Renting 5DIII for a wedding, would like advice

[DanThePhotoMan]

Lot's of helpful advice thus far, but I'll add a little something extra.

As far as your memory cards go, I would be wary of using cards upwards of 8gb, unless you're using them in the second slot of the mk3. I shot a wedding this past weekend with my mk3 all in RAW and you'll average 270ish pictures per card. Now, that's not a lot, but say you get a 16gb card, take 540 shots, and then something happens and the card breaks (God forbid)? Not that it is very common, but random things happen to cards sometimes and they just don't work. I wouldn't want to risk it.

Here's my suggestion. I shoot with four 8gb SD cards, and have them attached to my belt in a small holding case. Before a card fills up, I can simply swap it out in 10 seconds or so. Now, those ten seconds may be crucial, so you really need to judge how many shots you have left. Wouldn't want to be caught with fifteen pictures left at the kiss haha.

And as far as the cards, I'm using the Sandisk Ultra and Extreme, both 30mb/s, and unless you plan on taking more than 14 or so RAW pictures on continuous shooting, they will definitely be fast enough to record what ever pictures you're taking. Just got two more from Best Buy the other day for $12.99 a piece. That sounds cheap, but I've been using two of the Extremes for over two years now and have never had a problem.

Also, take a flash. It doesn't matter how well lit the venue is, it is always helpful to have one just in case. I see a lot of people saying it's great to shoot at 6,400 ISO on the mk3, but from personal experience with mine, I wouldn't push it that high at a wedding unless I absolutely needed to. The less grain you can keep out of the picture, the less work you have to put in in post.

Hope that helps.

[dmills]

I hear you, and I've heard that argument before... But I think it's way easier to lose a memory card during a rush of a wedding than it is to lose pictures from a faulty memory card. ESPECIALLY in a camera that already has two memory card slots. If you're that worried, just get a 32gb Compact Flash card, and a 32gb SD card, set the camera to record raw to both cards, and not worry about it. Obviously, you'll want to put a 32gb CF and SD in your backup camera as well. Then, bring dinky 8gb backups for if your 32s are 90% full. Again, WAY easier to drop and lose a CF card than have it corrupted, especially with a backup SD card.

[keithfullermusic]

i shot a wedding a few weeks ago with the 5d3.  the lighting was terrible and i pretty much lived at f/2.8, ISO 6,400-10,000 while using a flash - and the pics turned out fantastic.

of course i would have preferred ISO 100, but it wasn't a possibility.  It's better to have slightly noisy shots that are properly exposed and sharp (no motion blur) than to have the opposite.

[RLPhoto]

Hey y'all!, I'm a long time lurker but first time poster.

I'm shooting an indoor wedding in December, and plan to rent a 5D mkIII to complement my 7D and a 40D.

Coming from a 7D is there anything major I should be aware of using the 5Diii?  Tips and/or advice?

Lenses I own:
-the nifty fifty
-Canon 17-55 2.8 IS
-Kiron 105 2.8 Macro

Gear I plan to rent:
Tamron 24-70 2.8 VC
Canon 70-200 2.8L is II 
Canon 5D mk III 

Questions:
1. Will I need 60mb/s cards to shoot RAW with the 5Diii, or will 30mb/s suffice?
2. In your experience/opinion, how much speed/capacity do you need? (I'll have (3) 4GB 30mb/s cards, (1)8GB 30mb/s, and hopefully (3) shiny new 16GB 60mb/s cards (all SanDisk Extreme, Ultra, or Extreme III)  Good?  Should I pick up some more? 
3. I have 2 chargers and should have at least (2) batteries per camera.

Thanks!

Scout the locations in advance. Its the most important thing you can do.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Best advice:
Be sure to have money to buy one after return it 

Hahaha.  I'm afraid you are right.  There is no way I could afford a 5D mk. anything at this time, but someday!!! 

Is that 750 full-sized RAW files?

Thanks for the tips!  I think I'm going to use a bunch of 4, 8, and 16GB cards since I like to crack off a LOT of shots (so as not to miss the moment), and I don't like having all of my eggs in [a couple of baskets].  I think my wife and I shot over 2300 pictures at the last wedding we did.

2300 raw images at ~ 30MB/image = 69GB!  Thats a lot.
Don't forget, the 5D MK III takes 2 cards, so you can put in a 64GB CF and a 64GB SDXC to have a backup copy.  Or, just buy/rent a 64GB SDXC and use it for backups from your CF Cards.
 Never trust a new camera / lens combination test it out!! You should do a AFMA on the lenses/body.  Never trust a new camera / lens combination test it out!!
 

[D.Fordice]

Thanks for the replies, everyone!!
I think I'm going to try a hybrid of y'all's ideas. 
I'm going to rent a 5Diii, and a 70-200 f/2.8 IS ii, and a prime (yet to choose) between:

35L f/1.4   (good for wedding party shots on FF?)
135L f/2    (If I get this, I'll have to use my 7D/17-55 2.8 for the wide shots...)
85 f/1.8 or 85L f/1.2  (If I get this, I'll have to use my 7D/17-55 2.8 for the wide shots...)
(or I'll get 2 primes).
What combo would you guys rent?


Not sure what body I'll use the 70-200 on for the ceremony.  Perhaps on the 5Diii, and have my 7D with my 17-55 2.8. (Or the prime).  Or perhaps I'll use the 70-200 on the 7D for more reach, and use the 5Diii with the prime for better IQ/bokeh.

What I'll have:
(1) Wife, also shooting shots! (great eye for shots but technical newbie:  She'll get a lot of candids and deco shots.  I'm teaching her the basics of aperture, ISO, shutter speed, composition, and flash use/bouncing) 
(1) 40D
(1) 7D
(1) 5Diii
(2) 4GB CF
(4?) 16GB CF
(1) 32GB SD (for backup in 5Diii)
(1) Manfrotto Tripod / fluid video head (may not do any video)
(2) Promaster 7500 EDF flashes & (2) globe diffusers
(2) 9' flash stands and umbrellas (should I shoot through or bounce?)
(2) batteries per camera + 2 chargers
(16) Eneloop AA batteries / charger
EF-S 17-55 2.8 IS
EF 70-200 f/2.8 IS ii
(a NICE rental prime) (TBD)
EF 50 f/1.8
Kiron 105 f/2.8 macro
EF-S 17-85 4-5.6 IS (probably won't use at all)
misc:
orange gels for flashes, honeycomb flash modifier, fold-out reflector.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

If you do want to do video, with the 5D MK III, plan on it eating up a lot of flash memory.  It sounds like you might run short.  You can throw the 32gb SD card into action rather than a backup, but having backups is good.

[D.Fordice]

Thanks!

They did not ask me to do video, but I told them I have the capacity to record a couple of moments - if they wish.

If I do end up shooting -some- video, it will be limited.  I will also charge more to cover more memory cards and perhaps another battery.