I want to do school-related event pictures and need equipment and lens recommendations!

[HiFiGuy1]

Since there have been two suggestions for a backup, what about a used or refurbished 5D? It might be a great spare (or primary for this work), and it seems that everything I've read says that it just so happens that both of the lenses that I currently own certainly work better on FF than FOVCF bodies. The ISO comparisons on this site do seem to back this up. I actually bought the 17-40 back when I had a 5D, and the 28-135 was the kit lens with my 40D, so I sort of didn't pick that specifically. The kit lens certainly seems to have all the common focal lengths for portraits, and the f/stop on a FF should give fairly shallow DOF. It also keeps me from having to buy any lenses for now.

As Chase Jarvis said, the best camera is the one you have. I suggest sticking with your 40D and adding another EF-S body. Why? That safety net. If you get a 5D, you'll make it your primary body. You'll build a lens arsenal around it, such as 17-40, 24-70, and 70-200, using the longer lenses on your 40D. When your 5D breaks, you'll now have a body that's cropped as your main unit, and you'll get caught off-guard on how big of a group shot you can take in any particular spot. My advice? Get two identical (or nearly identical, such as 40D/50D) cameras, learn them well, and then go FF on your third camera. By then, you'll be so fluent in "the crop life" that loss of a FF camera won't kill you. (I work with a 1D3 and either a 40D or XTi...it's always a challenge deciding which lens goes where. The one time I had my 1D3 and a 5D1, I really struggled with lens selection. Life was so much easier for the next event, when I rented a second 1D3.)

Alternatively, I've been thinking already of selling my 17-40 and getting the 17-55 for the 40D, or possibly now the 15-85 which seems like a strong performer with a broader range. Of course, it may make more sense to get the excellent 24-70 which would have an effective focal range of about 38-112mm, and another 40D or 50D, which would give me consistency between the framing of the two bodies with whatever lenses I use.

Again, stick with what you know. If you have proper lighting, you can get away with shooting at f/8 or so, where most any lens works best. Don't sell anything until you have enough of a safety net.

The lightingstuff seems reasonable, and I knew I'd need something. I also thought I should have backgrounds but hadn't looked into them yet. Thank you for the specifics. Believe it or not, I observed the need for the low light for chins,etc., when I was getting my picture at the driver's license place. I saw the first unflattering shot and I asked the girl to take the picture over after repositioning myself. It came out much better, and I learned a practical lesson.

There are lots of options. I went with a very expensive kit (if bought today, it'd be just under $4,000) that's wireless, because I'm too mobile of a shooter. Your work might be a lot easier to do while "plugged in", and that can open up some great inexpensive options that will also be a lot easier to learn lighting. Make money on it, and then you can add the fancy stuff.

Are the 5Ds that problematic? Wow. Okay, I'll get another crop body instead. It was just an idea anyway. Good point about switching between crop factors on the fly, too. That is best left to someone that has much more experience than I, I'm sure.


"Know" is a loose application of the term when it comes to my knowledge of my 40D. I am going to take the advice to REALLY learn my equipment, I promise, but I have been shooting more casually so far.


Well, the 40D or 50D option also saves me money on the spare body, so I agree with your input there. Probably will look for one of those 50D refurbs you mentioned. I have wanted to have AF MicroAdjust ever since that body came out. That is really the only thing my 40D doesn't have that I REALLY want in a 1.6x body. The extra res will be a bonus, too. If this whole thing takes off, I'll end up with at least one 1D Mark IV one day, but not for now. With the feature set it offers, and being APS-H, I honestly think that could be the last body I ever buy, and I'd just replace it if it broke.


You are still sticking with the suggestion for continuous lighting, yes? I have been on the road, but I am going to read up on the units that Dallasphotog listed and price them out for my kit. BTW, why do I see the Vivitar 285HV flashes all the time on this site? Is there something about them that makes them more desirable than a 580EX II? Seems like a lot of guys who consider themselves strobists use them instead of the Canons, and I haven't ever inquired why until now.

[peety3]

Are the 5Ds that problematic? Wow.

Nope, but I preach Murphy's law at every opportunity. As they said in the movie GI Jane, "Two means one, one means none." If you go into every job expecting a failed piece of equipment, you will be better able to cope. Sometimes it's the little things - with yucky batteries, my 580EX IIs tend to drop into TTL mode (i.e. not E-TTL II, TTL), which leads to lots of super-overblown shots. I went through three flashes one morning at a shoot (coincidentally my 1D3 wouldn't stop throwing Error 99s, so I had to punt to my Rebel XTi as well). But, there was a trunk full of gear (kryptonite?) very close to the action, so I kept trading out gear until I had stuff I could shoot with. Then it rained.

You are still sticking with the suggestion for continuous lighting, yes? I have been on the road, but I am going to read up on the units that Dallasphotog listed and price them out for my kit. BTW, why do I see the Vivitar 285HV flashes all the time on this site? Is there something about them that makes them more desirable than a 580EX II? Seems like a lot of guys who consider themselves strobists use them instead of the Canons, and I haven't ever inquired why until now.
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I'm leaning towards continuous lighting for price reasons, and to some degree longevity. Canon says you can get 150-700 shots per battery set on a 580. To shoot at f/8 (maybe f/5.6) and reasonable ISOs, you'll probably be living close to full power. Five shots per couple means you can only shoot 30 couples on a set of batteries. If you were shooting my high school prom, you'd need 10 sets of batteries. If you had three flashes (key, fill, background/hair), you're looking at 120 AAs, or $400 in Eneloops. Wanna be booked for two consecutive nights? Plan on another $400 in Eneloops, $400 in chargers, or a combination thereof. Worse, can you really tolerate 10 battery changes in a night? Yes, you could go with the Canon battery packs, dropping you to 5 battery changes in a night, but you still need the $400 in batteries, plus $450 in battery packs and ideally $500 in extra battery trays. Doesn't a pair of $25-50 spare light bulbs sound easier?


The Vivitars are popular for strobists, due to their price tag and feature set, if manual AA flashes are your thing.

[peety3]

Good point about switching between crop factors on the fly, too. That is best left to someone that has much more experience than I, I'm sure.

As mentioned earlier, I rented a 5D1 once as a "complement" to my 1D3. Horrendously different menus, and I felt a need to constantly switch lenses (I had 16-35, 24-70, 70-200). Need to shoot wide? I'd put the 16-35 on the 5D, and 24-70 on the 1D3. Need to shoot tight? I'd put the 70-200 on the 1D3, and the 24-70 on the 5D? Need to shoot wide? You get the idea. Now, try dealing with that while shooting a crowd of 11,000 cyclists anxious to start a 75-mile ride while you're up on a ladder. I'd rather commit the 24-70 to one body, and flip the other body between 16-35 and 70-200 as needed, knowing the bodies are identical. Oh, now hop in a car and drive the 75 miles to catch the action, hiking a mile into a state park to get the shot.

"Know" is a loose application of the term when it comes to my knowledge of my 40D. I am going to take the advice to REALLY learn my equipment, I promise, but I have been shooting more casually so far.

I used to volunteer as a firefighter. The day I was getting final qualifications to drive the ladder truck, I asked the Chief, "how do you decide who's an instructor for new drivers?" His answer: "When you can drive the truck without waking up, we usually figure you can teach others." Next thing I knew, I was an instructor on everything in the fleet except the ladder truck (and the PT Cruiser medic car...still haven't figured out that one).


You should be able to answer many novice questions about DSLRs, and have 1-3 likely causes for the problem as soon as you hear the novice's question. For example, take a look at the recent post about camera often showing "busy".