[TER-OR]

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Well, if you're renting at his cost - consider the DA21mm limited. That's a great crowded room lens and is super-fast focus. Stop it down a bit and you turn your camera into something of a rangefinder, you don't even really need the viewfinder... And it's wide enough to capture small groups a few feet away.

I rented this lens a while ago and for the purpose I required, the 28mm macro was better but for casual photos of small groups, it was really nice.

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Be sure to let us know how it goes!

[john5100]

I've done 6 events for Seattle Business Magazine. The guest are there to have a good time so play with them when you snap their photos. Make that part of the event for them. Don't be afraid to get up close and snap away after you get there attention. Generally they gather in groups of 5 to 10 laughing the whole time.

Given that I use my DA* 16-50 mm with a flash. Those events are always dark or they have harsh overhead lighting. If you go wider than 16 mm you will get lots of distortion. I have also found that there is a stage with some sort of MC. You will need a long lens for that. The faster the better. Make sure to catch any logos or convention names. They love that stuff.

Again, don't be a sniper and have fun because the attendees will be.

Here are a few of mine. I didn't include many but you'll get the idea.
Seattle Business Magazine Green 50 Awards - a set on Flickr

Cameras used: K200D and KX
Lenses: DA* 16-50mm and DA* 50-135mm
Flash: Pentax 540

[Canada_Rockies]

Good rig, John, well done.

[K David]

I shot a convention last year under tungsten light. The other tog brought her OM-1 and 64 ISO slide film. I had my K-7. At best, I was able to shoot reliably at as slow as f2.5 without going below 1/30th. That said, I was using my K-7 and shooting rarely beyond 500 ISO. I used burst mode a lot and tried to get one good shot out of each series. In the end, of the 1,500-ish shots I took about 500 were sharply in focus, around 80 went tot he client, and around ten ended up being used.

For lenses, I had my 31mm 1.8, old M42 135mm 2.5 (the lens I used the most), and I think my Tak 50mm 1.4 in M42. Oh, and a tripod for use with the tele. Even with the tripod, I had to shoot at around 1/25th-1/30th with the 135 wide open.

[jbinpg]

This is one case where the K-3 would be s preferred tool. One card would be for raw and the other for jpeg. This would allow rapid handoff of the jpegs to the client with the possibility of further pp of any re-orders. I would check out possible K-3 rentals.

Jack

[BirdDude007]

This is one case where the K-3 would be s preferred tool. One card would be for raw and the other for jpeg. This would allow rapid handoff of the jpegs to the client with the possibility of further pp of any re-orders. I would check out possible K-3 rentals.

Jack

Good idea but the place im renting from doesnt carry them, plus I really dont want the client think I have NO equipment

[BirdDude007]

Quick update, I ordered the 16~50 f2.8, and the 50~135 f2.8, and I even went with the pentax 560 flash just in case, plus I wanna try it out in case I want one in the future. I will have a few days to get comfortable with these items as well, I will have a couple chances to get out to the venue and see what im dealing with

[Roob-N-Boots]

Quick update, I ordered the 16~50 f2.8, and the 50~135 f2.8, and I even went with the pentax 560 flash just in case, plus I wanna try it out in case I want one in the future. I will have a few days to get comfortable with these items as well, I will have a couple chances to get out to the venue and see what im dealing with

I have that combo and it"s great for events.

If you are getting the first generation AF 540 I would recommend getting an external battery pack which takes an additional 8 AA batteries to cut down on recharge time. There is nothing more frustrating then waiting for flash to recharge while people are posed in front of you. http://www.ebay.com/itm/FB-4-FLASH-POWER-PACK-EXTERNAL-BATTERY-PACK-FOR-PENT...item5403610837
And maybe try to add one or two fast AF primes so you can capture some candid moments without drawing too much attention to yourself. Good luck, I wish you the very best.

[BirdDude007]

I have that combo and it"s great for events.

If you are getting the first generation AF 540 I would recommend getting an external battery pack which takes an additional 8 AA batteries to cut down on recharge time. There is nothing more frustrating then waiting for flash to recharge while people are posed in front of you. FB 4 Flash Power Pack External Battery Pack for Pentax TR 3 AF 540 FGZ FB 4 II | eBay
And maybe try to add one or two fast AF primes so you can capture some candid moments without drawing too much attention to yourself. Good luck, I wish you the very best.

I got the AF540 FGZ flash, but most likely wont be needing the power pack because the flas is going to be used sparingly, if I do end up buying this type of flash down the road I wll definitely be getting a power pack for it
I am not very good at flash shots yet....so im gonna learn

[BirdDude007]

UPDATE: I got the 50~135mm, 16~50mm lenses, and the AF-540FGZ flash in tonight, so I hopped in the car and headed to the venue to see what light I will be dealing with.
it turns out I will barely ever need to push the ISO anywhere higher than 1600, most of the shots should be less than 800, probably will be doing most of my shots on TAV(dunno how I will have the K-x set on)
So far I am impressed at the low light capability of thez lenses.
I also found out that they will be requiring me to shoot more flash shots.......now THATs my weak spot, heck I dont even know how to set up the dang camera for flash! But I put the camera in Program and set the ISO at 200, and when I turned the flash on I was surprised to see the flash automatically sense the camera set up and seemed to set itself up, I took a few different sample shots and they seemed to come out decent, I will be putting a small softbox over the end of it so the shots wont be so harsh.
Any and all tips and advice on how to set up a k5 with this flash will be greatly appreciated

[Edgar_in_Indy]

If they're going to have you shooting portraits of people on a regular basis, and there's some small corner of the venue to which you can lay claim, it may be worth your while to invest in one or two studio strobes. The strobe wouldn't need to be anything fancy...it could be one of the lower-end AlienBees models for instance. You could probably start off with just one strobe w/ a medium-sized soft box (or even an umbrella) and a reflector on the other side for fill. Some kind of backdrop could also be a nice touch.

And I don't know how big your room is and how high the ceiling is and what color the ceiling is, but I have also had good results with using multiple strobes in different corners of the room all aimed up at the ceiling at an angle to provide good coverage of the entire room. So that way I didn't have to deal with a camera flash and I could get sharp, well-lit photos anywhere in the room. And I also didn't have a problem with dark backgrounds that can result from using an on-camera flash.

[BirdDude007]

If they're going to have you shooting portraits of people on a regular basis, and there's some small corner of the venue to which you can lay claim, it may be worth your while to invest in one or two studio strobes. The strobe wouldn't need to be anything fancy...it could be one of the lower-end AlienBees models for instance. You could probably start off with just one strobe w/ a medium-sized soft box (or even an umbrella) and a reflector on the other side for fill. Some kind of backdrop could also be a nice touch.

And I don't know how big your room is and how high the ceiling is and what color the ceiling is, but I have also had good results with using multiple strobes in different corners of the room all aimed up at the ceiling at an angle to provide good coverage of the entire room. So that way I didn't have to deal with a camera flash and I could get sharp, well-lit photos anywhere in the room. And I also didn't have a problem with dark backgrounds that can result from using an on-camera flash.

Those are pretty cool ideas, at this venue they are shying away from portraits, there will be very few if any, so I figure I will rely on my portable soft box.
this place is huge, one is a huge ballroom where flash wont be allowed, the other will be set up like a casino(flash will be allowed in there) and another ares will be out in a huge well lit hallway and reception area.
99% of this shoot will be candids, I bazically gotta blend in with the woodwork and pretty much be invisible as much as I can, ya I will be putting a bunch of small group shots but tnat will be tbe extent of my interaction whiththese high dollor corporate folks.
seeing as tbis will be my first pro shoot and it being a bit high dollar, I am rather nervous, but my client knows me and says to mainly relax and have fun, I am over thinking this, if she didnt think I could do this then she wouldnt have hired me in tbe first place.
As for learning flash set ups, I am making it a goal to learn all aspects of working with flash

[BirdDude007]

I've done 6 events for Seattle Business Magazine. The guest are there to have a good time so play with them when you snap their photos. Make that part of the event for them. Don't be afraid to get up close and snap away after you get there attention. Generally they gather in groups of 5 to 10 laughing the whole time.

Given that I use my DA* 16-50 mm with a flash. Those events are always dark or they have harsh overhead lighting. If you go wider than 16 mm you will get lots of distortion. I have also found that there is a stage with some sort of MC. You will need a long lens for that. The faster the better. Make sure to catch any logos or convention names. They love that stuff.

Again, don't be a sniper and have fun because the attendees will be.

Here are a few of mine. I didn't include many but you'll get the idea.
Seattle Business Magazine Green 50 Awards - a set on Flickr

Cameras used: K200D and KX
Lenses: DA* 16-50mm and DA* 50-135mm
Flash: Pentax 540

The client wanted me to do lots of sniping, however I did it in good taste, I also managed to get around 70% keepers, I hate tbe rear LCD screen on these cameras, I was freakin out looking (chimping) at my shots on the camera and it pissed me off for a while, that is until I saw them on the computer screen

[Kerrowdown]

Woo Hoo! My 1st Paid Shoot

Congratulations on the shoot., good luck on the day and have at least two of everything you consider as essential, yes I do mean absolutely everything.