Advice: equipment for school photography

I now run a K-8 school and no longer have the joy of being the primary photographer for the school. I'm hiring a digital media specialist who will capture our experience, and that person will most likely have a photography degree. The school needs to provide the equipment. So my question is this: what should I buy?
Budget is tight, so the dream of a 5dII and 70-200 f/2.8 L IS II isn't going to happen. It'll need to be a good APS-C body with lenses that can handle low light.
T3i and 85 f1.8?
The school already owns a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8, which I've been happily using as my own and will have to give back. Other ideas?
Thanks!

Can you give a figure for the budget. Also, what do you require from your equipment, you mentioned low light, what other limitations or expectations do you have? What style of photography will you specialize in or is it a bit of everything. Do you need any accessories that need to be factored into the budget such as a tripod, software, memory cards?


Is K-8 kindergarten to 8yr old?

How

William, K-8 is Kindergarten to grade 8 (12-13 year olds).


An 85mm f/1.8 would do nice portraits, and some sports. Depending on your light levels indoors (such as away from windows, during winter), the Tamron

You might want to wait until you find someone and see what they use. Since he/she is a pro, they will prolly be using Canon;). If they are using a better body than what you provide, they might end up using the stuff they are more comfortable with and the money was wasted.

That

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Originally Posted by andnowimbroke

You might want to wait until you find someone and see what they use. Since he/she is a pro, they will prolly be using Canon;). If they are using a better body than what you provide, they might end up using the stuff they are more comfortable with and the money was wasted.

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This is good advice.


If someone with a degree in photography is going to be hired, try to find someone who already has there own equipment. Save the money, use it for the school. If I had went to school to get a degree in photography you would think I would have some gear already.

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Originally Posted by HDNitehawk

If I had went to school to get a degree in photography you would think I would have some gear already.

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In a thread I'm following on CR, someone planning to attend a photography school in Seattle mentions that they require that students purchase full-frame dSLR. Ouch!

You can certainly give them the option of using their gear if they prefer, but offer to provide some basic kit, like you were planning. I have computers at home, but typically one is provided for me at work. I imagine a camera can be looked at the same way.


Neuro, A fullframe DSLR may cost less than some students spend on near useless textbooks over their 3-4 year degrees. Also several hundred dollars a year from my tuition went towards supporting the school

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Originally Posted by DavidEccleston

Neuro, A fullframe DSLR may cost less than some students spend on near useless textbooks over their 3-4 year degrees. Also several hundred dollars a year from my tuition went towards supporting the school's sports teams. At least they're getting something useful that they plan to use for years to come. I bet the resale value is better on the camera than used text books too.

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Too true...but the outlay for the FF dSLR is up front and all at once, not amortized over several years. I can absolutely confirm that I get more use from my 5DII than from the thousands of dollars worth of textbooks sitting in my office and on a bookshelf in the basement at home. At least I didn't pay for all of them - between my time spent teaching and my wife being a professor, we get a lot of instructor copies for free (but even then, the digital files that come with the books are often more useful than the printed volumes).

I know this is not the primary question the OP is asking. But as said by others prior, if they are a digital media specialist they wouldn't be much of a specialist if they don't have any gear to run their own business operation [^o)] I would actually be very hesitant about even hiring them if that was the case... If this was someone with some photography experience, maybe with only a kit lens that would make sense...


But I second everyones opinions that you should save the money for the kids. We all know how much the gears can add up to! [:D]. I feel it should be the photographer's responsibility to have the necessary equipment, and be able to say "no" when they know they're not fit for the job.


Hope you'll be able to find someone with a nice portfolio. Good luck!!


-Tak

This is a very interesting conversation with wide ranging views. I

High speed flash isn

I agree with William, it's not so much about the gear, but how it's used. The good old 50mm f/1.8 II is still my go to when I first start out a session [:D]


The type of camera body choice probably wouldn't be much problem, since the photographer probably would rather prefer to use their own that they are accustomed to (unless it's a huge upgrade). But if you needed to choose one, 7D, 60D, T3i, T2i, I wouldn't mind working with any one of those over the other. I'd miss the better AF performance from the 7D, but they all use relatively the same sensor so no drastic change there in quality. You just won't have the bells and whistles, which you don't seem to be asking for.Lens choice would have more impact.Better just to get the essentials if on a tight budget. T2i?


The Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 is a decent all-rounder. From your past experience on working with these kids as their photographer was the focal length range ever a problem? If you felt you wanted more reach, the 85mm f/1.8 would be a nice extension, plus a good low light performance. But if it wasn't ever a problem the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 might be a better choice. The focal length would be just smack in the middle of the range preferred for your setting, so less burden for the photographer to move around to compose, plus the better low light performance than the f/2.8 on the Tamron.


But from the sounds of it, you're struggling more with actually keeping up with the kids as they move around. The Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 focusing speed honestly to me is horrid with fast moving subjects in low light settings. You can have the widest aperture with the highest shutter speeds, but it won't do any good if the focus is trailing behind. I use it with my 7D, so a better body isn't going to solve that problem. It's the lens design. In that sense I would get the 85mm f/1.8 with it's fast and accurate focusing. You might be working outside a comfortable focal length, and more burden for the photographer to compose, but at least you'll capture the kids experiences in focus [:D]


So I would work with T2i + 85mm f/1.8 + 17-50mm f/2.8 combination. 85mm f/1.8 for fast motion shots, and 17-50mm f/2.8 for relatively slow occasions where you want to capture a larger wider scene.


Just my 2cents!

This is good advice Takahiro. There is another option for keeping up with the kids other than a fast focus and fast glass. Remember the old photojournalist saying: "f8 and be there". This style may yield more keepers during those fast paced moments. I understand that the 7D has very good noise control so f3.5-f8 and high ISO might be an option. Also many of these shots will probably be printed small so cropping and a little bit of noise shouldn't cause too many issues. The 35mm sigma would be good on something like the 7D because once again cropping won't be a big deal for school magazines etc.