[42volks]

Hi All,

I am going to be shooting my first wedding at the end of the month and wanted to see what gear I may be missing or should get:

I have the following:

K-5iis body

DA50 F1.8
DA55-300 F4-5.8 ED
Tamron 28-75 F2.8
M28 F2.8
A50 F2.0
F35-75 F3.5
FA100-300 F4.7-5.8

Monopod
Cheap Tripod
Bower SFD926 Flash
GF Lightsphere

Extra batteries for camera and flash
Extra memory cards

I've been using my Canon XTi as my backup, but want to get a Pentax body so I can use the same equipment. What would the best second body be? Ideally I'd like it to be of equal or greater quality than what I have, but money is a factor... K-10d, K-30, K-50, K-5, K-5iis, K-3, K-7...? Obviously I'd love to get the K-3, but that means less money to spend on additional lenses. I'm not sure how my lenses would fair, so I'm also thinking about adding the Tamron 70-200 F2.8, but couldn't get both nice body and lens. Should I get a cheaper used body and the Tamron lens or get a better body and go with the lenses I have?
Also interested in the Tamron 90 macro F2.8, DA40 and DA70, but I figure I'd use the Tammy 28-75 and 70-200 the most, with the 50 maybe too... any advice would be great! Please let me know what else I need to be fully prepared.

Thanks!

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Last edited by 42volks; 08-04-2014 at 07:19 PM.

[Wired]

Strip it down, your going to be bringing too much! A backup is always recommended, I always got mine in my car. However, I find less is more.Every time I go out I find I bring less and less and less.

My wedding kit last go out was:

Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8
Niikon 80-200mm f2.8
Nikon 135mm f2.0
Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art
Nikon SB700 flash
Tripod

4 32gb CF cards, 3 batteries


My backup kit is very similar:

Pentax K3
Pentax DA*16-50mm f2.8
Pentax DA*50-135mm f2.8
Pentax DA 15 Limited
Pentax FA 31 Limited
Pentax FA 77 Limited

To be honest, all I pretty much use are the pair of zooms. I used to carry an UWA with me and a Macro with me, but extra weight for lenses i rarely used. The Sigma 50 Art and the Nikon 135 are pretty specialty lenses, so hard to remove from the kit. For the Pentax, the DA15 will probably leave the kit soon. The 77 is just beautiful and can't be left at home, and the 31 is a backup to the DA*16-50.

The backup kit stays in the car until needed.

Now, that being said, if I had your gear:

K5iis
tamron 28-75 f2.8
DA 55-300
Flash

[Vaards]

Take K-30
Smaller, but the same performance like K5

[Bob from Aus]

i'm more concerned that you are not worried about all the other issues from bridizallas to the range of compositions you want to do, what special shots they want etc. If you need more information read some of the past posts of member's panic attacks before hand. members give lots of useful planning tips.

[schnitzer79]

the first 3 lenses in your list will probably be all you need to take with you. of course a 70-200 f2.8 would be nice instead of the 55-300 but its also a lot heavier. i say go for the k-30 body as a backup (or even a k-500 if its cheaper than the k-30). another lens you might want to consider is a cheap fisheye (or UWA) as they can be really fun at wedding parties on the dance floor.

[Dario79]

In your place I would not buy second body-I would rather buy Tamron 17-50 2.8
In fact that would be first thing I'd buy. It's best wa zoom for the money. You don't need to cary manual lenses. If you are not experiensed shooter and if you don't have proper focusing screen it's almost imposible to shoot moveing objects at large aperatures.
My set up would be
Camera
Flash
Lightsphere
Tamron 17-50 (you'll use that one 70% of time)
DA 55-300 (sigma/tamron 70-200 2.8 or DA* 50-135 or sigma 50-150 2.8 would be my next thing to buy)
DA 50 1.8 for details
Every event where people are moveing around and where you have many things to document is much MUCH easier to shoot with good and fast zoom.

---------- Post added 08-05-14 at 12:57 PM ----------

Oups I just realised you have tamron 28-70 2.8-my bad.)
Forget the 17-50 part

[mattt]

To that point above. There is nothing wide in your kit. All your 28mm's yield is a normal FoV. The fisheye is a great recommendation - and manual focus is no big deal with 3' to infinity DOF. Check out

Youtu.be

Youtu.be

A fisheye yields a unique FoV that you cannot get with a "point &shoot" but you need to be able to get close.

[Wired]

Don't forget a business licence and insurance. Doesn't matter if this is the only wedding your going to do, if bylaw shows up for whatever reason you are in for a world of hurt. If a guest trips over your gear or their kid gets hit by your camera while it's hanging from you strap you could have a serious lawsuit on your hands. I only perform weddings with the proper paperwork in place.

[42volks]

Thanks for the advice. I picked up a tamron 70-200mm f2.8 lens and a second k-5iis. So I'll pair those together and the tamron 28-70 on the other body with my DA50 and DA55-300 as back-ups. Picked up a few other items as well.

Bob from Aus - the reason I didn't ask those questions is because I have already read up about that and was just seeking advice on gear at the moment. Thanks for the concern though.