EOS 5D3 - shooting first wedding on Saturday

[Scott_McPhee]

Hi,

I recently upgraded to a 5D mark 3 and I am shooting my cousin's wedding this Saturday.

I plan on using the 5D3 with my 24-70mm f2.8L and 70-200mm f2.8L lenses.
For flash it will be my 580EX2 with a Lightsphere Universal (cloud).

I don't usually do weddings so any tips or advice guys out there using the 5D3 at weddings can give me?

Use auto ISO? Use aperture priority mode or leave it to post?

 

[bdunbar79]

Don't use auto ISO on the bride. You gotta shoot to the right or the dress won't look white. I did a few bride shots as high as +1.7 EV. Meter for the dress, shoot to the right. You can't miss.

 

[Scott_McPhee]

Wedding dresses are a nightmare to get exposed properly.

I was going to use auto ISO as the light will be changing constantly and it's one less thing to keep an eye on.

 

[RLPhoto]

Hi,

I recently upgraded to a 5D mark 3 and I am shooting my cousin's wedding this Saturday.

I plan on using the 5D3 with my 24-70mm f2.8L and 70-200mm f2.8L lenses.
For flash it will be my 580EX2 with a Lightsphere Universal (cloud).

I don't usually do weddings so any tips or advice guys out there using the 5D3 at weddings can give me?

Use auto ISO? Use aperture priority mode or leave it to post?

Scout your locations first, find the good light, and keep a cool head. Weddings can get hectic quick.

 

[Scott_McPhee]

Locations already scouted and I know the route to the altar.
It's being held in a hotel so it may be easier......
I will have the usual problems keeping in front of the bride.

 

[MarkB]

I shot my first wedding a few weeks ago. Had a 5d3 which I used a 24-105L and the 70-200mm 2.8 ii time most of the time. 2nd camera was a 60D with the 10-22mm on it for group shots and 60 mm macro for detail shots. Also had a 50mm f1.4 for when I had to use ambient indoors. Usable shots on the 60d only went up to about iso 3200, noisy even then. Had a number of useful shots as high as 25600 ISo on the 5d3, but had to use Nik DFine to noise reduce most shots above 10000 iso.

The 580exii was in the shoe most of the time. I gelled with a 1/2 Cts because when I scouted the location it was a dark interior lit with only incadescents. The gel stayed on during out door shots. Added a nice warming when I dialed back with FEC. I would ditch the lightsphere and go with a Rogue lightbender. More versatile IMO. Great for bounce, flagging, and quick snoot.

I tried shooting mostly in manual, but dropped that quickly as there was just too much happening most of the time. Went back to manual for tricky shots, but mostly went Av with auto iso and used flash with FEC.

I learned the hard way to take a little more time chimping. Had some nasty tree branches in the background of many of my group shots. Had to spend a LOT of time in post getting rid of them. I was more focused on setting up the groups and dealing with dappled light near the edge of the shade.

 

[Scott_McPhee]

I shot my first wedding a few weeks ago. Had a 5d3 which I used a 24-105L and the 70-200mm 2.8 ii time most of the time. 2nd camera was a 60D with the 10-22mm on it for group shots and 60 mm macro for detail shots. Also had a 50mm f1.4 for when I had to use ambient indoors. Usable shots on the 60d only went up to about iso 3200, noisy even then. Had a number of useful shots as high as 25600 ISo on the 5d3, but had to use Nik DFine to noise reduce most shots above 10000 iso.

The 580exii was in the shoe most of the time. I gelled with a 1/2 Cts because when I scouted the location it was a dark interior lit with only incadescents. The gel stayed on during out door shots. Added a nice warming when I dialed back with FEC. I would ditch the lightsphere and go with a Rogue lightbender. More versatile IMO. Great for bounce, flagging, and quick snoot.

I tried shooting mostly in manual, but dropped that quickly as there was just too much happening most of the time. Went back to manual for tricky shots, but mostly went Av with auto iso and used flash with FEC.

I learned the hard way to take a little more time chimping. Had some nasty tree branches in the background of many of my group shots. Had to spend a LOT of time in post getting rid of them. I was more focused on setting up the groups and dealing with dappled light near the edge of the shade.

Some great points there - I am stuck with the Lightsphere for the weekend - I really like it - gives lovely soft flash but it does make you look like a fud with a tupperware dish on your flashgun.
(People always ask, "What the **** is that?!")

I just want to keep the camera settings to a minimum - not mess around with things too much and concentrate on getting the shots - any fancy processing stuff can be done in post.

I need to decide whether to use fill-in flash on my close ups - indoors and out - as the 5D3 can do some great high ISO low noise shots without having to resort to using flash.

 

[bdunbar79]

I don't think I'd view it as "resorting to flash." You should use fill flash if need be. No matter what you do in post, if you needed fill flash and you didn't use it, the photo isn't going to come out good. I use a ton of flash, but I always bounce it; never direct. If you're going to continue to do weddings in the future, I would get really comfortable using fill flash.

 

[Stephen Melvin]

Ditch the Tupperware and use bounce flash instead. Don't be afraid to raise the ISO; the Mk III can handle it. Up to 12800 is a no brainer. Shoot RAW. Balance your ambient and flash exposure. You have excellent gear (except for the Tupperware) that's pretty much state-of-the-art. Don't be afraid to push it.

 

[Jakontil]

I shoot weeding with AV mode and during reception, i set iso at 5000 and it's still safe... Dont worry

 

[Tcapp]

Ditch the Tupperware and use bounce flash instead. Don't be afraid to raise the ISO; the Mk III can handle it. Up to 12800 is a no brainer. Shoot RAW. Balance your ambient and flash exposure. You have excellent gear (except for the Tupperware) that's pretty much state-of-the-art. Don't be afraid to push it.

I have to disagree. Keep that lightsphere on there. It DOES bounce the flash. In every direction. Much better than a bare speedlight. But yes, balance your flash and ambient. Also, gel your flash indoors unless you want the background to be orange (under tungsten light). Also, get yourself a fast prime. I recommend the 50 1.4 on a budget, or the sigma 85 1.4 if you have a few bucks more to spend. I shoot weddings almost exclusively on primes with the only exception being the 70-200 2.8 is L II for the ceremony. The siggy 85 lives on my camera for large receptions or the 50 1.4 for tighter receptions.

So yea, at a fairly dark reception, keep your iso at 3200, shoot with a prime at about f2, and use gelled bounce flash with your GF Lightspere. On your 5d3, it will look great!

Never plan to fix something in post. Get it right in camera. And shoot to the right. I always overexpose by 1/3 to 2/3 stop depending on the scene. But keep your blinkies on in the camera and be careful not to shoot TOO far to the right and blow out the dress.

Oh, and even though its your cousin, still get a contract that limits your legal liability should things turn out badly. NEVER do a wedding under any circumstance without a contract.

Just my 2 and a half cents.

 

[sb]

I have to disagree. Keep that lightsphere on there. It DOES bounce the flash. In every direction. Much better than a bare speedlight.

And I will have to disagree with you Any kind of Gary Fong-ish attachement is nothing but a WASTE OF BATTERY LIFE. Instead of using the battery power to hit the ceiling as hard as you can, you are dispersing the light all over the place for no reason.

It is the ceiling that will make your light source nice and big, and thus beautiful. Other flash related comments:

- Gel the flash with orange filter and cool down everything via WB so it's nice and even
- Use SHORT lenses when bouncing flash. If you are bouncing from across the room with 85mm on your camera, flash will look flat and ugly. To get the "I can't believe it's not softbox" look, you have to be close to the subject. I only use 35mm when bouncing flash. In fact I shoot my entire reception with 35mm.

- When it comes to walking down the aisle shot, there are 2 camps : some people prefer long lens (70-200) while camping at the altar as the bride approaches, but I prefer shorter lens while walking in sync with the bride down the aisle. The reason is - I can generally shoot wide open and still nail the focus because I'm keeping pace with the subject. If I camp, I gotta either pre-focus on a certain spot, or shoot slightly stopped down to make sure I nail it. You may think servo will help you here, but I advise you not to rely on servo for what is probably the single most important shot during the wedding.

Good luck, I'm sure you'll do fine.

 

[Tcapp]

I have to disagree. Keep that lightsphere on there. It DOES bounce the flash. In every direction. Much better than a bare speedlight.

And I will have to disagree with you Any kind of Gary Fong-ish attachement is nothing but a WASTE OF BATTERY LIFE. Instead of using the battery power to hit the ceiling as hard as you can, you are dispersing the light all over the place for no reason.

It is the ceiling that will make your light source nice and big, and thus beautiful. Other flash related comments:

- Gel the flash with orange filter and cool down everything via WB so it's nice and even
- Use SHORT lenses when bouncing flash. If you are bouncing from across the room with 85mm on your camera, flash will look flat and ugly. To get the "I can't believe it's not softbox" look, you have to be close to the subject. I only use 35mm when bouncing flash. In fact I shoot my entire reception with 35mm.

- When it comes to walking down the aisle shot, there are 2 camps : some people prefer long lens (70-200) while camping at the altar as the bride approaches, but I prefer shorter lens while walking in sync with the bride down the aisle. The reason is - I can generally shoot wide open and still nail the focus because I'm keeping pace with the subject. If I camp, I gotta either pre-focus on a certain spot, or shoot slightly stopped down to make sure I nail it. You may think servo will help you here, but I advise you not to rely on servo for what is probably the single most important shot during the wedding.

Good luck, I'm sure you'll do fine.

I guess we have to agree to disagree on the flash subject. The lightsphere bounces off the ceiling, and directly on the subject. It works fine at 85 mm, but you are absolutely right, the closer you are the softer and nicer its going to look. 35mm is an awesome focal length.

And I agree, I wouldn't trust servo for the bride coming down the isle. What I do is camp at the end of the isle, then one shot focus over and over on the bride. But I focus on a spot that is slightly ahead of her face, like the flowers , so as she walks and i lock focus, by the time i release the shutter, her face has moved into the plane of focus. I do this all at 2.8 with my 70-200 II. Different strokes for different folks I guess!

 

[vitaminj08]

While 2nd shooting for some incredible photogs in my city, I learned that bouncing flash off of the ceiling can be nice, but bouncing behind and to the side of you will produce the most attractive light. Look for white/neutral colored objects to bounce off of. However, since this is your first wedding, it may just be easier to shoot the ceiling and not have to think twice about it. I wouldn't recommend using auto ISO with flash. As you probably know, it will alter how lit your background is, so decide early on what you want and keep your ISO there (like during the reception).

As for shooting mode, I would recommend using Manual. This is where attending the rehearsal dinner will come in handy. It enables you to really dial in your settings and view it larger on your computer later that night. Since it's indoors, the lighting won't change during the ceremony... Manual will make another thing that you won't have to worry about (until the location/lighting changes). Typically, I shoot in manual when there's consistent lighting, and when we're on the move, i change to Av with +2/3 or +1 stop EC.

For my 5D3, I changed the DoF button to One-Shot/Ai-Servo. It's super handy for weddings because if you ever need servo, just reach your ring finger forward and hold down the button, then your focus will track. One thing to keep in mind, servo seems to constantly bounce a little in front and a little behind the subject, so takes a lot of extra pics when in servo to ensure you've nailed focus.

 

[MarkB]

I wouldn't recommend using auto ISO with flash

Original poster : Watch out for that!. The 5D3 defaults to locking the iso at 400-1600 when flash is engaged. I lost a couple shots at the reception because I was trying to be too subtle with fill/bounce flash and my ambient just got lost. At 400 iso indoors...it is pretty dark if you are bounce flashing at -1-0 FEC.

I suppose there is a way to change that, but I just went manual Iso when I realized my mistake.

 

[bdunbar79]

While 2nd shooting for some incredible photogs in my city, I learned that bouncing flash off of the ceiling can be nice, but bouncing behind and to the side of you will produce the most attractive light. Look for white/neutral colored objects to bounce off of. However, since this is your first wedding, it may just be easier to shoot the ceiling and not have to think twice about it. I wouldn't recommend using auto ISO with flash. As you probably know, it will alter how lit your background is, so decide early on what you want and keep your ISO there (like during the reception).

As for shooting mode, I would recommend using Manual. This is where attending the rehearsal dinner will come in handy. It enables you to really dial in your settings and view it larger on your computer later that night. Since it's indoors, the lighting won't change during the ceremony... Manual will make another thing that you won't have to worry about (until the location/lighting changes). Typically, I shoot in manual when there's consistent lighting, and when we're on the move, i change to Av with +2/3 or +1 stop EC.

For my 5D3, I changed the DoF button to One-Shot/Ai-Servo. It's super handy for weddings because if you ever need servo, just reach your ring finger forward and hold down the button, then your focus will track. One thing to keep in mind, servo seems to constantly bounce a little in front and a little behind the subject, so takes a lot of extra pics when in servo to ensure you've nailed focus.

Thank you. You must shoot to the right.

 

[Stephen Melvin]

Ditch the Tupperware and use bounce flash instead. Don't be afraid to raise the ISO; the Mk III can handle it. Up to 12800 is a no brainer. Shoot RAW. Balance your ambient and flash exposure. You have excellent gear (except for the Tupperware) that's pretty much state-of-the-art. Don't be afraid to push it.

I have to disagree. Keep that lightsphere on there. It DOES bounce the flash. In every direction. Much better than a bare speedlight.

It doesn't bounce the flash, it scatters the light. It seriously eats up your flash power and has pretty much zero benefit unless you happen to be in a very small room with a low ceiling. Better to have a 580EX and point the flash head at a convenient surface to bounce off of. You'll have much more control and the quality of light will be a whole lot nicer.

But yes, balance your flash and ambient. Also, gel your flash indoors unless you want the background to be orange (under tungsten light). Also, get yourself a fast prime. I recommend the 50 1.4 on a budget, or the sigma 85 1.4 if you have a few bucks more to spend. I shoot weddings almost exclusively on primes with the only exception being the 70-200 2.8 is L II for the ceremony. The siggy 85 lives on my camera for large receptions or the 50 1.4 for tighter receptions.

He has some pretty good lenses for weddings as it is. While I, too, also like to shoot primes at weddings, I know I'm more of the exception than the rule. My favorite is the 24L II.

So yea, at a fairly dark reception, keep your iso at 3200, shoot with a prime at about f2, and use gelled bounce flash with your GF Lightspere. On your 5d3, it will look great!

Never plan to fix something in post. Get it right in camera. And shoot to the right. I always overexpose by 1/3 to 2/3 stop depending on the scene. But keep your blinkies on in the camera and be careful not to shoot TOO far to the right and blow out the dress.

Oh, and even though its your cousin, still get a contract that limits your legal liability should things turn out badly. NEVER do a wedding under any circumstance without a contract.

Just my 2 and a half cents.

Some good advice here, though with the Mk III, I'd be absolutely fearless with the ISO settings. 3200 is conservative on this camera.

 

[Tcapp]

Some good advice here, though with the Mk III, I'd be absolutely fearless with the ISO settings. 3200 is conservative on this camera.

Yes, be as fearless with ISO as you like. I only suggest 3200 because I find that it is a sweet spot with an f2 lens and about 1/60 - 1/100 to balance ambient and flash. But don't hesitate to jump to 6400 or higher if need be.

 

[Tcapp]

Oh and about the lightsphere eating up power. I've never had to change batteries at a reception with it on. As long as your iso is high enough, you'll be shooting at or below 1/64th power the whole time. SO you have to take 64 photos to use up one flash charge. And on full batteries, a flash is good for a couple hundred full power shots.

 

[kennephoto]

I have a wedding coming up in 1 month and I have been going round and round in my head about 5d3 and 5d2. I dont have either camera yet but I sure want one of the two. I see a lot of you have been saying not to be fearless with ISO on 5d3 but what about 5d2? Is the 5d3 a ISO beast compared to 5d2? Basically can you be a bit fearless with 5d2 still?