Moving from an amateur to a professional

[Pallycow]

Guess I'll be the negative nancy here.

If you have to ask what gear you need to shoot weddings professionally....You are not ready to shoot weddings professionally.


Spend more time learning and shooting and picking up things along the way, then market yourself and your trade, and hope you get clients.

 

[Pallycow]

Guess I posted basically the same thing as trev. lol. oh well.

also, there is so much more to being a professional photographer than taking a good photo. That is only a quarter of it in the grand scheme of things needing learned.

 

[Derrel]

Hey Ron,
60D vs 7D...why not? I always thought of the 7D as Canon's "sports" body...

I think with decent lenses, people ought to be able to get good focus on wedding shots. The 60D gets a bad rap, I think. It's more-capable than the Fuji S2 Pro or the Fuji S2, or the Canon 10D and 20D were, and for a few years those were the more-common wedding cameras of MANy professional wedding shooters. One of my Dallas, TX friends used a batch of Canon 20D's for three seasons...and I own a 20D...he produced around 100 weddings using that, "now primitive" camera...

I think the T3i is probably a much better camera than the 20D. I wish I had access to a T3i...I'd see what it could do.

I dunno...the shooter is very important, and so are the lenses. I think we often see the T3i paired with kit zooms and think it's not that good a camera, but I have seen some of imagemaker46's stuff shot with el-cheapo Canon bodies and top-shelf glass...I think the T3i and 60D both get pigeonholed as newbie-level when they are actually modern, digital SLR bodies...and all the love goes to the 7D and the 5D and 1D series. Weddings? I would rather hire guy with 10 yrs' experience and a 60D vs a newbie with a 1Dx and 1 yr experience...

My responses in this thread have been to the OP who wants to "move" from amateur to beginning wedding pro....gotta start...."somewhere", right??? Low-end weddings, $500 on Craigslist, plenty of customers with little money and limited expectations (as in no grandiose illusions of 40x60 murals,leather-bound albums, super HQ slide shows, mother-in-law albums, guest mini-books, none of that stuff, no 190-person banquet hall shots,etc).

 

[Pallycow]

wedding photog that works out of the shop carries 2 60D's. One with his UW on it, the other with his 70-200 on it. Been doing it for years and does well. Nothing wrong with a 60D in the hands of a capable person.

Could he do better with do mark III's strapped to his black rapids? Sure. Is he doing great now with his 60D's? yup.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Bestbuy disagrees with you all =)

 

[Pallycow]

We don't say that name around here.

 

[runnah]

I could spend $1500 just on bags to carry gear. Add a couple zeros to that number and you'll have a better figure.

 

[Light Guru]

If you have to ask what gear you need to shoot weddings professionally....You are not ready to shoot weddings professionally.

AMEN, well said!

 

[Light Guru]

I would like to also note that most of photography would be mainly outdoors so that may make some difference with flashes.

Think again when shooting outside your going to need some fill flash.

 

[ronlane]

I wish I had access to a T3i...I'd see what it could do.

I see what you are saying about the 60D. Wished we were closer, we could go out for a shoot and you could use my T3i for the day or two.

With your double your money back guarantee, I know that I'd leave a better photographer, or a sore head from getting jake slapped.

 

[orljustin]

Sigh.

 

[amolitor]

You could pick yourself up a nice Mamiya C330 kit with the 80 and the 135 for like $650. You only need one body because it's Mamiya. Couple Vivitar 285 flashes and some modifiers, get you in under $1000. Spend the rest on tripods and whiskey.

People used to shoot weddings with this stuff! Back when it cost $10,000 in 2013 dollars, but now it's damn near free!

 

[pgriz]

To the OP: why don't you give us a condensed, executive summary of your business plan, plus post some of your best "wedding-like" images. Then we can have an idea whether equipment (or lack of) is the thing you need to be worrying about.

 

[TATTRAT]

 

[pgriz]

Whoah! How long did it take you to whip that one up?