How to be confident in your camera (eg, during weddings)

horacekenneth · Oct 29, 2014

My wife and I have gotten some interest in shooting film for weddings. We always bring a film camera with us to get a few pictures but this past summer we did a wedding almost entirely with film using a Canon Elan. It went great, photos came back even better than we expected. One day we'd love to do it with medium format.

My concern, however, is that the cameras we have are all used. We've tested them on our own to make sure they work but couldn't they fail at any time? Just recently my Nikon F2 came back from a CLA and the shutter was dragging on certain speeds, only exposing half a frame.

What are things (tests, exercises, etc.) to do with electronic and/or mechanical film cameras to give the greatest possible assurance that they won't fail on the day of reckoning? And how can I be as confident as possible in my equipment? It isn't as easy when you can't see the little picture on the back.

Thanks for your advice,
Horace

MattKing · Oct 29, 2014

I have a friend who recently purchased a fairly high end full frame digital camera new for her portrait business. It was a new model, and most of the early production run suffered from a fault that was not immediately apparent until users tried to have larger prints made.

I refer to that as an example of why buying new is not necessarily better than buying used.

For real reliability, you ought to have a local repair source that you can trust to check cameras and to provide preventative maintenance. While an F2 is a wonderful camera, it is quite old, and the repair resources are quite specialized.

I used to dry fire all my cameras and lenses prior to each wedding. With experience, you can detect when shutter speeds are off, and can visually detect problems with apertures sticking and flash sync. In addition, film advance and shutter cocking mechanisms have a certain "feel" when they are working correctly.

Open the back of the camera and cycle through several exposure combinations, including ones involving flash. You can observe the result.

If you are using AF, check the response against known distances.

Be sure to keep everything clean and dry.

Good luck.

Slixtiesix · Oct 29, 2014

I think it would also make sense to bring a spare body to such an occasion. Besides that, I would simply bring the camera you use the most and on a regular basis. Same should be the case with the spare body. If you do not use your cameras regularly, then dry fire them from time to time at all speeds and apertures to keep them going.

Jeff Kubach · Oct 29, 2014

Make sure your batteries are fresh.

Jeff

snapguy · Oct 29, 2014

good ole days

Back in the good old days of film photography I shot a lot of weddings. I had three cameras with me and two spare bodies in the car trunk. Everything had backups -- cameras, lenses, strobes, strobe cords, film. A little bit of positive paranoia helps a lot. Not a good idea to shoot the whole event on one camera and then find a whoops afterwards. And you need to be aware of how your equipment is working. Juan Fangio was a world-class race car driver. He didn't have a lead foot. His talent was that he knew exactly how far he could push his equipment (the race car) and not a millimeter farther. The lead foot guys would blow up an engine while Juan cruised to the finish line. Shooting a wedding is not fun unless you love sweating blood from your ears. Some of us do!

ic-racer · Oct 29, 2014

Old gear is good for personal projects but otherwise, if others are depending on you, I'd use something as close to new as possible.

benjiboy · Oct 29, 2014

snapguy said:
Back in the good old days of film photography I shot a lot of weddings. I had three cameras with me and two spare bodies in the car trunk. Everything had backups -- cameras, lenses, strobes, strobe cords, film. A little bit of positive paranoia helps a lot. Not a good idea to shoot the whole event on one camera and then find a whoops afterwards. And you need to be aware of how your equipment is working. Juan Fangio was a world-class race car driver. He didn't have a lead foot. His talent was that he knew exactly how far he could push his equipment (the race car) and not a millimeter farther. The lead foot guys would blow up an engine while Juan cruised to the finish line. Shooting a wedding is not fun unless you love sweating blood from your ears. Some of us do!

I too have done many weddings in the past when I needed the money but not for the last 20 years, and I agree wholeheartedly with your advice to the O.P. but the job is so fraught with pitfalls and so many things can make it a disaster I don't understand why people who are not desperate for the money want to put themselves in the firing line, is it because their only contact with professional photography was at weddings, and they don't consider themselves a proper photographer unless they do them and validate their status ?. The first advice I give aspiring wedding shooters is "the first question you should ask yourself is what is my back up plan if it all goes wrong and the bride's father sues me "?

Sirius Glass · Oct 29, 2014

I am confident in my photographic equipment and myself for weddings. That said, I will not photograph weddings et al so that I can enjoy the event.

Hatchetman · Oct 29, 2014

I'd rather take photos than make small talk with strangers and/or distant relatives. Just having a camera in my hand lowers my blood pressure.

BrianShaw · Oct 29, 2014

You ask what to test and how to feel confident -- test all features, ensure they oerate as they should, and use the gear enough to know its reliable. Your F2 was incomletely overhauled or it is worn out enough that it can't be overhauled to be fully reliable. Also, as pointed out - back up equipment!

gone · Oct 29, 2014

There are no guarantees in life, other than death (the tax deal can be gotten around), and that the person in front of you at the grocery store will have lots of coupons and try to pay for it w/ an out of state check. As mentioned, extra batteries and back up cameras w/ film loaded. If it were me, I would do my own processing instead of trusting the lab, especially these days. Keep in mind that memory cards can fail, computers can crash and lose everything, all that. Also, if it were me, no wedding photography. Life is too short for that sort of suffering.

MattKing · Oct 29, 2014

I used to enjoy photographing weddings.

And although I always used to be sure to have backup equipment available, I never had to use it.

It helps to be using your equipment regularly.

pentaxuser · Oct 29, 2014

You can of course buy a brand new Nikon F6

pentaxuser

benjiboy · Oct 29, 2014

pentaxuser said:
You can of course buy a brand new Nikon F6

pentaxuser

Or, if you're doing weddings at least 2. when I did weddings I took at least 3 camera bodies and switched between them so that if one had developed a fault with the shutter or the flash sync. etc.. that wasn't apparent when I was shooting at least I would have some shots from the other 2 so I didn't have all my eggs in one basket. What is frightening about doing weddings and why I gave them up is the law of averages says that if you do enough of them eventually you will have at least one that's a disaster.

trythis · Oct 30, 2014

Rental equipment?

Xmas · Oct 30, 2014

drink beer

Europan · Oct 30, 2014

There was that wedding a friend of mine and I had been invited to and asked to make a short about in 16mm with live sound.

We had everything under control, nice steady and sharp shots made on sticks in the church, on the country, and so on.
In the evening, sound man Giovanni and I had kept up raw stock for five to ten minutes of shoot, we waited for the couple to dance and
everybody join in but, believe it or not, there was no music and no dancing. The last I would have expected happened
total frustration of the groom afterwards when we delivered too little footage, in his eyes. I put so much on movement,
I mean it was about motion pictures, that Id never have thought of such a flop. Sometimes its not your gear.

darkosaric · Oct 30, 2014

I see you mention nikon F2. For this task that you are planing - I would get an nikon F6 and F100 as a spare.

Vilk · Oct 30, 2014

I always assume one of the bodies is bad. As in, "I pretend I know for sure one is bad, I just don't know which." Love F2---still, when I shoot something important, I will have three, sometimes four F2 bodies on me. Then I rotate them all day--never shoot all portraits (or all candids or all formals) with the same body, "repurpose" bodies and motor drives after every roll change; never keep the same lens on the same body all day, if this was the bad one, you won't have any wide shots, or any long ones... You get the drift. Lascia ogni speranza. Believe something went wrong. Minimize impact in advance.

Xmas · Oct 30, 2014

Well apres was just as important.

Normally I had up to five Kchrome25 x36 from a wedding and dropped off into box14 Hemelhempstead, (there was an actual wooden box as well as the box number).

I dropped them off one by one (once a week) as I went up or down M1, just in case the plant caught fire. Only one bride ever asked about timescale for proof 'rushes'.

Hatchetman · Oct 30, 2014

Recently there was one of those "best cameras" ever threads. It was loaded with Nikon references and I was feeling like a heel, not ever owning one of these superior machines. Now it turns out they can't even be relied upon for a couple hours on a Saturday afternoon! What the hell?

benjiboy · Oct 30, 2014

You need to have well maintained professional equipment and at least two of everything because you have to come up with pictures not excuses and you only have one chance.

TheFlyingCamera · Oct 30, 2014

It doesn't matter if you are shooting a brand new camera or a 60-year old Rolleiflex. If you're taking money for photographing an event, bring backup gear. Ideally, bring backup for the backup. End of discussion. And to answer the question about what to do if things go totally haywire and the customer sues? You carry business insurance AND you write a contract with the customer that protects you and limits your liability to a refund of monies received. Do not shoot a single frame without a signed contract that specifies what the customer owes you and what you owe the customer. Otherwise you open yourself up to exaggerated claims on their part if for some reason they're unhappy, with no defense.

benjiboy · Oct 30, 2014

TheFlyingCamera said:
It doesn't matter if you are shooting a brand new camera or a 60-year old Rolleiflex. If you're taking money for photographing an event, bring backup gear. Ideally, bring backup for the backup. End of discussion. And to answer the question about what to do if things go totally haywire and the customer sues? You carry business insurance AND you write a contract with the customer that protects you and limits your liability to a refund of monies received. Do not shoot a single frame without a signed contract that specifies what the customer owes you and what you owe the customer. Otherwise you open yourself up to exaggerated claims on their part if for some reason they're unhappy, with no defense.

I agree entirely Scott, people who take on commercial wedding work are entering a minefield without a mine detector, for example a friend of mine who is a wedding photographer had two weddings booked on a Saturday had a serious car crash when he was on his way to the first one and was seriously ill in hospital, but it didn't prevent both of his customers suing him for not turning up.

MattKing · Oct 30, 2014

If I was doing weddings now, I probably would consider using 35mm equipment, with full frame digital as backup and for where high ISO is a real benefit.

All but one of my weddings was shot on medium format equipment - mostly on the various versions of Vericolour, but a few on Portra.

I would have to find an "elixir of youth" though before I would consider it.

How to be confident in your camera (eg, during weddings)

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