[Debra Heschl]

Hello Y'all, I am shooting my first Church wedding in September..so I know I need a fast lens. I have researching some lenses & I have found one that may work on Amazon! It can be found here! If not, what would you recommend?

I would love some input on this & would appreciate it so much!

btw, I have a k-7!

Have a great day y'all ~Debra

[paperbag846]

You will want a zoom.

Best set up with would be maybe a fast zoom like the DA* 16-50, or Tamron 17-50, and that fast 50 for portraits. Two camera bodies would be best if you are going to be shooting seriously.

You could consider something like the DA* 55 instead of the FA 50. Or, the DA 70, or FA 77.

Expensive...

[yu.arvin]

the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 is also a nice fast zoom for shooting weedings.

[Rondec]

Wow, shooting a church wedding. Two things you should think about -- fast zoom and light. I would recommend getting some strobes (can be cheap if you want to use them off camera) and a fast normal zoom like the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 and a longer lens like the DA 50-135 f2.8 or one of the 70-200 f2.8s out there.

A fast prime can be useful, but more for isolated situations.

[bdery]

If you don't know what you're doing yet, have never done it before, etc, I would advise either not to do it if your pictures are important, or take advantage of the time you have to experiment, pratcice and hopefully assist a pro.

In addition to lenses, plan on having spare batteries, memory, and a spare body.

[Debra Heschl]

Thank you so much for your help & advice! I have shot pics in a church before with a 50 mm 3.5 & they were pretty good, however with being paid, I want to make sure I have the best lens that will do the best in low light I do have a spare body that I will use in addition & also I will be having a second shooter to help me. I am pretty excited about this!!! Thank y'all again!!!

[twitch]

Bare minimum for a paid wedding job should be 2 bodies with a 17-50mm f2.8 zoom & external flash on one body, and a longer lens (either 70mm ish prime, or a 50-135 f2.8 zoom) on the other. An external flash on that one ideally too. You might need a tripod for the formals too.

External flash has a significant learning curve, not something that takes just an hour or so to master that's for sure. For external flash use you need know how to shoot manual on your camera, you need to understand TTL and how to adjust your overall exposure using FEC, and you need to know how to bounce your flash and the limitations with this approach. There is no shortcut to this, you cannot get away with shooting in auto or the semi-auto modes like Av or Tv indoors with flash if you are using TTL. You also need to understand how to do fill flash.

That said, good luck

[Wheatfield]

I'm going to respectfully disagree with the people recommending zoom lenses.
You don't need them, and I have found they tend to get in the way.

Rather than reposting this, perhaps give this a read. It's a bit of a distillation of my thoughts on wedding photography, and is specifically related to the ceremony.
As an FYI, I have shot a lot of church weddings, several hundred at least over the past 4 decades, so I do have some expertise in this area.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-beginners-corner-q/126593-help-agr...ml#post1311875

[Clinton]

Perhaps think about renting some lenses. I believe these guys are mentioned on the forums with several positive reviews: CameraLensRentals.com - Canon, Nikon and Pentax Lens Rentals.

I like the idea of the 16-50 and the 50-135, with a 77mm/1.8 and maybe a 50/1.4 thrown in.

[Debra Heschl]

I appreciate all of your advice on this. I will check out the link!

I have been researching on some lenses & hopefully will find the right lens to use. I have shot weddings before, but not in a church.I have an external flash & I do know how to use it...but my concern was low light situations. I want to take some captures w/out flash.

I thought about renting a lens...& that may still be an option! I have a zoom lens already 70-300 f3.5..that will be on my backup camera. I will let you know what I come up with..I know I have a few months..but just want to get my gear in order so I ma not overwhelmed!! Thanks again y'all

[Debra Heschl]

btw, I do & ONLY in shoot manual & I do it very well..I never shoot in Auto. I forget to mention it in last thread..ha!