[Recovered Thread: 118035]

[Gurbakash]

Is a canon 400d good enough to do semi-pro wedding photography?

[JohnG]

If the semi-pro is good enough and has good enough lenses/accessories the camera will do fine.

[Mark1616]

Exactly, John is right, people get hung up about having the greatest camera or this brand is better than that however for a wedding then as long as you get accurate exposures (the dress will be a killer) and have sharp lenses then even something 6MP will give fine results.

Make sure you shoot in RAW to give yourself the best chance of getting the desired results and if it is your first try then get someone to dress up in white and play around with metering modes and settings so you know what the camera is likely to do.

Canons have a tendency to protect the highlights in a shot so over exposing is less likely that with other brands but you don't want to be too under exposed either.

[Caboose]

The first wedding I shot was with a 300d digital rebel. I still use it for my backup camera. The lens is proabaly more important than the body. If you can get a back up of everything if you plan on doing more weddings.

[BillDrew]

Gurbakash wrote:

Is a canon 400d good enough to do semi-pro wedding photography?

No - but two of them are if you know how to use them. You should have backup for everything. The backup can be another kind of camera, perhaps a film camera.

[Corpsy]

The camera should be good enough to get the job done.

If you're talking about going into business doing this stuff, something I've read is that it often helps to get more professional looking equipment, even if it isn't any better, just because it will look more impressive to clients. I've heard of videographers using older, larger video cameras just for that purpose. I don't know how true it really is, and perhaps a portfolio is a bit more important, but if it is the case you might want to look at the Nikons just because they look more pro. Or perhaps just get the battery grip and make the camera look larger.

I don't do this stuff professionally though, so maybe someone else could let me know how wrong I am.

[sjburges]

Is the question even legitimate? If you're getting paid to do a wedding, you're pro in my opinion (and probably the wedding party's view too). If you're not, you're an amateur. What does semi-pro mean in this context? Someone helping a pro perhaps (in which case you're probably moving backdrops and holding lights rather than shooting)? I don't think weddings are something that its wise to go part-way on.

Either way, the camera(s) (hopefully not singular if pro) are probably the least of your worries.

[Hayward]

Mark1616 wrote:

Exactly, John is right, people get hung up about having the greatest camera or this brand is better than that however for a wedding then as long as you get accurate exposures (the dress will be a killer) and have sharp lenses then even something 6MP will give fine results.

However a more feature rich camera will give the knowledgable photog many more tools and options to work with.

The Rebels do very well in normal conditions.... but other than full manual shooting where all are equal.... the mid and higher end DSLR's... offer much more semi auto flexability and options, and things like in body IS. (Not that Canon EVER will as long as they can sell the IS system over and over again in EACH lens)

[Mark1616]

I agree, I'm a 30D user and if I were a regular wedding shooter then the 5D would be where I would be looking (well the 1D MarkIII might now bridge the gap well enough and allow me to keep shooting sports), but in answer to "Is a canon 400d good enough to do semi-pro wedding" then it is good enough but not ideal. Give a good photog a 400d and Joe snap a lot a 5D or 1D and the good photog will get far better results.

[ac.smith]

sjburges wrote:

If you're getting paid to do a wedding, you're pro in my opinion (and probably the wedding party's view too).

I my day of weddings/environmental portraits semi-pro meant youdidn't do it full-time. Your results (and business practices) hadbetter be professional or your weren't going to get the referrals required.

There is something to the psychology of having large all black cameras for "professional" work. I had two Mamiya C330 interchangeable lens twin-lens reflexes, one with a pentaprism finder and a big grip with a Rollie "potato-masher" flash even though I used 35 SLRs and 1/2 frame SLRs my personal projects.