Well, it seems like I will be getting the minimum amount of gear that's required to do wedding photography. My mother's leaning towards that and making sure that I have a "piece of paper" that indicates that I know what I'm doing with regards to photography. Being self-taught doesn't translate well to customer confidence with regards to photography skills. Thanks, Mom. I owe an incredible debt of gratitude to you for doing this.
This camera is the D300s (yeah, yeah, I know the photo says D300, but trust me, the D300s is pretty much the same thing with movie function). It is what is known as an advanced amateur/semi professional camera and because the D3s and D3x (which are professional cameras) are severely out of my price range, I'm going to go with this particular camera. It is 13.1 megapixels (13,100,000 pixels) and coupled with a MB-D10 battery grip/EN-EL4a combo, I can boost my frame rate to 8 fps (frames per second) crucial for nailing the shots of the recessional and processionals. . This will become my primary camera. My D50 will be my secondary for candids that won't be blown up any larger than 5" x 7". Keep in mind that its the guy behind the camera and not the equipment that produces the picture. If the equipment was the key element in a professional photography, you could stick the Nikon D300s into the hands of a baboon and he'd be able to be a professional photographer. It is still the brains and the skill that a professional photographer possesses that outputs a professional grade image.
This will be my workhorse lens. The Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII. This is the long-range lens that will enable me to keep out of the way of the ceremony while taking pictures that the bride will remember for the rest of her life. It'll also be the workhorse that I use to take pictures of the first dance and the bride's dance with her father. Plus slap that on the walk down the aisle and I don't have to follow the bride and her father down the aisle to give her away. That way I'll be able to stay out of the way of the flowergirls traipsing down the aisle as well.
This is a DX format Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 Di II VC (Vibration Control) lens for wide angle shots of the interior of the church. With this lens, I can stand in the balcony of the church or give it to my photographer second and tell him or her to go shoot the crowd at the wedding ceremony from the upper balcony. This also works for the semi-formal group portraits of both the bride and groom's wedding party. When you can prescout out a location for the semi-formals then you can get the bride and the bridesmaids into a group shot and the groom and groomsmen into another shot. The 17-50mm range is ideal for that. Ideally, I would love to have a super-wide, but as far as I'm concerned right at the moment, this gear will get me going.
Ideally I would have liked to have kept all my lenses Nikon, but unfortunately, with the 14-24 f/2.8 and the 24-70mm f/2.8 both running $2000.00 CDN each, I would prefer to be making money with the Tamron and then upgrading when I have enough money.
For the first dozen or so weddings, I'm going to work as a photographer second to the primary photographer as I have a friend who does this. This is essential in learning the pace of the wedding and getting an idea of where I have to be situated to get the shots that I need to record the happiest day of a woman's life.
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