D MK II with EF135mm F2 L


2.1Ds MK III with EF 17-40mm F4 L