Night and Day difference between Canon XTi and EOS 5D?

[sbryan]

Hello,

As part of my 2008 resolutions, I want to take up event photography as a hobby that brings in some extra money. I'm thinking more along the lines of family reunions, parties, corporate events, these sorts of things, over wedding photography, which is not the arena for the amateur. Although, I think I could handle that eventually.

If I stick with my Rebel XTi and purchase the following Canon lenses, will I be missing "something" without going to the Canon E0S 5D? Something referring to a professional look...

Zoom Telephoto EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Image Stabilizer USM Autofocus Lens
Zoom Super Wide Angle EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Autofocus Lens

Thanks,

[egproductions]

You should fill that gap with with a nice, fast L series prime. It will come in handy if your flash system fails in low light situations and it will give you nice portraits with great bokeh compared to a zoom lens. The reasons a 5D are better than the xti is because of the full frame sensor. This will be beneficial to getting shallower DOF at a wider focal length and it will also result in cleaner images at the end of the day. That being said the XT and XTi take amazingly clean pictures at high ISOs especially if you over expose your RAW files a little and correct in post. The DOF benefit is not such a big deal. I'm not sure if the XTI comes in a silver version but a black version will look more professional. Other benefits f the 5D are really inconsequential such as a better sounding shutter and I believe it has a PC connection for external flash (this can be compensated on the XTi with a simple hotshoe to PC adapter) If you want to save some money I would recommend renting you lenses for your first few gigs and slowly build up the ultimate lens set instead of shelling out a lot of money for a mediocre set (not that the lenses you mentioned are mediocre)

I think you should consider doing low budget weddings and not be intimidated by them. Wedding pay good money and not all wedding photographers know what they are doing or even care to know. If you market yourself as a low budget photographer clients won't expect as much and you can break into weddings and build your portfolio at the same time. Don't underestimate yourself but prepare yourself.