little help and insight from experianced photographer's please

[TheMikey]

If you decide to go the DSLR route instead of hiring a photographer, I'd recommend buying a smaller body and adding some decent glass.

For portraiture, I'd say go with a 50mm fixed lens with an aperture of at least 1.8. They go for about $150 from both Canon and Nikon (the 1.4 lenses go for $350-400, iirc - though the $150 should be good enough). There will probably be little telephoto shooting going on as well, so I'd suggest picking up nothing more than probably a 90mm lens, if you're looking.

One of my favourite lenses is for Nikon, it's the 60mm Micro lens. Shooting with a 2.8 aperture, you'll get some nice depth of field as well as a very fast shutter speed, especially if it's on a beach. You can use it for macro shots, obviously, but it also converts to a decent portrait lens if need be.

You might also want to take advantage of some retailer return policy. London Drugs has a 15-day no hassle return (so long as you don't break the item). So if you want to pick up a very nice lens for the wedding alone and then return it, you could probably do that as well.

Best of luck and congrats!

[sphelps]

Unless you have seen and like the work of the resort photographer you're better off buying your own dslr and having someone take the pictures. Make sure they have lots of practice and tell them exactly what you want. This way you pay about the same but get a free camera out of it.

I would not suggest multiple lenses or primed lenses. This adds complications and additional requirements to the less experienced. A general lens kit like an 18-105mm will work great and the guy or girl won't have to swap lenses on a sandy beach or use impressive footwork for zoom

Prime would give sharper pictures and more control over DOF but I doubt this is something most would pick up quickly. The softer effect won't be noticeable to most and could be somewhat preferred since wedding photos generally have a softer feel to them.

[TheMikey]

To me, the whole point of an SLR is to take advantage of features that normal point and shoot cameras just don't have - namely to be able to adjust depth of field, shutter speeds, and other similar features to improve the quality of the photo.

Simply buying an SLR camera and a decent lens while keeping everything on Auto is not going to substantially increase the quality of printed photos. They'd be better off purchasing a nice P&S camera instead of an SLR.

Luckily though, with the advent of digital settings and metering, simply flipping the dial to Av or A (Aperture priority/value) can give you a good deal of depth of field while making the camera work to accomodate your settings. Giving even a mediocre camera user an afternoon of playing with different settings and lenses might be all one needs in order to get a feel for those features.

That said, I should also note that if you go with teh SLR-purchase route to BUY AN EXTRA BATTERY. I'M PUTTING THIS IN CAPS BECAUSE IT'S FREAKING IMPORTANT. YOU DON'T WANT YOUR WEDDING PHOTOS COMPROMISED BECAUSE YOU'VE RUN OUT OF JUICE.

(Sorry about that)

Additionally, make sure that you know what kind of power source your resort will be using (i.e. North American 110v vs. UK/Europe style 220-240v) and get the required adapters if needed.

[Kryptic4L]

you guys are awsome so far, ive talked to the sister and she sounded like she really wanted to do it, aka is very excited. which was a good feeler.

after talking with future shop today, and me rolling my eye's when the guy told me the xsi was the exact same as the f1i without video. well ive proved my emotion correct. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos500d/

there is some critical differnce's there to me which are important, the lens reconition sounds nice, as well as the higher iso ( most important ) and beats it pretty much across the board. I'm still on the fence about the 50d as it has the higher frames per second which is a feature I adore, other then that I dont see much in term's of things i see that i like better over the t1i.

as far as the point and shoot goes i have a good one a canon elph 990 IS but I originally learned photography in highschool with slr's and perhaps thats why my camera's keep warming shelve's is because i get frustrated with trying to adjust them.

so all in all its been a productive day, however i still need to look at full package price's as the mikey has mentioned the extra battery, battery grip, lens, maybe a flash, case etc... it sounds like if i go with the tl1 i can skip the card as i already have an 8 gig in my canon elph.

[TheMikey]

While the 50D is a nice body, I'd probably recommend that you go with a smaller body just to start with and invest the other money in quality glass. The quality of your pictures will scale much better with good lenses than with a good body.

None of the DSLR bodies will really take a better picture than any other (mostly just a larger photo), but the better quality of glass that you have in the lens (i.e. more pricey lenses) the better quality the image will be when it hits the sensor. Even the new Canon 7D with a basic lens on it will take a poorer photo than a Rebel XS with an L series lens on it.

Also, with the T1, you should note that it records video in 1080p and, depending on your card, you might want to go with something faster. If you got one of those red-boxed generic Sandisk SD cards, it's likely going to be a detriment to your camera as it's too slow to fit full HD recording on it. And depending if you shoot in RAW or not, a slower card in burst mode won't keep up with the camera.

Edit: And also, the guy at Futureshop was right about the difference in the T1i and the XSi. There's three primary differences: the T1i has 1080p video recording (vs. none in XSi), a 15MP sensor (vs. a 12.1MP), and a 3" LCD screen with 920K dots of resolution (vs. 3" w/ 230K). Truthfully, between those two cameras it's going to come down to whether or not you want video. 12MP vs. 15MP is negligible unless you're planning on printing off big posters on a regular basis.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/comp...s500d&show=all

Furthermore, you could probably argue that the XSi is actually capable of taking better pictures than the T1, for the sole fact that it's cramming less mega pixels on the same size of sensor. This means better low light performance and more detail as, essentially, you're getting more photo to each pixel resulting in a clearer picture: "From a theoretical point of view pixel density should affect the amount of random digital noise present in an image and the dynamic range in the image the camera produces. Dynamic range is how much detail can be held in shadow areas before highlights begin to loose texture or, how many F stops of light range the camera sensor can capture. Again, in theory, larger photosites (less pixel density) on the sensor should produce less random noise and more dynamic range for any given sensor size." (http://www.sphoto.com/techinfo/dslrs...slrsensors.htm).

[OceanicCorals-Ian-]

I think that you should consider the Nikon D5000 body only and purchase the Nikon 18-200 lens with it.

The kit lenses that come with the Canons are useless as far as quality goes.

The Maxtrix metering system in the Nikons is very accurate especially in backlighting situations. I think that you should get your sister to familiarize herself with using flash and understanding "backlighting" as well as when to use "fill flash".

I am sure that there will be lots of photos taken at sunset as it is the most dramatic lighting but without the proper use of flash photography, you and your fiance will be silhouette.

Although the 18-200 lens isn't prime, it is VR and has ED glass which will help with photo sharpness. But most importantly, the zoom range makes it very convenient to compose without having to change lenses all the time.

I agree that Primes are much better for sharpness but having 2 or 3 Primes to add to the mix of using a unfamiliar camera, will only contribute to confusion. As well, Primes are very heavy to carry around.

Also, shoot in RAW so that you can make exposure changes and White Balanace Changes later. RAW's exposure control can rescue when you have underexposed photos of 1 to 2 f stops.

For ISO, I would commit to 200 ISO, (100 ISO if it's really sunny and bright and only outdoors) during the day if you end up wanting to enlarge the photos and go 400-800 for the night shots. Although these cameras have ISO settings to 3200, I have never shot that high and can't comment on the noise that may occur.

For artistic reasons, never have the subjects straight in the middle. Section the frame into thirds and have the subjects positioned in the left or right but usually never in the middle. This process adds dynamic viewing. You will need to learn how to use the Focus Lock feature to do this unless you know how to move the focus boxes around in the camera using the control pads.

Because you are shooting digital, buy lots of memory and go crazy shooting everything and anything. Change angles of view, so shoot low and vice versa, shoot high looking down. And for children, make sure you are shooting at their height so bend your knees and you will get some great candid shots.

When the vows are being done, take a few pictures of the bride and groom but have a look around the audience for the emotional photos. Usually, it's the brides parents who will have the tears. This will be the most powerful and emotional image of the day if you can capture it.

I'll add some more tips later.

Cheers.

[globaldesigns]

I agree with the others, and as a photographer... Yes, I even use to do weddings with the ole 35MM SLR and Medium Format cameras... Now I have a Canon 30D, don't do professional work anymore, but enjoy that hobby also.

A DSLR is all dependant on the quality of the gear, especially lenses... An entry level DSLR probably will give you a good pic, but from someone that has been at a beach wedding in the Tropics, using the Resort Photographer will probably be a better choice. I have found these guys to use OK equipment, by no means professional, but what they can offer is that they should know their environment. What I mean is that they should know what settings to use for daylight, sunset, water refraction/reflection and so forth. So they most likely will give you a far superior photo's. And they are not usually that expensive.

Lastly for those candid shots, take some disposable's for people to just point and shoot... They won't be great quality, but would add some fun to your wedding album.

Have fun in the sun!

[Alex350]

I am Canon fan, XSI is great one to start with.

But as most pointed photographer is the key to capturing your memories.
The way I see it, good cookware helps to cook, but don't make you a chef.

Congrats and best wishes.

Regards,
Alex

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by Alex350

I am Canon fan, XSI is great one to start with.

But as most pointed photographer is the key to capturing your memories.
The way I see it, good cookware helps to cook, but don't make you a chef.

Congrats and best wishes.

Regards,
Alex

Great Analogy, +1

[untamed]

Originally Posted by TheMikey

You might also want to take advantage of some retailer return policy. London Drugs has a 15-day no hassle return (so long as you don't break the item). So if you want to pick up a very nice lens for the wedding alone and then return it, you could probably do that as well.

I don't think that is really the spirit/intent of the policy... I would have some trouble doing this myself if I knew in advance that I was going to return it. Yes, I know people do this all the time but that doesn't make it right.

Yes, the SLR on fully automatic mode will work fine. However, if you can't get past full-auto then the benefit you get from the SLR is going to be fairly small. You might as well just pickup a decent point-n-shoot if that is the case.

Years in the business makes me technically proficient with a camera (SLR or otherwise)...but I've never thought that I had a particularly good "eye". That's what you are paying for if you hire a pro. Besides, you won't be able to do it because you're going to be pretty busy!