Wedding Shoot AKA I Fell in Love With a Full-Frame
- At December 09, 2008
- By Neil Creek
- In People
12
I shot a wedding on the weekend, and boy was it the most challenging wedding shoot yet, but I’m not going to talk about that. I’m gonna share a few of my favourite photos and wax lyrical about how awesome it was to shoot with a full-frame sensor camera.
I take this wedding photography business seriously, and I’m really enjoying it these days, despite the elevated stress levels. Something I did this time to lower the stress was to borrow a friend’s 5D so that I had two cameras to shoot with, in case one died. I can tell you now, it was love at first click.
By the way, if you like these photos, live near Melbourne, Australia, and have a wedding coming up, I’m available for wedding bookings! You can read more on my site here: http://neil.creek.name/weddings (Excuse the plug ;) )
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I love shooting with my 50mm f1.8 lens. If you don’t have one of these, you’ve got to get one. It’s tack-sharp, great in low light, and perfect for portraits with silky smooth bokeh. On my 350D, which has a 1.6x crop factor, however, it can be a problem with field of view. To fit a subject in nicely, I have to take a few steps back, which isn’t always an option. On the full frame sensor of the 5D however, the 50mm feels just right. The image above was taken in the bride’s back yard before heading off to the ceremony. I stood on a garden chair for the flattering high angle, and the composition just worked, without having to move the chair back too far.
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I love the photo above, and I feel I’ve succeeded in taking a type of photo I’ve not mastered yet: photo journalistic. Still shooting with the 50mm in the very dull, naturally lit living room, I was able to capture some natural candid moments before we left. A full-frame sensor enhances the effect and appearance of a shallow depth of field. I was shooting here at f1.8, resulting in a narrow depth of field, which allowed me to minimise the background clutter, and include the element of the girl in the background without drawing attention away from the bride.
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I don’t know if it’s a feature of full frame cameras in general, or the 5D in particular, but the light sensitivity seemed to me to be one to two stops greater than my 350D. Seen above, the bride is standing well back from a tree-shaded window on an overcast day. It was positively dim in the room, yet I was still able to capture a perfectly acceptable image at 1/100sec, f5.6 ISO400! The image was somewhat noisy in processing, but not offensively so, and which was handily dealt with by Lightroom.
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Due to the poor weather, the ceremony was held indoors, and our post-ceremony images were drastically limited, but despite these problems, I was able to salvage some decent images.
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The extra-wide field of view afforded by a full-frame sensor was an absolute joy. I’m a lover of wide angle photography, and never have I been able to get as wide as this with my Tamron 24-135 on my 350D. After the rains had eased, we were treated to some spectacular skies. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to get out the flash and add some strobist juice. The groom’s sister was my cheerful and helpful assistant, holding the flash.
Lighting info:
Canon 5D
1/100sec @ f/20, ISO100
Tamron 24-135mm @ 24mm
Canon 580EX @ 1/4 power
This photo ended up being my favourite for the day, and I knew it was so as soon as I saw it on the back of the camera.
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I mentioned it earlier, but the low-light performance of the 5D, coupled with the 50mm f1.8 allowed me to capture images that just wouldn’t have been possible with the 350D. Not only was the chip giving me greater sensitivity, the expanded ISO to 3200 increased my shooting range, and the trade-off was sensor noise, which in my opinion was less offensive in quality than that on the 350D.
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Even my favourite lens, the Sigma 8mm f4 fisheye was supercharged by the 5D. No longer was I shooting a cropped circle, but a full 360 by 180 degree hemisphere of the world. The spherical image may not be to everyone’s taste, but with the higher resolution sensor on the 5D, you still have plenty of room to crop. If you do crop down, you’ll probably end up with a similar resolution to what I get on the 350D. However, if you want to get the full 360 degree circle with an 8mm lens, only a full-frame sensor will do.
With my appetite whet to the luxury of full frame DSLRs, I cannot wait to get my hands on a 5D MkII. I suspect everything I loved about the 5D will be there, but better :) I’m giggling like a schoolgirl at the thought of it!
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Rebecca
This post makes me excited about my 50mm f1.8 coming back from being repaired! :))
I wondered if you were going to ever make the leap into wedding photography, and am happy to hear that this is the case! Beautiful portrayal of this wedding, especially the shot with such gorgeous post-rain skies!
marty
Neil, I definitely agree with your comments on the 50mm f/1.8 lens – every photographer should have one in their camera bag (or the more expensive f/1.4 or f/1.2 versions).
Regarding the ISO performance, I think the larger sensor of the 5D definitely helps reduce the noise at higher ISOs compared to the smaller sensor in the 350D.
However, with technology improving the performance of sensors, newer crop bodies still have much-improved higher ISO performance.
I recently upgraded from a 350D to a 50D, and am very happy with the improved high ISO performance. At ISO400, the 350D would give very grainy images, while the 50D will produce usable images at ISO1600 and ISO3200!
Before you decide to buy a 5D mark II, you might want to take a closer look at the 50D, as you may find it’ll meet your needs…at a significantly lower cost.
I’d love to get a 5D mark II…but decided I was better off with a 50D and some new glass….so I recently added a 50D and 24-70 f/2.8L to my camera bag. The 24-70 is a great all-purpose lens, and works well in low light, due to the fast f/2.8 aperture.
Susheel Chandradhas
Neil, Some nice photographs here… I really like the garden shot… very nice.
I’m extremely lucky to have access to my Dad’s two 5D camera bodies (though I don’t use them much) and I can say that some of the photographs that it turns out are truly magnificent. I especially enjoy the relatively good image quality on the higher ISOs… Like you, I can’t wait to get my hands on a 5Dmk2.
I have a feeling that some of the images that are lit with flash are a it too strongly lit. Maybe a diffuser would have helped?
Cheers!
Mark Groves
Neil, great writeup. I just purchased a used 5D as an upgrade from a 20D, and I am pretty sure I am going to be very happy. I have only taken a few test shots so far, but I can’t agree more, my view through the 50mm 1.8 is noticeably different for the better.
Nakey boy
you’ve always loved full frame :P
Being honest, if you had more APS-C specific lenses, wide angle is just as good on crop as it is on FF. the only APS-C lens i see in your collection is that EF-S 18-55 II kit that you only use for wide angle. the EF-S 17-85 IS USM isn’t bad if it weren’t so slow, and the Sigma 17-70 isn’t long enough for you.
the sensor out of the current bodies (with the possible exception of the 1000D) is pretty good for high ISO. yours is older than the Sony 6MP sensor out of my *ist DS. So it stands to reason that the 5D gives a better dynamic range. it’s not necessarily FF that does it (though the reduced pixel density does help)
I know that you do have your heart set on the 5DII (and why wouldn’t anyone?. Even this Pentaxian got excited after seeing ISO6400 first hand O___O), but if finances do become a problem, Marty’s suggestion of the 50D is a very very good one. Match with some good APS-C glass (the aforementioned Sigma 17-70, or a good F2.8 zoom), and only pixel peepers can tell the difference between the 50D and the 5D
Alan Nielsen
Neil,
I love my nifty-fifty as well. I don’t have a full frame, so I can imagine the difference. Congrats and great pics.
Luis Cruz
Even though I’m still using a 40D + 350D combo now, I’ve known for quite a while that I would be eventually get a full-frame. Sure, I get fantastic high-ISO noise control on my 40D, but the field of view and bokeh on a FF is simply something else. The 5DII is next on my shopping list.
Bryan Villarin
Great photos, Neil! You’ve got me really excited to do my first wedding in 13 days (as a second photographer). You didn’t even mention any stress – awesome.
It sounds like you’ll have more to do… :)
laanba
Your wedding shots are really good. You definitely have a talent for it.
Pat
Love the effect of the full 8mm fisheye in your final image :-)
PatB Photography
Norfolk Wedding Photographers
Love the picture with the big blue bold sky and the full fisheye view – Please keep up the inspirational work
Tim
Sam@wedding invitations shop
I particularly love the wide angle image of the sky – amazingly vivid! Totally love the last shot with the fisheye too. Great to have something a little bit different in the wedding album! Well done.