Upgrading (With weddings in mind)

CarlosGilbertos

CarlosGilbertos

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I'm hoping to bag a nice little bonus from the Christmas period at work and would hopefully like to upgrade my gear a little.
I'll be doing to couple of free weddings for a friend and colleague early this year as they don't have the means to pay for a photographer and have stepped up to donate my services. With that in mind, i'm leaning towards an upgrade that would suit weddings.

I am 99% sold on a 5D MKII, but am unsure as to what lens to upgrade to (As my current Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 won't work with a full frame camera).
I've heard great things about the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 and being on a full frame sensor, it shouldn't be TOO far off my 17-50 on a crop.

With a budget of around £1300 would this be a good set up? With a mind to upgrade to L glass at a later time.

(I also have a Canon 50mm f/1.8, Canon 70-300mm standard zoom.)
 
I have exactly this combo and it works really well. I'm saving to upgrade the lens but it's that good that I am in no rush!
 
I'd say 28mm is still a bit tight on FF but it would depend on the venue etc. The Tamron 28-75 is a fine lens, i had one on a crop years ago but replaced it with a non VC 17-50. I felt those extra few mm on the wide end made quite a difference, and i'd say the same will apply on FF. You are used to shooting at 17mm on your crop, so thats about 24mm on FF, but put a 28mm on a FF and its not quite as wide as you are used to.
 
From my understanding a 17-50 on a crop offers almost identical field of view as the 28-75 does on FF. Bearing in mind the 1.6 crop factor the 17-50 offers 27.2-80mm ff equivalent.

I use the 24-105 on FF and 24 is noticeably wider than 17 is on a crop sensor.

If you find the field of view offered by your 17-50 acceptable on your crop then the 28-80mm will be fine for you on FF!
 
If this upgrade is for your benefit, and for your future photography then I'd suggest buying what *you* will make the most use of.

You are giving them wedding photography for free, there is no reason for you to invest £1300 of your own money specifically to suit those two weddings - when they either can't afford, or can't prioritise wedding photography sufficiently.

The 5D MKII is a good all-round camera and a 24/28-70mm is a useful standard zoom but I wouldn't be investing in anything wider than that unless you are shooting a lot of landscapes or interiors and need the addition wide angle for your own personal future enjoyment.

You'll happily be able to make do with a 28mm wide end for weddings, and if you can't for 1-2 shots then lets face it they are not paying you. That would of course be completely different if you were advertising yourself and a paid pro in which case I'd expect you to be able to cover 16-35mm as well just in case (in the past in a particularly tight venue, and bad weather I have had to shoot at 14mm to salvage some larger groups).

Your 50mm f1.8 is a good backup for the standard zoom and a low light prime if you need one. The 70-300mm won't really cut it for you for paid work either in low-light capability or quality (under most wedding conditions) but again for a non-paid gig it would be sufficient.
 
Agree with Mike but i get the feeling that advice is already in place.
I must admit a big part of me upgrading to FF and getting a 5DMKIII last year came about by my daughter asking me to do her wedding. Just another excuse to spend obscene amounts of money lol but its the pleasure i get from using it that makes it worthwhile
 
Best advice is probably to hire the gear as mentioned above. Weddings are very challenging, probably one of the most challenging photography paths, variation in lighting conditions, (crowd control) controlling the wedding party for posed photo ops, right gear (2nd body), backup gear, right lenses (70-300 just too slow unless your outside or in a very well light room with 5D etc), and lots of post processing work after the event (its a lot of effort for very little reward). If this is just a taster to see if what to give it a try, hire the kit especially as its non paid.

F2.8 is the bare minimum, best combination is 70-200mm f2.8 MKII and 24-70mm F2.8, then then if your serious, host of primes, flash etc of course there are ways and means around that, but you really need to know what you're doing and research the venues before hand for the best places to take photo's, it really isn't just turn up on the day and hope for the best.

Not the challenge I would like to take on, but hats off to you and hope you enjoy the experience
 
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