70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

[lone pilgrim]

I'm shooting a friends wedding in February and planned to upgrade my kit lenses with better glass. I've been offered a 70-200L IS mkI for £850. This is pushing my budget a bit but is doable. Is this a good deal? It's in good condition from a trusted seller.

I'll probably be using it on a cropped sensor 550d unless I suddenly come into money!

I'd love the mkII but it is way over my budget.

[DrJon]

Re: 70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

It is quite long on a crop sensor, perhaps dial 70 and 200 into the 55-250 and see what you think about the field of view?

[Paulstw]

Re: 70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

I found that during the ceremony in a registry office, and right up to the speeches, the 70-200 was far too long for anything. However, when it was ready to use it was awesome. I thought I'd have used it all day, but my Tokina 11-16 was my saviour.

If you can be sure that you're going to be working far away, like 30ft then fine, but my personal experience was that it was too close on my 7D. A theory echoed at a 40th party in a hall a week later. I had to stand right up at a corner in a big hall to get anyone in.

[Nathaniel]

Re: 70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

70-200 is too long a lens to cover a wedding. I would choose a lens like the 18-55 (kit) lens or the 24-105.

[wayne2418]

Re: 70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

[QUOTE=Paulstw;179948]I found the 70-200 was far too long for anything. However, when it was ready to use it was awesome. QUOTE]

It sure is awesome IMHO too.If you bought it I would be tempted to take along the 18 - 55 as well.

[Stan]

Re: 70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

I paid around the same for mine secondhand from a wedding tog who was going over to the dark side. It is a super lens but on a cropped sensor camera ir is going to be too long for most shots at a wedding but ideal for individual portraits

Stan

[lone pilgrim]

Re: 70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

Thanks for all the responses!

Ideally I was planning to end up with a full frame body (5d or 6d), 24-70L and 24-70L. I was going to keep the 550 as a second camera with one lens on and the other lens on the FF. However, there's no way I would get all that before February, so I was going to prioritise getting the lenses first. Of course I would like the mkII 70-200 but the chance for this mkI has come up now. This would replace my current efs 55-250 kit lens. I'd keep the other kit 18-55 lens for wider and group shots unless I can afford to upgrade.

The bride and groom have asked for few group shots and more reportage style photography, which is what I thought the 70-200 would be good at, especially in low light at 2.8 IS, when my current zoom is 5.6. I had heard it was better ff rather than cropped sensor for sharpness as well as field if view. I have a nifty fifty too, which I could use for portraits but I'd have to get in really close to use that!

The seller is a wedding photographer who is moving over to all primes and selling his zooms - or maybe it's because this isn't a great wedding lens? ;)

I have been offered a 5dmkII for £850 too but I've turned that down on the basis I need to upgrade the lenses first. If I had the cash would I be better off getting faster glass at the other end such as the 24-70L? Or is this too good a deal to miss and I could get away with the kit 18-55 in the meantime?

[Paulstw]

Re: 70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

I know a girl who shoots a 5D mk2 and 50mm 1.4 only for her weddings so it is possible. The candid type shoot is fun but I found my 17-85 totally invaluable for that. Indoors was a problem with the light so I had my flash but it was good.

Getting the 5d mark II sounds great to me, but it would make some of your lenses redundant. A lens I wish I had at the time was a mid zoom like a Sigma 17-50 2.8. It was defo missing that day. Canon one was too expensive. Out of the 800 shots, I think there was 20-30 shots taken with the 70-200. Would have been a different story if I had FF. It's a difficult one.

[lone pilgrim]

Re: 70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

I know a girl who shoots a 5D mk2 and 50mm 1.4 only for her weddings so it is possible.

I haven't got the balls for that! Although I did shoot most of my first wedding with a 50mm with flash in the afternoon. That was a bit more formal portrait type shots though.

[lone pilgrim]

Re: 70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

Well, the seller came back to me land said a couple of other people were interested in the lens so I turned it down

Based on the advice in this thread I think it's not the first bit of kit to invest in for a wedding, so thanks everyone. As my dad says, if in doubt, do nowt!

@DrJon I played around with my current zoom at the focal lengths you mentioned and it did help.

@Nathaniel The 24-105 is certainly an option and is decently priced. It's only f4 though, isn't it? I was advised by my photographer mate to go straight for 2.8 and I'll not regret it as he did! Maybe I should buy the 5dmkii and the 24-105 and be done with it?

@Paulstw You mentioned using the Tokina 11-16 a lot and that you wished you had the Sigma 17-50. Do you think I'd need a wider zoom than something like the Canon 24-70 on a crop sensor body for things like group shots?

[Paulstw]

Re: 70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

I can only go on what worked for me at the time and I had the whole wedding party on the stairs at the town hall and just managed to fit them in at 11mm.


_MG_9075 (Large) by Campsie Photography, on Flickr

This is the picture they wanted, and I tried the 17mm end and it gave me a right odd perspective. 24-70 on a crop will be a tighter field of view by 1.6x the rated focal length so it's a difficult one. Most of my group shots of up to 10 adults were shot with the Tokina at the 11mm end. I liked to get close.

[DrJon]

Re: 70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

I was toying with recommending the 17-55 f2.8 but left it out...

[briansquibb]

Re: 70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

On a crop I would say the 24-105 would be better for wedding, With a 70-200 you wont be able to get close enough. I would suggest that you will need at least two flashes on stands on standards with and remote controller ( definitely if you are taking groups of people )

[S_J_P]

Re: 70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

From all I've read and seen online, a fast 70-200 seems to be the de-facto standard wedding 'tog glass - albeit on full-frame.

From my single wedding-shoot I can see why, it hardly left my 6D all day and was perfect for singling-out characters in the crowd, for the B&G portraits, for the speeches, for candids, and for general flattering-perspective portraits. It's fast, the autofocus is superb and instantaneous, the image stabilisation is phenomenal, the image quality has to be seen to be believed, it's bokeh is sublime, and the perspective compression is ideal for managing any errant facial features I switched to something shorter (a 24-105/17-40) four times (Bride's arrival, groups, ceremony, and the evenings dancing), and regretted it on two of those occasions.

One big caveat though, it really needs to be on a full-frame camera, and I can't imaging it would be great in a small venue, and this may be the deal-breaker for you. All I can say is that if you're contemplating full-frame and a 70-200 f/2.8 IS version 1 or 2 comes up at a reasonable price, snap it up!

[briansquibb]

Re: 70-200L IS mkI - good choice for weddings?

From all I've read and seen online, a fast 70-200 seems to be the de-facto standard wedding 'tog glass - albeit on full-frame.

For a full frame a 70-200 is good if taking pictures out doors - but indoors it still can be too long.