GH4 wedding advice

Lindquist

Lindquist

Veteran
I got a wedding im takin photos for on the 15th for about 50 people for few hours, I ordered a Benro Monopod and One of those G eye cups for my gh4, that should help out But All i got is the 14-140mm kit lens and the 7.5mm rokinon fisheye. Do you guys think I can get away with using the 14-140mm the whole time without getting bad low light shots with alot of noise in it?

thanks

only option thats realistic would be to get a 50mm 1.7 off KEH and get an adapter.

got 4 batteries, and 128gb , 64gb, 32gb and a 16gb sd cards I think that will be good.
 
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I did a "ton" of weddings in the film days, mostly using a Hasselblad with it's normal 80mm f2.8 Zeiss lens.

No zooms. Had to move in and out to get the right compositions but it was do-able. A lot of us worked that way.

That 14-140 might be OK if the interior is very well lit, but I wouldn't chance it.

Somehow grab an Olympus 25mm f1.8, Panasonic Leica 25mm f1.4, or even the Lumix 20mm f1.7 (autofocus is not that slow but MF with the MF+ASSIST set to ON and the control configured to the focus ring would be easy.

I could cover the whole wedding with any of those lenses and use the telephoto end of the 14-140 on the monopod for shots of the ceremony from the rear of the church only.

Using a "legacy" 50mm sticks you with a telephoto FOV so I vote NO on that for now.

None of the couples I photographed would have gone for any "fisheye" shots. They just want to look good.

Get one of the lenses I listed and get it FAST. Then practice, practice, and practice more. Get into the church where the wedding will happen and imagine the people being there, move up and down the aisle and "previsualize" groups you'll have to shoot.
 
is noise reduction software for photos a doable thing?
cuz i dont have cash or time to get this lens before the wedding.
 
I'm sure it's do-able to some extent (it can often soften detail too much) but you can't "chance" anything on a wedding. A set of wedding photos HAS to LOOK GOOD with no problems. If you're not properly equipped to do it RIGHT, back out - claim camera breakdown or something (should NEVER take on a wedding without a backup camera, too) and give them a chance to hire a pro or get someone else with proper gear to do it.

Weddings are a one time thing and I've talked to many couples who wound up with problem wedding pictures.

They never forgive and forget.

Are you charging for this, or doing it as a favor?

I've covered some weddings with medium format gear where the maximum lens aperture was f3.5 on modular press cameras (Mamiya and Graflex XL) and I've photographed the bride & groom by the light of one candle but I had practiced a lot (f3.5 with 1/4 second shutter) so it can be done. Had a tendency to be quite reddish but the lab I used could adjust color some, but for several years brides liked it.

If there will be enough light you could use the 14-140 mostly at the wide end, it would be better if you had a decent flash you could put on a bracket. The GH4 has a standard PC flash socket but be sure what you use has a low trigger voltage (the Vivitar 283/285 units I used to use had up to 230v going across the shutter contacts but there were no electronics to "fry" in a 'blad or any of the other gear we used in the 60's, 70's, and 80's.

Maybe see if you can rent a flash if you don't have one, do much of the wedding at f5.6 or so with low light stuff using slow shutter speeds with ISO up around 1600. My GH3's were good up to 6400 but the GH4 seems to need to drop down to 3200. Concerning noise, you get noise worst in underexposed areas. Get enough exposure in most of the scene and noise won't be so bad.

If you're going to do more of this, get workable lenses. A good prime normal is more flexible than most think. You just have to learn good basic photography and have a few of the right tools.

One more tip. Use the WB preset that looks best under the church lighting, and shoot JPEG plus RAW. You can make some decent corrections from the RAW files even if you have to use Silkypix that came with the camera.
 
Bruce makes very valid points. A wedding is a very special day and if you are being paid for this as the principle photographer, perhaps you should think again about doing it given your question. If this a favor and you are a secondary then go ahead with the 14-140. The fisheye is a no-no.

Also agree with nixing the 50mm. OK for some close ups but otherwise too narrow. Shoot both JPEG and raw and deal with processing later. White balancing should be a prime consideration although not so much of an issue with raw IF you know what you are doing.

Best of luck and let us know how it all comes together.
 
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