Wedding photographers..Which prime?

mr tommo

mr tommo

mr tommo

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Joined
13 Dec 2004
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Stoke-on-Trent
Two Weddings this weekend and looking to hire a prime lens.

2 Photographers & current kit is :

2 x Canon 5D mkII
2 x Canon 24-70 f/2.8 (mk1)
1 x Canon 70-200 f/2.8
1 x Canon 70-200 f/4

I'm looking for a fast prime as never used anything under f/2.8 and looking to experiment a little this weekend.

I'm currently thinking of getting the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 L II but worried about reports the focusing is quite slow. Don't want focusing issues in the evening?

Which would you go for?
 
I think An_Exception, Raymond and MrK, all pretty much use the 35 and 85 themselves as their main primes. In terms of 85's, Raymond uses the 85L, but if you're worried about not being used to the focussing of the 85L then get the Sigma 85 1.4 (MrK uses this).

I'd be considering the 135 as above myself, but I've got a bit of an insane desire to get that lens myself, so I'd take my recommendation on that with a pinch of salt.

kd
 
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King Damager said:
I think An_Exception, Raymond and MrK, all pretty much use the 35 and 85 themselves as their main primes. In terms of 85's, Raymond uses the 85L, but if you're worried about not being used to the focussing of the 85L then get the Sigma 85 1.4 (MrK uses this).

I'd be considering the 135 as above myself, but I've got a bit of an insane desire to get that lens myself, so I'd take my recommendation on that with a pinch of salt.

kd
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I use my 35L for most of my wedding work ;)
 
85 or 135. If you get a 135, personally I would ditch the big heavy 70-200, and just use a 24-70 and 135.
If you just want a prime to compliment you're current setup, then I would get the 85l.
 
I agree with everything that's been said.

Primary most used, default lenses on bodies are 35/85.
Evening dance floor is 24/1.4 and 50/1.4.
135 only really for from the back of the church.
Never needed a 70-200, it is way too big and heavy to lug around with if you have a 85mm, I would even choose a 85/1.8 over a 70-200.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

70-200mm is indeed a bit of a brute and only usually gets used by the second shooter from another angle. Will be interesting to see how much we can get away without using the 70-200mm and 24-70mm this weekend. Looking forward to having a play with the lenses tomorrow evening.

Treated myself to the 35mm and the 85mm in the end. Pick them both up tomorrow at 3pm and drop them off Monday 10am for the grand price of £90 with insurance :)

Granted I've had to leave a £1000 deposit incase I don't return them but thats not too bad.
 
mr tommo said:
Thanks for all the replies.

70-200mm is indeed a bit of a brute and only usually gets used by the second shooter from another angle. Will be interesting to see how much we can get away without using the 70-200mm and 24-70mm this weekend. Looking forward to having a play with the lenses tomorrow evening.

Treated myself to the 35mm and the 85mm in the end. Pick them both up tomorrow at 3pm and drop them off Monday 10am for the grand price of £90 with insurance :)

Granted I've had to leave a £1000 deposit incase I don't return them but thats not too bad.
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What lens hire firm did you use?
 
That was my thought! :p

Its usaully full RRP per item but as we have an account there they did it for £1000. This is only because it's the first time I've hired from them, afterwards I'm not even sure a deposit is required.

BTW incase anybody is interested, Calumet Rental currently have an offer where a Friday (can collect Thursday after 3pm) to Monday hire only costs 1 day of hire. For example the 35mm f/1.4 is only costing me £39.60.

Not bad if you've got a short trip away planned and want to try a new £1000+ lens out. Also have DSLR's from around £100.
 
I would be torn on dropping £90 on rental, I'm sure it's a good rent rate but it's also a good amount of cash towards owning one. Put it like this, if Canon was offering £90 off the lens would you buy it? :)
 
I'd agree usually however this weekend was a little different as we have a Wedding on the Friday, Saturday and the PhotoBooth is out on the Saturday night so plenty of income this weekend. The hire works out at £45 per Wedding.

We've also not got enough spare to buy a new lens until after Christmas with our budgeting. If we both feel like that these Lenses are worth it then we will definitely be purchasing them after Christmas. To me its like a test drive. If our photos improve greatly over the f2.8 offered by our 24-70mm then it will be worth it in the long run.
 
mr tommo said:
Is it really better than the Canon? Dad had a bad experience with Tamron and Sigma years ago and we've just never been back since.
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Oh yes.

The sigma 35, is probably the greatest lens Sigma have ever made. In fact, their entire 35/50/85 range is quite good.

The 35 really truly stands out from the rest still. It's on par (arguably better) than the 35L, and at my last check 2/3rds of the price.

Take a look at this:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18442944

The more recent pages in particular :)

kd
 
King Damager said:
The 35 really truly stands out from the rest still. It's on par (arguably better) than the 35L, and at my last check 2/3rds of the price.
kd
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I don't think there is any argument, it's a considerably better lens. It's much sharper and bokeh is much better. It's well built. Focuses pretty fast.

The Sigma 50 is 'arguably' better than the L but at the expense of 0.3 stops of Aperture.

The Sigma 85 I think is sharper than the L, it focuses MUCH faster and is much lighter, has nice bokeh, but again misses out on the 0.3 stops aperture advantage.

The aperture advantage is mainly going to affect DOF rather than light gathering so much (Silicon not good at absorbing light from angles).
 
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