Canon lenses

RoseyB · Jun 24, 2015

hello I'm new here just wanted to ask a few questions.
I recieved a camera for a wedding present along with 3 lenses. I was hoping to find out from professional photographers if my 3 lenses were good quality. I would love to start taking engagement photos and wedding photos! I just want to make sure I have good lenses or sell them to buy better ones. I have...

Canon EFS 18-55mm
Canon 75-300mm
Canon 28-105mm

Thank you

RoseyB · Jun 25, 2015

Yes first professional camera, I've had one in the past. The body is an Canon EOS 40D. And see that's it exactly my point how am I going to take amazing pictures with just good lenses? I wasn't saying I'm just going to up an shoot weddings and engagements but thats what I would love to do and strive towards. And I want great quality lenses to help push me to the next level. Thank you for your advice!

Bryston3bsst · Jun 25, 2015

With that body and the lenses you currently have you can get excellent results.

Whether or not buying new lenses will push you to 'the next level' is questionable. I say that because I have seen truly great photos shot by skilled shooters using your equipment. I guess what I'm suggesting is to use what you have until your abilities are better than your equipment. There is a great belief among beginning and advanced photographers alike that buying high end equipment will make their photos better. More often than not this is not the case as the buyer of this new hardware doesn't posses the photographic skills necessary to take advantage of the capabilities of the equipment.

I shot this picture using a Canon 600D with Canon 18-200 lens. Not, by any means, professional equipment. But, at least in my and my clients opinion it is a very pretty picture. Good enough that she published it.

Please understand, Rosey, I think you should do what you see fit. I'm simply saying that you own very nice equipment and that you will probably surprise yourself as to what kind of results you can get using it.

My best to you.

chuasam · Jul 1, 2015

If you're asking that question, you're not ready to shoot a wedding. It's almost like the satire where people go "I have an pro camera (in reality an enthusiast level body from 8 years ago) how do I shoot a wedding?"
Worry less about your gear and focus (haha) on understanding the other aspects of wedding photography. Find a pro to assist for a start.

beagle100 · Jul 2, 2015

Bryston3bsst said:
The fact that you're not familiar with those lenses leads me to believe that you might be just starting out in photography. I would say those will serve you just fine for some time to come.

yes !

Ihatemymoney · Jul 3, 2015

RoseyB said:
hello I'm new here just wanted to ask a few questions.
I recieved a camera for a wedding present along with 3 lenses. I was hoping to find out from professional photographers if my 3 lenses were good quality. I would love to start taking engagement photos and wedding photos! I just want to make sure I have good lenses or sell them to buy better ones. I have...

Canon EFS 18-55mm
Canon 75-300mm
Canon 28-105mm

Thank you

Ihatemymoney · Jul 3, 2015

I am not a wedding Photographer , I think a EF 85mm 1.2 L lens might be what you are looking for.
Or /and EF 70 - 200 mm 2.8 L

iolair · Jul 6, 2015

I've shot a wedding using a Canon 40D (alongside a 50D). It's a very capable camera.

I wouldn't feel particularly comfortable about the results I'd expect to get from any of those lenses on wedding, portrait or event photography though. (The 18-55 can produce surprisingly great landscapes.)

For learning portraiture on the 40D, I'd highly recommend getting a 50 mm f/1.8 lens. And then spend time shooting as much as possible.

ronlane · Jul 6, 2015

First off, I'm not a wedding or engagement photographer. (I would do the engagement photos but not the wedding).

My opinion would be to first get the manual for the camera from online and read it at least 2-4 times. Having the camera there to look at is helpful in this process. This will allow you to get to know the camera and all the buttons and controls. This will be VERY useful in the future, even if you don't remember everything at first.

The second would be to use these three lenses to start as you take photos and learn how to shoot images. They are all good enough to produce good images. Once you realize the handicaps of each, you will be ready to move to other lenses.

The last thing I would suggest is to read/watch video and study photos of wedding and engagement photography and posing. I would suggest to use youtube for free videos and KelbyOne.com is a good resource for learning photography. Creativelive.com also has resources that cover these genre's of photography.

Sal Cincotta, Bambi Cantrell, Tony Corbell, David Ziser and Cliff Mautner are some that I have watched on these topics and really liked.

Good luck with your journey.

mawgwr · Jul 11, 2015

Hi, I live in Leeds, in the U. K. & I have shot quite a few weddings. So here's some ADVICE: without at least 5 YEARS photography under your belt! DON'T DO IT! PLEASE! For this simple reason, YOU CAN'T GO BACK & RE-SHOOT IT. Learn all you can re: techniques, esp towards photographing children! Backlighting, Fill-in flash, Handling people, especially in one-off, VERY stressful situations like this. Tempers can get get frayed very, very quickly. You have to be able to think on your feet very quickly at times! Best advice: Try to work with another wedding photographer, who lives

a distance away from you, or one that may be considering, retiring in a year or two, so you COULD consider taking over the business! Engagements, if you get it wrong, you can at least re-shoot! If you are NOT going to go into it for the long haul, again, Don't Do It. Why, well someonr may see your photos & like them, so you shoot the engagements, then the wedding, then when any children come along, you might get this commission as well. You need to get your pricing appropriate.

Lastly! You need to have three more things 1) Lot's of CREATIVITY! 2) ENTHUSIASM! Overflowing, all-encompasing Enthusiasm! 3) PATIENCE!!! At times, more patience than the Almighty Himself! You need to be able to put yourself in the other persons shoes & ask yourself what you would expect to happen at that time.

Mawgwr!

TCampbell · Jul 12, 2015

I am not an engineer. As such, I would NOT be willing to get into an airplane that I designed and built by myself (because I'm pretty sure I know how it would end). A wedding shot by someone who didn't get training and experience would not end well either.

Weddings are technical. They require solid equipment and a heavily experienced photography. As has already been mentioned the big "problem" with weddings is there's no picture-retake day. Everything has to right the first time.

I used to shoot weddings before the era of digital -- using 100 ASA film and a medium format body with a single lens (no zoom). BUT...we heavily supplemented the lighting and since the use of flash is not permitted during the ceremony, many significant shots were actually re-enacted immediately following the ceremony (exchange of rings, etc.) Today, however, the right equipment can capture those shots as they happen and not need flash. But this relies on the advancements of the latest sensors (the 40D sensor is _very_ old.)

As for the lenses... they're all consumer grade (entry level) lenses ... but not appropriate for weddings.

The classic wedding kit consists of:

(1) a full frame body (e.g. a 5D II or 5D III or even a 6D if using Canon gear.) You can use a crop-frame body but it should be a newer body with better ISO performance.

(2) a 24-70 f/2.8L USM (I or II) (on a crop-frame body use the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM)

(3) a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM (I or II)

(4) at least ONE (but preferably two) high-end flash units capable of working off-camera (e.g. using wireless triggers and preferably radio technology.)

I consider the above list to be an absolute minimum. Note that the the above lenses I mentioned happen to be able to provide f/2.8 focal ratios at all focal lengths (that's a minimum). You can also use prime lenses because of their low focal ratios. Some primes are particularly attractive such as the 85mm f/1.2.L. The lower the focal ratio of the lens... the more light it collects when the shutter is open (but also the narrower the depth-of-field.)

Also... since there is no opportunity to re-take shots, backup gear is essential. We certainly hope we don't need it... but if for some reason we do need it, it had better be there (no excuses.) I would never do a wedding without backup cameras, lenses, lighting, etc. If it can break then it's just a matter of time before it eventually will break and you have be prepared for that to happen at the worst possible time.

There's also a lot to the "art" of photography in the wedding. This is the creative element. While we love to say that creativity doesn't require training... the fact is, it does require training. Our creativity isn't optimal until we practice a lot. Regardless of how creative a person things they may be... when they do something with a lot of repetition, their brain tends to learn techniques and patterns that work well -- that would never have been learned without the repetition. You'll need to learn to modeling skills and posing techniques, compositional skills, lighting skills, etc.

Although you might not realize it, an experienced wedding photographer has a mental shot-list in their head. They know the flow of the event. They know what shots are coming next. But they also know what exposures work well for that next shot and they pre-set the camera to be ready for it. What the guests "see" is a photographer lifting the camera to their eye and shooting -- it looks easy. What the guests don't realize is that the photographer expected it and got ready for it before it happened.

Weddings are very technical. It's like participating in a sport... you'll need both good gear and a lot of training and practice to win. There is no bypassing all the training and practice.

The gear you have will certainly help you start to learn basics... exposure, composition, etc. but they won't perform well in a real wedding. With the exception of outdoor daytime weddings (which have a different set of challenges), indoor weddings tend to be performed in very poorly lit venues -- both the wedding and the reception. Low focal-ratio lenses and camera bodies that can shoot at high ISO with low noise (and without needing flash) are essential.

I'm not trying to discourage you from shooting weddings... but I am trying to discourage you from shooting weddings with your current gear and experience level. If you get along well with others, it's hard to upset you (you will run into a LOT of personality types for clients and many will be unreasonable and difficult to work with), if you're enthusiastic, believe you can bring out the best in others (you have to create a positive mood to get your subjects to respond to the camera in a genuine way -- the camera will know if the subject is actually having a good time... or merely pretending to have a good time because they were told to smile), and you have to the motivation and follow-through to put in the time to learn the technical skills and hone your creative abilities while also doing the not so exciting behind-the-scenes work of running a successful business... then you should go for it.

I worked as an apprentice to a professional wedding and portrait photographer for years before I was ever permitted to use the camera with an actual client (and then only to shoot the candids at the reception.) This did progress to where I was entrusted with more important shots and ultimately I was confident in my ability to shoot a wedding on my own. If you do want to get into wedding photography, in addition to training, I'd encourage you to work as an assistant and eventually as a 2nd shooter to learn the field. Be patient and be passionate.