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


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 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