Fuji X Wedding Photography Chat

[ryan]

I've been shooting weddings w/ Fuji since the latter part of last season. Here's my current setup:

 

2 X-t1's - most use one, one backup

1 X100T - just for the hell of it

1 Ricoh GR - love it for dancing and party pics. hi-contrast b&w and positive film in camera presets have their own mood.

18mm f/2 - this guy is my Fuji party dancing lens

23mm f/1.4 bread and butter

35mm f/1.4  sits in the bag mostly, couple portraits

56mm f/1.2 - for making pretty portraits

18-55mm f/2.8-4 -very underrated

50-140mm f/2.8 - ceremony lens for long reach

 

I wish fuji had HSS and off camera TTL, but can't have everything I suppose.

 

Flashes:

On camera - Nissin i40

Off camera: 2-3 yongnuo 560IV triggered by RF605 triggers and power levels managed by a 560-TX

 

Here's a few recent weddings:

 

http://www.ryandavisphotography.com/Featured-Weddings/Jen-Dustin-Blog

 

http://www.ryandavisphotography.com/Featured-Weddings/Karen-Ryan-Blog

[web]

Hello-

 

I've been using the X-Series only for almost 3 years. I'm a believer in "less is more." This is my current lineup, which has served me well.

 

Fujifilm X-Pro1 + 56mm f1.2

Fujifilm X-Pro1 + 14mm f2.8 OR 23mm f1.4 (depending on venue, etc)

Fujifilm X100s 

TCL-X100 33mm converter.

 

Had the EF-42 flash and sold it after using it once.

 

90mm f2 lens on order. It will not be in heavy rotation, but very nice when needed for it's reach.

 

This is an article I wrote about my photographic history and why I switched to Fujifilm X-Series for weddings:

http://www.bradleyhanson.com/blog/2015/5/26/my-25-years-with-the-fujifilm-x-series-cameras-and-lenses

 

Best,

Bradley

 

Bradley that was a good read, I like your approach to weddings and imagine that if I were a wedding photographer I would like to do the same.

[Rkphoto]

My wedding gear

23 mm

14 mm

56 mm

Quantum t-2 flash

 

Mostly I use the 23.

Will probably get the 90

[Rkphoto]

I forgot I use an xt-1

[Adam Woodhouse]

Been shooting weddings since spring of 2007.

 

Started with Nikon crop sensor (D80, D200, D300).  Then upgraded to full frame with D700 and D3s.  Then needed to start adding video as an option to my weddings so replaced D700 with D610 when it came out (as the video out of D3s was quite poor, but worked in a pinch).

 

Always fustrated with weight and size of gear with my weddings as they typically are 8-11hrs.

 

Jan 2015 I sold off my Nikon D3s and Nikon ultra wide lens and Nikon general use 28-300mm and one of my SB flashes.  Then purchased X-T1 and ultra wide lens and general use 28-200mm (approx) and Nissin i40.  Have since purchased the 35/1.4 Fuji as it was on sale at a good price this spring.

 

I still have my D610 and Nikon 50/1.4 and Nikon 70-200/2.8.  I have an off-brand of manual wireless triggers for my flashes which have worked excellent the past 5 yrs I've had them.

 

I still have the odd wedding where they have added into their package me shooting video.  They are misc video snippets throughout the day and dedicated tipod setup with D610 to do all the speeches (with external mic).  I'm a one man show and can do it fine they just understand I'm not doing video of the entire ceremony, just snippets as I work.  The results have been many happy clients as I blend the stills and video snippets into an HD slideshow (using ProShow Producer) animated to their music selection (they provide the mp3's).  But with X-T1 video with no autofocus (at least thus far) on the X-T1 I've had to keep my D610.  I'm getting better with the video on my X-T1 (learning its quirks) but no being able to autofocus while shooting video is a bitch so I'm hoping FW 4.0 helps a bit.  But I would love the ability to use single point autofocus in video just like in stills (which I do on the D610 which makes it conveninet to shoot video with autofocus  .... I press the AF-L button and the camera refocuses on the single point ... while shooting video ... which is great).

 

In time I hope to unload the rest of my Nikon to continue to lighten my bag.  I expect it won't be till X-T2 is released.

 

Bag consists of :

 

Fuji X-T1

Fuji 10-24/F4

Fuji 35/1.4

Fuji 18-135/variable

 

Nikon D610

Nikon 50/1.4

Nikon 70-200/2.8

 

Nikon SB900

Nissin i40

Younguo 560-III

 

Off-brand manual wireless triggers (2 receivers)

Small portable light stand attached to the side of my LowePro roller bag (awesome bag to carry all my stuff but the thing empty weights 10lbs!!).  It is a bit too heavy and I hope to decrease its size to smaller model once 100% Fuji.

 

I have since it came out and it was endorsed by David Beckstead .... used the Spyder camera holster.  I'm on my 2nd one as I wore the first one out!

 

I think that is it ....

[FSP]

Been admiring / desiring the Fuji system for a while now. Finally jumped in with the X-T1 (I did own the X100 and 's' for a time but never shot pro with them). I've been a Nikon shooter for most of my professional wedding shooting. I currently shoot with a Nikon D750 and D610.

 

How did it go at my last wedding with the X-T1? It went so well that at some point after the ceremony I just put down the D750 and went mostly Fuji (I shot a couple groups with the wider 35mm on the Nikon and some dance photos later on as well).

 

Gear used:

X-T1 (1)

35mm F1.4

56mm F1.4

 

For flash I just used my Nikon SB-910's... not optimal but hey I was just getting my feet wet with Fuji  I've since added the Nissin i40 for now.  Another wedding in a couple weeks so we'll see how it goes.

 

If you want to take a look at the results I put up some thoughts and photos on my blog.

[abjurina]

Nice photography! I think that I had a very similar experience. I rented an x100s to use as a second body and wider angle lens with my Canon 6D. I figured it would be a nice way to try out the fuji camera. I was completely blown away with what I got out of it. I couldn't believe the low-light ability of such a camera. After just 3 days, I ordered an X-E2 with the 18-55mm lens. I did some non-wedding work and was just floored at what I was getting. I never touched my Canon camera again. I shot the X-E2 for 3 months on smaller jobs and at that point had acquired the 35mm and the 56mm lens. By the next wedding I rented the X-T1 (for the better autofocus) and loved it so much that I BOUGHT the rental camera that I had, lol. I've shot Fuji ever since. The autofocus has not failed me on any critical moment in any lighting situation that my Canon wouldn't have struggled with. Looking forward to the FW 4.0 update to get even more goodness out of it. I can't think that I'd ever want to shoot another job with anything other than Fuji X cameras. They are that good.

[bradleyhanson]

A conversation between myself and Vincent Opoku, Fujifilm X-Photographer, is live on X100c.com about using the X100s for weddings: http://x100c.com/blog/14/5/2015/fujifilm-x100s-for-wedding-photography-review

[Marc G.]

I got my 90mm last week and used it for a wedding last weekend. Well, I'll let numbers speak for themselves.

 

Out of 880 images, 470 were shot with the 90. I had enough working space to use it that much and the images speak for themselves. The look of extremely sharp in focus and smooooooth out of focus just goes well with emotional story telling. AF worked pretty darn good, even at low light. Everybody who loves their 50-140 or 55-200 should probably have a little look at the 90. Might be worth it.

[bradleyhanson]

Here is a wedding I photographed in February when there was still snow on the ground. Extremely low light reception that got dark at 430pm means I relied on the X-Series wonderful quality at ISO6400. It was just published by Minnesota Bride Magazine and was the first wedding ever at the groundbreaking Heyday restaurant in Minneapolis. All images from X-Pro1 (14/23/56) and X100S with the TCL-X100 converter. http://www.bradleyhanson.com/blog/2015/7/14/the-first-wedding-ever-at-heyday-in-minneapolis-featured-in-minnesota-bride-magazine

[Scott Grant]

I try to avoid flash at all. If the photographer is not careful, the flash destroys the whole mood (talking about the dance/party stuff).

 

Flash during the ceremony, imo, is just way too annoying to waste a thought about it.

Or it can create 'the mood' if done well.  

 

My last wedding was shot with:

X-T1

12mm Rokinon

16mm 1.4

23mm f1.4

35mm f1.4

56mm f1.2

50-140mm

10-24mm

X100T (hard to beat for daytime flash setups)

 

[her72]

And what about post processing on a wedding?  How much jpeg's photos do you guys use?, or in a wedding is just for RAW with post processing?

 

It's because I have seen good quality in jpgs files, almost ready to deliver to a client but in the real world, it is safe to shoot fuji jpg's instead  of raw? 

[ryan]

 

And what about post processing on a wedding?  How much jpeg's photos do you guys use?, or in a wedding is just for RAW with post processing?

 

It's because I have seen good quality in jpgs files, almost ready to deliver to a client but in the real world, it is safe to shoot fuji jpg's instead  of raw? 

 

 

It can be done. You need to be a bit more diligent on your exposures of course. Here's a few weddings where I used all Fuji jpegs, mostly w/ Classic Chrome simulation and Velvia for the dance party. 

 

http://www.ryandavisphotography.com/Featured-Weddings/Karen-Ryan-Blog/

http://ryandavisphotography.blogspot.com/2015/05/margaret-chris-rockford-wedding.html

[abjurina]

I would argue that just because it can be done, doesn't mean it's worth the risk. Fuji Jpegs are wonderful, but when it comes to someone's critical life moments, I'm shooting RAW+JPEG at the very least. Film and RAW images are much more generous with dynamic range and white balance than jpegs.

[ryan]

I would argue that just because it can be done, doesn't mean it's worth the risk. Fuji Jpegs are wonderful, but when it comes to someone's critical life moments, I'm shooting RAW+JPEG at the very least. Film and RAW images are much more generous with dynamic range and white balance than jpegs.

No argument needed. Never said I shot only JPEG. Memory is cheap so I always shoot RAW + Jpeg. But if I have it dialed in from there it can much faster to use the jpegs for processing and pull in the raw if I need them. Dynamic range is great on the raws, but in actual practice I use the dynamic range adjustments as an exception, not a rule....meaning the majority of images don't need a ton of it. And those jpegs have a lot of range too. 

[her72]

It can be done. You need to be a bit more diligent on your exposures of course. Here's a few weddings where I used all Fuji jpegs, mostly w/ Classic Chrome simulation and Velvia for the dance party. 

 

http://www.ryandavisphotography.com/Featured-Weddings/Karen-Ryan-Blog/

http://ryandavisphotography.blogspot.com/2015/05/margaret-chris-rockford-wedding.html

 

Great jobs Ryan!,  definitly something I like from fuji jpegs is that they are almost ready to deliver to a client!, and definitly to use jpegs must have to domain exposure

[val]

I shot my sister's wedding with the 18-55mm and 55-200mm. I used the 55-200mm 90% of the time. This was over a year ago now.

 

If I could shoot it again, I would use the 16-50mm and 50-140mm F2.8 instead. The photos turned out fine, I just would of liked a bit more separation in some shots!

 

I knew she was having a daytime wedding so I had plenty of light for the Fujifilm. I used M43 for the reception since the X-E2 couldn't keep up with the dim lighting and moving people.

[Marc G.]

I wouldn't ever want to shoot jpg only. It's RAW only 95% of the time. But I'm one of the rare breed of people who can't understand the fuss about Fuji jpgs. Probably because I never shot and will never shoot jpgs... I'm just used to the RAW conversion.

[Antony]

I wouldn't ever want to shoot jpg only. It's RAW only 95% of the time. But I'm one of the rare breed of people who can't understand the fuss about Fuji jpgs. Probably because I never shot and will never shoot jpgs... I'm just used to the RAW conversion.

Hi Marc, the advantage of shooting RAW + Large JPEG is that you get a MUCH larger preview image to check for focus accuracy.

[Marc G.]

That's the real advantage of the Fuji focusing, at least in my opinion. I don't need to check for focus accuracy, if I know what I do in the first place. I choose the size and position of the AF point according to the subject I shoot. And if the AF misses, sometimes in low light, it's either in focus and appears sharp in the viewfinder, or it is WAAAAY out of focus and totally blurred but then I know, before I take the shot, whether it is in focus or not.

 

I understand that it's easier to check focus with a large jpg but I rather save space and buffer for RAW only. Thanks for the insight, though. I didn't know that before reading your post.

[ryan]

I wouldn't ever want to shoot jpg only. It's RAW only 95% of the time. But I'm one of the rare breed of people who can't understand the fuss about Fuji jpgs. Probably because I never shot and will never shoot jpgs... I'm just used to the RAW conversion.

 

Well hey, that's why there's different options. Just because you do it one way doesn't mean another way isn't viable. To each his own.

 

That said, I rarely shoot JPEG only, haha. Just for personal stuff.

[Marc G.]

Well hey, that's why there's different options. Just because you do it one way doesn't mean another way isn't viable. To each his own.

 

That said, I rarely shoot JPEG only, haha. Just for personal stuff.

Exactly the way I do it, too. For happy snappin', JPG only is fine. For anything serious it's RAW.

 

That said, I heard Kevin Mullins shoots jpg only...

[Marc G.]

Yeah dear, I am a Port Macquarie Photographer and have captured so many weddings with my Fuji gear. It is just amazing. Now I have been thinking to use a new Fuji gear. Do you have any recommendations which one to buy?

Shouldn't we know the gear you're using in the first place, so we can actually recommend something you don't already own?

[Antony]

Yeah dear, I am a Port Macquarie Photographer and have captured so many weddings with my Fuji gear. It is just amazing. Now I have been thinking to use a new Fuji gear. Do you have any recommendations which one to buy?

This post appears to be from an SEO Service. Jeremy uses Nikon gear.

[Jeremy2444]

Sorry for that guys it won't happen again. Incidentally my X100s is my favourite camera and my go to camera for any personal projects.