[Atlantic]

you need to put a gap between 2 lenses somewhere. making it at 50-70 may work well for you.

Yes, what do you (or others) recommend? Or maybe I don't quite get that? Is that not only when you wanna use macro?

[miltona580]

At my own wedding the photographer had a pair of fast (f/2.8) zooms on two camera bodies. I'm sure one was a largish 70-200 and the other I have no idea if it was a 28-75 or a wider less telephoto zoom. There's merit to having two bodies. When something goes wrong with one, you have the other as a backup.

I guess the key thing to remember when photographing people is what is closest to the lens is going to appear larger. Sometimes you can use that effect and do something cool. In my case, I usually end up taking a picture where someone's nose or upper arm looks much larger than it really is. I've even manged to do this with the legendary FA 31 Limited! So, I have painful personal experience here

[DaveHolmes]

Personally, I were to shoot weddings with Pentax I'd be wanting 2 K5's... One with a DA*16-50 SDM and one with DA*50-135 SDM and maybe a couple of Ltd primes in the bag...

[Wheatfield]

My wedding lens list is the 15LTD, 21LTD 31LTD, 43LTD, DA*55/1.4, either the DA70LTD or FA77LTD, and the A*85/1.4.
The 31mm does most of the work for me, I'll use the 15 if I'm doing any shooting in the limo, the 21 sees occasional use, generally for table shots at the reception, the 85 is used for available light in the church from farther back (where I'm not disturbing anyone), the 55 and 70 are used in the studio, the 77 sees use if I'm shooting outdoor portraits.

What is really important is to make sure you have at least one, and preferably two or more spare camera bodies, and if you intend to take up weddings professionally, you should have a complete back up kit in the event of disaster with any one component.

My back up lens kit, for example, is the DA12-24 zoom, the 35/2.8LTD, fa35/2, A50/1.2 and M85/2, carried in a separate bag along with my old K10 and K20. My K7 and K5 are both in use during the ceremony, one on a tripod, the other hand held with flash.

Back up flash is also important, my main flash is a Metz 60CT-2, but I also have an AF280T and an AF540FGZ in my spares bag.

Note, you don't need to be this balls out ready for disaster if you are shooting for fun, but as soon as you are shooting for profit, you really need to be ready for any disaster. Weddings move at a pretty quick and steady pace, and there is little room for going back and redoing shots that were missed because of equipment failure.

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Last edited by Wheatfield; 01-18-2012 at 02:16 PM. Reason: Changed 35mm to 31mm in the second sentence

[Atlantic]

Ok, I'll have to go get another K-5 and a lot more lenses, that's what I hear. I hope it will pay off in the end, hehe.

It would be a disaster, if something went wrong, I wont risk anything. - Then noone would dare risking having their pictures taken by me. I look forward to showing some pictures inhere. - In several months.....!

[Docrwm]

My wedding lens list is the 15LTD, 21LTD 31LTD, 43LTD, DA*55/1.4, either the DA70LTD or FA77LTD, and the A*85/1.4.
The 35mm does most of the work for me, I'll use the 15 if I'm doing any shooting in the limo, the 21 sees occasional use, generally for table shots at the reception, the 85 is used for available light in the church from farther back (where I'm not disturbing anyone), the 55 and 70 are used in the studio, the 77 sees use if I'm shooting outdoor portraits.

What is really important is to make sure you have at least one, and preferably two or more spare camera bodies, and if you intend to take up weddings professionally, you should have a complete back up kit in the event of disaster with any one component.

My back up lens kit, for example, is the DA12-24 zoom, the 35/2.8LTD, fa35/2, A50/1.2 and M85/2, carried in a separate bag along with my old K10 and K20. My K7 and K5 are both in use during the ceremony, one on a tripod, the other hand held with flash.

Back up flash is also important, my main flash is a Metz 60CT-2, but I also have an AF280T and an AF540FGZ in my spares bag.

Note, you don't need to be this balls out ready for disaster if you are shooting for fun, but as soon as you are shooting for profit, you really need to be ready for any disaster. Weddings move at a pretty quick and steady pace, and there is little room for going back and redoing shots that were missed because of equipment failure.

You've pretty clearly said what the two wedding photographers I've had conversations with have told me about equipment and backups. I would add that one of them was also a fanatic about batteries, particularly for his flashes. He also said that you, his words, "can NOT shoot a wedding without a battery grip!" Now that I have one I can understand his insistence better as it's making a huge difference in longevity and in shooting in portrait orientation for me. Not that I would EVER want to shoot a wedding.

[Wheatfield]

You've pretty clearly said what the two wedding photographers I've had conversations with have told me about equipment and backups. I would add that one of them was also a fanatic about batteries, particularly for his flashes. He also said that you, his words, "can NOT shoot a wedding without a battery grip!" Now that I have one I can understand his insistence better as it's making a huge difference in longevity and in shooting in portrait orientation for me. Not that I would EVER want to shoot a wedding.

Yeah, I have half a dozen batteries and the grips for all my cameras. I also have 3 batteries for the Metz (I've never used more than just starting the second one). Most of my wedding photography is done with the camera in portrait orientation, so the grip is a must. It also makes it easier to position the head of the Metz directly over the lens, so I don't get the shadows beside the subjects that you get with a shoe mounted flash. For me, those shadows scream "amateur who doesn't have a clue".
As far as back ups go, any back up equipment is better than no back up equipment. I'd rather have an istD sitting in my bag than no back up camera at all, even with that camera being of little worth to a wedding photographer because it's so slow.
The important part is being able to keep shooting, not what you are shooting with (though I would hate to have to revert to my Q in the event everything else went south on me).

[Atlantic]

I had in mind, just to carry an extra battery.

[Bob from Aus]

I think you will need the best quality zoom rather than the most flexible. That might be the 17-50 sigma. The pentax 17-70 is a good lens but is only F4.

[Atlantic]

I was going for the Tamron 17-50mm, I don't know the other one...?