Fraser Speirs Cocoa and Photos

Wedding Days

Canon EOS 30D, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS @ 200

1/640 @ f/8, ISO 640

My friends Jenna and Gordon were married yesterday. It was a great day, full of happiness.

I shot the picture above from my seat in the church, just as Jenna finished her entrance. The 30D’s shutter is embarrassingly loud to be using in church, but I think the ends justify the means in this case.

I had agonised back and forth a bit over which lenses to carry. In the end, I took my EF-S 10-22, 24-105 f/4L IS, 85mm f/1.8 and the 70-200mm f/4 L IS. The two lenses that saw the most use were the 85mm and the 70-200mm. The 85mm is an amazing low-light lens, and I used this for most of the indoor stuff where I didn’t want to use flash. My only complaint about this lens is its relatively long closest focusing distance.

What praise can one lavish on the Canon 70-200mm lenses that hasn’t already been said? An amazingly fast-handling, razor-sharp lens with incredible IS capabilities. I used this lens in the church, mostly for its reach, and used it with and without flash for the speeches.

The one lens that had almost zero use yesterday was my 24-105mm f/4 L IS. I’m seriously contemplating selling this lens and replacing it with a fast wide angle prime. Not that it’s a bad lens - far from it, it’s amazing - it’s just that I always seem to find myself wanting something wider than 24mm, longer than 105mm or faster than f/4.

I suspect the 24-105mm is much better matched to a full frame sensor — that way it becomes wide enough for most applications and just means pairing it with the 70-200mm for general use (ah, the latter, how I want thee!).

Yeah, I totally agree with that.

I can hardly believe what I am reading!
You may not have shot much with the lens Fraz but, I did. Now I know I’m not used to the quality of gear that you use daily but, I had a great time and was sooooo impressed with the lens’ capabilities. I was happy with the portraits I got in all sorts of lighting situations, and the macro was fun too.
I guess what I am saying is that you would have a buyerfor it if I had 50p to spare.
Thanks for letting me use your kit. It added to the fun I had on the day immeasureably

I’ve just started with the 30D and two lenses: the 17-55 f2.8 IS and the 70-200 f 2.8 IS L. I made the decision to go for high quality and large aperture because I wanted to be able to shoot in pathetic lighting handheld. So far both are very useful. And very heavy — I’m building body mass with the big one.

But I still want a f1.8 or f1.4 lens for *really* low light. The question is what focal length? So I am interested to find out you what your focal length needs are at wide aperture.

And boy is that shutter a noisy one.

For those low light instances … ever thought of using a monopod? Dead cheap and not much to lug with you. You should gain a stop … or five by using it.

Fraz, I love this picture!
I did not hear any shutter ;0)

@Steve: In fantasy land, the EF 24mm f/1.4 L would be a beautiful lens to own. Or, coupled with the Canon 5D that I, er, don’t have, the 16-35mm f/2.8 L. I don’t think the 16-35mm or the 17-40mm lenses make much sense on an APS-C sensor.

More realistically, I’m interested in the 20mm f/2.8 or the 28mm f/1.8.