> Hello. I recently got into digital photography. I bought an Olympus C-8080. Great camera, but the EVF would not work for me to shoot people events such as weddings.
Try waving your hand in front of the lens on an EVF camera and you will probably see a lag time delay between what happens in front of the camera and what finally shows up in the viewfinder. Not good for timing a bouquet toss. > Until I purchased this camera I have always used Pentax equipment. PZ-1p, LX, MX,AF500FTZ,AF280,AF 50/1.4,Af28-105(pz),A24/2.8 and more. > I have to turn down "digital" wedding requests because I do not have a digital camera that I could comfortably use for weddings. You really need two or more cameras anyhow, so even if you get a digital, bring along some film cameras for backup. I use some K1000s, a ZX-M, two Minolta 600si cameras, an Olympus Stylus Epic ( processional backup ), and Canon digi-rebel. My wife uses the two 600sis with dedicated flash units. I use auto-flashes and radio slaves. We have all kinds of lenses, but mostly use a few zooms. Up to five cameras are in use at a time. During the ceremony, I have the digi on tripod ready for no-flash ceremony coverage, a Pentax w/ flash and double lighting for processional and recessional, the Epic ready for a few additional back up shots up close as the bride goes past, and my wife has the two Minoltas in the balcony on tripods, one with tele zoom and another with wide angle. I take formals with a digital, plus a film camera on a tripod with its own flash, for quick backup of important shots. Prefocus it and all you have to do is reach over and trip the shutter and crank the next frame while the digital's flash recycles. You can even alternate between them as the other is cycling, to get duplicates of important group poses in case someone blinks. > So the question I have is, does anyone have any wedding experience using an *istD or DS with the above flashes and lenses. I do realize I will need a wider lens. Any digital specific zoom recommendations? Thanks. > Francis A 24-70 f2.8. Comparable to a 35-105 on film. Workhorse lens. Better auto-focusing with the f2.8. Large and heavy brute, commands respect. But you still need the kit lens (18mm or so at the wide) for huge groups up close. For flash, I have TTL dedicated flashes for the Minoltas for my wife, but I use old technology auto-flashes instead. Reasons: - Digital cameras have had problems with TTL flash measurement. - I would rather have ( and in fact DO have ) four cheaper flash units instead of one or two expensive dedicated ones. Backup and versatility. - They seem to keep changing the dedicated digital flashes. Canon has changed several times now. Minolta changed and also requires D lenses for distance information. I don't know about Pentax. - Simple auto-flashes can be used with any brand of camera ( I have the adaptor for the Minolta hotshoe in case it's ever required ). K1000 to whatever else we end up with ten years from now. - We had a camera bracket crimp a dedicated flash cable at a wedding. You REALLY want to have spares, and those dedicated cables are $40 each. I can make cables for my cheap auto-flashes for a few bucks in parts. I use mini-plugs instead of PC connectors, for reliability and cheaper parts. Plus, the radio slaves use mini-plugs anyhow, so I just got rid of all the PC connecters other than the hotshoe adaptor, which of course you need five spares of! - Only the most expensive radio slaves work with dedicated flash units with TTL. More reasonable ones only work with simple flashes. - I use double lighting a lot. The cabling goes like: camera to hotshow PC adaptor to PC-miniplug cable to miniplug-miniplug cable to radio transmitter to the local flash. Radio receiver to the remote flash and perhaps to another remote flash, via miniplugs. - You can pop an optilcal slave on a cheap flash unit aimed at the wall behind the altar during formals. - Auto flashes with reasonable power are only $80-$100 each. Sunpack 383 Super or Vivitar 283 or 285HV. I like the Sunpack's controls and compact size, but I also have Vivitar 285s. Use NiMH batteries. - Auto flashes measure light fairly well. You can move to manual if you need more control. - Auto flashes handle multiple lights fairly well. You can have several aimed at the dance floor from different angles and still get nice photos. The downside is that you have to think a bit more. I have to change a setting if I move to outdoor light and want to fill flash, for example. On the other hand, the switches on the back of the flash are quick to change from fill to main to remote only during a dance, for example. I once counted 17 or so switches, dials, and settings for a K1000 with the dual auto flash units on a radio system. Digital adds even more settings. My wife uses the dedicated flash units on her film cameras at f5.6 or 1/200th with the exposure compensation set to +1/2 all day long and everything is fine. Digital also seems to require closing down the aperature a half stop or more to minimize blowing out the whites. By the way, for the moment I use JPG instead of RAW. The Canon digi-rebel is too slow to use RAW. We can burn off 500 shots on digital and 1000 on film in a 6 or so hour wedding day. If you get a D or Ds, you'll probably like the viewfinder a lot more than this Rebel. Brian See our work at: http://www.bdphotographic.com Many of the images are from Pentax gear and auto-flashes, and around a third of it is my wife's work.
