Do any of you use your FD equipment for wedding photography? If so, what is your typical setup (camera,lenses,flash,Stroboframe?)? Do you use Medium Format for the formals or stay with the FD setup for the entire event?

Any information would be very helpful. Thanks!

-- jwoodson (jwoodson@pdq.net), February 08, 2001

Answers

J,

Wedding photography is one of those things I swear I'll never do again every time I do it. I do not do photography for a living but as a mercenary hack I'll do the occasional job for a buck. Traditionally, I've used my old first generation F-1 with a 50mm lens and an equally old Vivitar 352 flash. My second lens was an old SSC 35-70 f 2.8 zoom. After I picked one up, I began favoring the Canon EF for it's faster flash sync. (125th vs 60th) I do not have one but the stroboframe's advantage over handle mount strobes is that the flash is directly above the lens axis and throws the shadow directly behind and below the subject. The last few wedding photographers I have worked with (I am also a wedding DJ) have shot the entire event on 35.

Bill

-- Bill Salati (wsalati@hotmail.com), February 08, 2001.

I recently did a wedding with an A1, 50mm F1.4 and a Sunpack 4500 flash (handle mount unit).

Results were excellent dispite not having TTL flash. Know your equipment and have a decent tripod.

Most shots must look normal so avoid wides and teles. most of your portraits will be of the couple so a 50mm is good for this.

I was using an EOS as well and the FD was superior. NO focus hunting. make sure your focusing is up to scratch, be prepared for maybe 10% of your shots to be out of focus. Use a bright lens to help you focus, hence the F1.4

Take the job seriously. If you are a guest be prepared not to eat much at the reception and don't drink. If they are paying you don't do either until AFTER the wedding.

Hope this helps

-- Grant Corban (grant@crystaledge.com.my), March 06, 2001.

Yes, you cann definitely use the FD system for weddings as long as you have a firm grasp of how to use your stuff. I have gone through using an AE-1, an old F-1 and a new F-1 to do weddings with a Canon 35-105 FD, a Vivitar 28-105, a Canon 24 f/2 FD and a Canon 70-210 f/4 FD. I used a Sunpak 544, Sunpak G4500, the little known Unomat360TCT (at least in the States) and even a Sunpak 3600. It's possible and the FD system, abandoned by Canon though it is, is a very usable system for this kind of work. As one of my friends who cut his teeth using an old F-1 and a T70 would say, "Wedding entourages do not come at you at 120 or more kph as go-karts would go.

Know your equipment, have fun and earn all the moulah you need to buy more FD stuff!

Regards!

-- Erick Lirios (ericklirios@yahoo.com), August 01, 2001.

I'm encouraged by all this to return to doing some weddings. Got a couple of T90s and a whole clutch of lenses so guess can sort out what to do. Only problem is my flashguns for FD have not survived as well as the rest of the gear! Will have to upgrade.... Did have a Metz 45CT4 with appropriate module, but it let me down in a big way..intermittent fault where it didn't fire! Got one 300TL gun, tho, and off-camera dedicated lead, just need to know what to mount the gun on in that set-up as it does not then have a shoe at the bottom but a screw-hole!

OK- Cheers JIM

-- Jim Cross (iamacamera@hotmail.com), August 15, 2001.

The Stroboframe brackets let you mount a flash with a 1/4"-20 screw base.

-- David Goldfarb (dgoldfarb@barnard.edu), August 16, 2001.