Nikon Switchover - Help needed

mr tommo · 2 Dec 2014 at 12:30

UPDATE : The purchasing has begun! Post #46

I'm a fulltime photographer but also have a Wedding Photography business with a good friend of mine. Up until now we have mostly pinched kit from my families photography studio (I work there in the week). The idea behind that was to build up our Weddings, get future booking and save up to have all of our own kit.

Kit we currently own :

Canon 5DIII + 24-70mm f2.8 + Sigma 35mm f1.4 ART

In December/January this year we will be going out and getting every single bit of wedding photography equipment we need. Currently this comes to around £6500-£7500 at a rough guess.

Don't really want to get into a debate of Canon vs Nikon, will leave that to the fanboys. We will be going with Nikon from this moment on. (I think it's fair to say that if most of you were starting out right now, Nikon's latest sensors would probably push you over to them) As we are essentially starting out from scratch and want to go with full primes, we may aswell sell up the small amount of kit we have/or keep as a backup.

Kit on the to buy list :

2x Nikon D750 - £3000-3500
Nikon AF-S 24mm f/1.4 G - £1400
Sigma 35mm f1.4 ART - (straight swap for our canon fit)
Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4 G - £280 or Sigma 50mm ART - £600
Nikon AF-S 85mm f/1.4G - £1100

Flashes -
3x SB-910 OR Yongnuo equivalent - £900 or £400

I just have a few questions..

Any issues with the above lens? For example, with Canon the 85mm was dog slow at focusing. I'll have to do some reading but would be nice to have first hand experience.

Is the 50mm up to the job when compared to the others? I notice there is no 50mm f1.2 in the line up so not sure whether we should go for the new Sigma 50mm ART.

Re Flashes : We use flash very rarely for fill in during formal groups. Generally in AV/TV with FEC. Also we use flash at night, usually with on camera TTL + 2 off camera flashes on manual.

I've only ever used Canon flashes and generally quite happy (apart from the off camera flash being unable to fire rear-curtain). Are the Yongnuo for Nikon a genuine replacement or should we just go done the Nikon SB-910 route?

Also would have really like a 135mm but the Nikon lineup doesn't look great at that length? Any idea if that is being addressed or is the old 135mm f2 still up to the job?

squerble · 2 Dec 2014 at 12:36

I'm not speaking from experience but from what I've read - in a lot of places - is that the 50mm f/1.4 G isn't up to much. Apparently the f/1.8 is "better" when considering value, and the f/1.4 has some focusing issues wide-open. I'd certainly like to hear first-hand experience on this though.

Raymond Lin · 2 Dec 2014 at 12:40

FYI, Ross Harvey keeps a 5DIII just for the Canon 50/1.2, for sunset flare photos.

mr tommo · 2 Dec 2014 at 12:48

squerble said:
I'm not speaking from experience but from what I've read - in a lot of places - is that the 50mm f/1.4 G isn't up to much. Apparently the f/1.8 is "better" when considering value, and the f/1.4 has some focusing issues wide-open. I'd certainly like to hear first-hand experience on this though.

Hmm.. doesn't sound very good, will certainly read the reviews. We don't currently use a 50mm prime so not sure if we will manage without or not. Always had the 24-70mm at hand so never struggled really.

Raymond Lin said:
FYI, Ross Harvey keeps a 5DIII just for the Canon 50/1.2, for sunset flare photos.

That doesn't bode well then. How do you find the new 50mm Sigma or is it Mrk that has that lens?

Raymond Lin · 2 Dec 2014 at 13:07

I like the Sigma 50, it doesn't have the bokeh of the Canon 1.2, it's close but no cookie, however better in every other regard, and cheaper.

mr tommo · 2 Dec 2014 at 13:12

Thanks, will look into that then. Really impressed with the Sigma 35mm, maybe the Nikon equivalent will be better but I can't imagine it being 2x as good as the price would suggest.

Raymond Lin · 2 Dec 2014 at 13:14

p.s. I am thinking about the same switch...been on my mind for the past 2 months. I was going to get a Fuji X system for snaps, but instead of putting money towards that system, I might put £1500 into a D750 and a 35mm and see how I get on with that, while keeping the Canon for a little bit.

Switch entirely if I like it, sell the Nikon if I don't.

tef · 2 Dec 2014 at 13:24

i would take that 24mm out and replace with 14-24mm. heavier/bigger, but for wide shots, especially indoors, having a zoom is important.

(have you closely looked into skin tones from nikon? it does take a lot of tweaking for asian skintones...i.e. more hours in post = more cost)

Raymond Lin · 2 Dec 2014 at 13:25

tef said:
i would take that 24mm out and replace with 14-24mm. heavier/bigger, but for wide shots, especially indoors, having a zoom is important.

(have you closely looked into skin tones from nikon? it does take a lot of tweaking for asian skintones...i.e. more hours in post = more cost)

The 24 is 1.4, great for weddings.

mr tommo · 2 Dec 2014 at 13:27

Yeah I have noticed your comments in other threads. We were the same at first but thought we may as well just go for it as we don't have a great deal of kit. We don't book weddings until April so gives us plenty of time to practice.

The 35mm f1.8 is supposed to be a pretty decent lens for what you're looking for as a tester.

It's the flashes that are confusing/annoying me the most. It seems the newest Yongnuo are only Canon fit and the Nikon SB-910 seems to be the latest flash but not RT. Would mean we are still having to use pocketwizards for OCF.

tef said:
i would take that 24mm out and replace with 14-24mm. heavier/bigger, but for wide shots, especially indoors, having a zoom is important.

(have you closely looked into skin tones from nikon? it does take a lot of tweaking for asian skintones...i.e. more hours in post = more cost)

In an ideal world I'd get rid of the 24mm from the above list as 9 times out of 10 I can get everything with my 35mm. It's quite an expense but very good for certain things. (front of ceremony, morning prep)
Ceremonies in particulary are when 1.4/1.8 come in great, especially in dark churches.

The biggest letdown in the Nikon lineup for me is the lack of 135mm f2/1.8. I know there is one but seems it hasn't been updated for many many years. This would generally be used for guest candids etc but I guess we'd need to just change our style a little and get in the action when it comes to guest shots. That's the major thing I feel I need to work on, not feeling like I'm getting in peoples way/face when it comes to the guests. That's for another discussion though.

Raymond Lin · 2 Dec 2014 at 13:29

mr tommo said:
Yeah I have noticed your comments in other threads. We were the same at first but thought we may as well just go for it as we don't have a great deal of kit. We don't book weddings until April so gives us plenty of time to practice.

The 35mm f1.8 is supposed to be a pretty decent lens for what you're looking for as a tester.

It's the flashes that are confusing/annoying me the most. It seems the newest Yongnuo are only Canon fit and the Nikon SB-910 seems to be the latest flash but not RT. Would mean we are still having to use pocketwizards for OCF.

Another Ross Harvey gear..Phottix

tef · 2 Dec 2014 at 13:32

Raymond Lin said:
The 24 is 1.4, great for weddings.

yea, i know, but i would trade 1.4 for zoom 2.8 at wide end. i would leave the large aperature shots to normal/tele. if it's noise/high iso that is the concern, i havent experienced much when i was on the job....BUT that's just my style of shooting.

mr tommo · 2 Dec 2014 at 13:38

Raymond Lin said:
Another Ross Harvey gear..Phottix

Go on...expand. My Ross Harvey stalking seems to have missed this one!

Edit: We currently use PW MiniTT1 + 2x FlexTT5 on the canon - Also have the AC3 controller but never use that. Is the Phottix a similar systme but better for Nikon?

Raymond Lin · 2 Dec 2014 at 13:40

mr tommo said:
Go on...expand. My Ross Harvey stalking seems to have missed this one!

That's what he uses for his off camera lights, I forgot which model exactly though. I don't blame him, I had PW, they were not always reliable and doesn't trigger everytime.

mr tommo · 2 Dec 2014 at 13:42

Ahh I see, will look into that. I have been largely unimpressed with the PW's. At my last wedding they decided that I couldn't have manual on my off camera flashes. No matter what I tried it wasn't happening. Not what you need 20 mins before the dance is about to kick off!

Raymond Lin · 2 Dec 2014 at 13:50

I only know that because I asked him about it about 2 years ago, when he was relatively "unknown".

mr tommo · 2 Dec 2014 at 13:55

Funnily enough I remember having a conversation with him on TP around the same time. He was getting largely slated for some of his shots (telephone wires, skies and abstract stuff). Gave me some really good advice at the time and had his website bookmarked since then. Nice to see his rise too

Raymond Lin · 2 Dec 2014 at 14:05

mr tommo said:
Funnily enough I remember having a conversation with him on TP around the same time. He was getting largely slated for some of his shots (telephone wires, skies and abstract stuff). Gave me some really good advice at the time and had his website bookmarked since then. Nice to see his rise too

I remember that, the wedding with the Indian theme wedding, with the peacock. I loved that set.

An Exception · 2 Dec 2014 at 14:21

FYI I have a mint 24mm 1.4 going on ebay soon as downsizing before the switch to mirrorless.

mr tommo · 2 Dec 2014 at 14:40

Will be very interested in that depending on the price. How soon is soon?

Are you going mirrorless for weddings? Thought you recently had the D810?