CL for wedding photography

[stevegaskin]

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A friend’s daughter has asked if I would take their wedding photo’s next year. Has anyone used a CL for weddings and if so what pointers can you give me especially regarding the lenses used.  I have the TL 23mm and the three TL zooms and the SF26 flash.   The last time I took wedding photo’s was with a film camera, so the project is both daunting and challenging.  Also, is anyone aware of where I could hire a second body; I’ve seen SL bodies for hire but not sure how well the TL lenses would work on a full-frame body; or would I be better buying a  TL/TL2 body? (Can’t justify buying a s4cond CL).  Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Edited March 22, 2019 by stevegaskin

[jaapv]

The SL accepts TL lenses without any problem and will work in APS-C mode. I would just take the zooms, mount the wide and standard one on the two bodies for good light and use the 23 for indoor work.

I probably don't need to tell you that you need to research the venue, speak to the couple to know their wishes, make sure you get all the moments without upsetting the ceremony, etc. Wedding work is a huge challenge to a non-specialist. I always refuse, unless as a guest to get the shots the pro might miss, as he can never know the complete context - and  then I stay out of the pro's way and comply with his directions.

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[LocalHero1953]

It depends on what sort of style of wedding photography. Assuming you will be fairly traditional, then the zooms should be all you need - and the fewer lens changes you need to make in a hurry, the better.

If you can't justify buying a second CL, then I would go for a used TL2, T and a hired SL in that order. The SL will only give you 10Mp with your lenses and if, with limited wedding experience, you make mistakes, 10Mp gives you little flexibility to crop.

I have done one wedding, which went well (like Jaap, I prefer to say no). I had the SL with its two bigger zooms, with the CL as a backup. I also set up a mini photo booth at the reception, which did good business as the night wore on; for that I had a lighting setup as well, but kept to the 24-90 SL zoom for portraiture.

You can hire the SL from Wex. https://rental.wexphotovideo.com/leica-sl-system-camera. But in your shoes I would hire the SL lenses to go with it and use it as your first camera with your CL as the backup.

Edited March 22, 2019 by LocalHero1953

[stevegaskin]

51 minutes ago, jaapv said:

The SL accepts TL lenses without any problem and will work in APS-C mode. I would just take the zooms, mount the wide and standard one on the two bodies for good light and use the 23 for indoor work.

I probably don't need to tell you that you need to research the venue, speak to the couple to know their wishes, make sure you get all the moments without upsetting the ceremony, etc. Wedding work is a huge challenge to a non-specialist. I always refuse, unless as a guest to get the shots the pro might miss, as he can never know the complete context - and  then I stay out of the pro's way and comply with his directions.

 

9 minutes ago, LocalHero1953 said:

It depends on what sort of style of wedding photography. Assuming you will be fairly traditional, then the zooms should be all you need - and the fewer lens changes you need to make in a hurry, the better.

If you can't justify buying a second CL, then I would go for a used TL2, T and a hired SL in that order. The SL will only give you 10Mp with your lenses and if, with limited wedding experience, you make mistakes, 10Mp gives you little flexibility to crop.

I have done one wedding, which went well (like Jaap, I prefer to say no). I had the SL with its two bigger zooms, with the CL as a backup. I also set up a mini photo booth at the reception, which did good business as the night wore on; for that I had a lighting setup as well, but kept to the 24-90 SL zoom for portraiture.

You can hire the SL from Wex. https://rental.wexphotovideo.com/leica-sl-system-camera. But in your shoes I would hire the SL lenses to go with it and use it as your first camera with your CL as the backup.

Thanks for your replies and advice.  I’m still uncertain as to whether I should do this as it will be ‘as a favour’, and as i won’t be getting paid the cost of hiring equipment is likely to be prohibitive.  WEX charge £70 per day + VAT+ insurance and I doubt if I could collect and return in less than 3 days (Saturday wedding), so that could be over £300; possibly close to a T/TL body in a years time!   I’ve known the family a long time so it would be nice for me to help them out.   I’ve already researched processes and prep’ requirements in keeping with jaap’s observations; a big responsibility.  

[earleygallery]

Hmmm, if you have to ask questions about equipment I'd say you would be better off declining the invitation. IMHO weddings are about 5 or 10% photographic skill and 90% stage management, people management and time management.

You absolutely don't want to be using a camera you've hired for he day and are not familiar with, you need to be able to use the equipment without thinking. You also need two of everything because if one breaks on the day you have no second chances! You need enough lighting to ensure you can cope whatever the weather on the day (what if all photos have to be taken inside?) and venue (could be a dark windowless room, tight on space or too much space etc etc).

Not trying to teach you to suck eggs but I think people these days have such varied ideas of what their wedding photos should look like, you must establish exactly what they expect from you. Also think about insurance - what if someone trips over a tripod you left set up? A lot of venues now expect to see copies of insurance policies for people the couple are 'employing' on the day. If you're not charging them, you need to consider how much it's going to cost you to do the job properly - might end up as rather an expensive gift!

Lots to think about other than equipment!

[earleygallery]

Posted at the same time as your last response - yes, it will be an expensive gift! You might be better off paying for a Pro photographer for them instead.

[stevegaskin]

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Thanks earlygallery, beginning to have the same thought process. 

[tommonego@gmail.com]

Doing a documentary style wedding shoot is what the CL was made for. Unless they want big camera formals you can do it, 2 cameras would help. One camera with the 23 and another with something in the 55 - 60mm range. I just did a meeting of lectures for a friend the CL was fine, I used the 23 , a 55 f1.4 and a 90 Elmarit. Second body would have kept me from changing lenses as much as I did. The flash may or may not work, depends where the wedding is, many churches don't allow flash, and the little flash may not have the range.

Photoshop can organized folders for you and print the folder content which really helps. Keep them the number of photos in the folders small so that the image on the print won't look too small.

Then again hiring someone to do the wedding and you just do your photos on the side works well. Did that on a cousin's wedding and the hired photographer really like my candids we started talking about working together. Poor guy was killed in a car accident before we got anything going.  

[gfweir]

Having shot close to a thousand weddings I feel that I can address your questions.

Just say no or procure a second and third body. All the bodies should be the same, cuts down on the need for thinking and there's plenty that you DO have to think about shooting a wedding.

Get fast fast primes. 

The zooms are great, they are lovely for landscapes and virtually useless for weddings, you do need the fast lenses.

For the portraits, and there WILL be a portrait session I don't care how much they might have told you that they just want a true photojournalist approach, you should know;

If there are going to be complaints about the wedding photographs then it's pretty certain (85- 95% certain) that the complaints will be about the portraits.

Therefore it behooves you to learn to LOVE managing people and become a master of shooting ALL the required portraits of the wedding party and both families in less than twenty minutes. (I regularly shot all the portraits in 8-12 minutes). 

This is where you need multiple bodies, set up in the same as each other. 

I also relied on my handheld meter to provide consistent accurate readings

Long lens (85-90) on right shoulder

Medium (35 equivalent) around neck

Wide (24-28)on left shoulder.

This is where you don't need to be thinking about cameras; you have to know that as far as possible the files from each are going to match and 

the 35mm is the main for the groups, and each shot you shoot of each group you will repeat with the 24 or 28 as you keep talking, smiling and correcting positioning etc. you  are stepping forward two paces, lift the wider body shoot - step back and shoot again with the 35.

The portrait lens is for detail and close portraits and is hardly used until the groups are done.

The actual groups are determined by you, the bride and the groom in advance

No you don't need or want to know the name of each and every family member;

Grandparents alive and in reasonable health?

Parents still married or if not on speaking terms?

Siblings? Siblings with kids?

Start with the largest group and work down

Both families together, no you don't need his and her sides, just get them all arranged quickly and with a smile on your face and in your voice...

and for goodness sake avoid split lighting 

Five or six frames and you are thanking the smaller, healthier, more mobile family and having them stand to the side and take notes as they'll be up next and you have the whole of one family to work with 

two frames, 35 and 28

....move the grandparents out

two frames, 35 and 28

..move the young kids out

and so on until you only have b&g and parents

same thing

move parents to the left, instructing family on sidelines to get into position while you take a few frames of the parents with the portrait lens

It is virtually impossible to do a good job of this if you are worried about the gear.

Yes it's going to break down, stop functioning, run out of power or just give up the ghost.

While 90% of my wedding work was captured with two lenses I always had more bodies and lenses close by.

 

Film:

4 M6 bodies two with .58 finders and two with .72 finders, two chrome, 2 black

21 elmarit

35 summilux

50 noctilux

75 summilux

90 summicron

 

Digital

Canon 5D x five bodies

24mm 1.4L

35mm 1.4L

50mm 1.4

85mm 1.2L 

 

Daunted and challenged ?

As I mentioned earlier...maybe say no

anyway... happy Monday, have to run....

 

Best

George 

 

 

[Kim Dahl]

16 minutes ago, gfweir said:

While 90% of my wedding work was captured with two lenses I always had more bodies and lenses close by.

Hi Thank you for sharing experience.

You write 90% of the weddings are photographed with 2 objective. Which ones ?

[gfweir]

When shooting M6's 

35mm 1.4

75mm 1.4 

Canon

35mm 1.4

85mm 1.2

 

[LocalHero1953]

Hmm, that's one way of photographing weddings with kit you are comfortable with. Another way is to use 1-2 zoom lenses and one body, and forget carrying three bodies, six others nearby, plus multiple primes; carry one spare camera body as a spare in the bag. 

There are many ways to shoot a wedding. I'm not convinced this is the right way for the OP's position.

Edited March 25, 2019 by LocalHero1953

[Marac]

I've done a handful of Weddings, very reportage, I shot one with a Monochrome and a Nocti mainly, had the 28 too. They absolutely loved them.

I would say, if you are having doubts then best not to do it.

[globalwander]

Steve,

I don’t disagree with any of the previous posts. Just sharing a story with you. 

I was asked to do photograph a wedding for a friend once. In those days it was with film, on my Nikon FM2. I only had one lens. A nifty fifty at 1.8.

I was lucky and the whole wedding went well. The couple was happy with the photos and my FM2, being a simple camera functioned perfectly.

I really enjoyed the experience, but I will freely admit that I had the benefit of youthful ignorance and naïveté on my side. And I flat out got lucky that nothing went wrong.

I have the Leica CL with the 23 f2, 35 f1.4 and 60 f2.8. I also have the 18-56 zoom. I shoot a lot indoors and I can tell you that even f2 is the slowest I would go. You really need 1.4 to get clean shots on APS-C.

So yes, you could shoot the wedding with your 23 f2 and your CL. Just watch some Kevin Mullins videos on YouTube for inspiration. He’s incredibly good and he shoots weddings entirely on APS-C. He prefers the 23mm f2 for street photography. In his videos he always says that he prefers 1.4 for weddings because of the low indoor light. He’s a Fuji shooter, so he uses the Fuji 35mm f1.4 and the 56mm f1.2 a lot.

Do you have a second camera for backup? That’s important. And lots of extra batteries? 

Anyway, if you shoot documentary style, your CL and 23mm f2 aren’t perfect for this, but they will work. Your zoom will only help you outdoors. That zoom is fine outdoors.

[Wojtek]

If APS-C, I'd definitely go with 2 x CL + 23/2 + 35/1.4. I don't see any other option here. TL2 (which I use) is too slow. Any other TL lens is too slow. You can take your wide zoom just in case.

If you'll be doing it, I think the best way to do it with Leica's APS-C will be to take CL+23 for reportage and CL+35 for portraits / tighter framing / bokeh and to listen to gfweir, he knows what he's talking about