I agree with most of what Ken has to say here. Syncing the time on the
cameras if a very good suggestion. In particular, since you're going to
be shooting lots of flash, raising the ISO to about 400 will give you
much longer flash range and/or battery life. I suspect that the E-30's
noise level at ISO 400 is probably little different than at 100. Make
use of the camera's abilities to preserve the flash.
Where we differ is in "exposing to the right" and possibly on the degree
of chimping. Because I only shoot raw I expose to the right as a matter
of course although it's more difficult to do when shooting flash at an
event rather than in the studio. I chimp to determine exposure because
I only shoot in manual mode on both camera and flash. It shouldn't
require a great deal of chimping for exposure if you're in a location
where the interior lighting is relatively constant. If you pick a fixed
distance (like 10 feet) for all your flash shooting you'll be able to
get excellent flash exposure control. Just remember to zoom with the
lens and not with your feet.
Depending on the size of the venue I might consider putting two of your
three flashes on light stands and using them as bounced, background fill
light. That, along with dragging the shutter, (from maybe 1/4 to 1/30)
will help fill the darkness in the background. But it will also eat
flash batteries which you'll have to change from time to time. Normally
I use a couple of studio lights for that which are powered from the mains.
Chuck Norcutt
Ken Norton wrote:
> John,
>
> Use one camera as your primary (E-30 with 14-54) and the second with the
> 50-200 used only as a backup and for those rare shots you need the 50-200.
> Keep ALL of the rest of the lenses and cameras in your spares bag. Don't
> bother trying to carry anything more.
>
> The E-30 with 14-54 covers 95% of every shot you can ever imagine, the
> 50-200 covers the rest. Keeps the E-500 slung over your right shoulder
> backwards so when you reach for it with your right hand it automatically
> lands in your hand. The E-30 with 14-54 is your money setup. Don't attempt
> anything more because equipment choices become distractions. Use same
> settings on both cameras and lock them in with "custom resets".
>
> If you haven't done so yet, make sure both cameras are set to the same
> time!!!
>
> Your flash setup sounds fine. As a general rule, I'm at either ISO 200 or
> 400 when shooting flash and ISO 800 when ambient. The rules of exposure
> haven't changed in the digital world, so whatever you do, DO NOT "expose to
> the right", but make sure your midtones are exactly where you want them to
> be. You can always boost exposure in post, but you can never recover a blown
> highlight. Unlike Fuji 160s or Kodak Portra, you can't blast the flash at +1
> and get away with it. Oh, have two "custom resets", one for ambient--no
> flash, and the other with flash. About the only difference between the two
> is white-balance and ISO, but may include a totally different exposure.
>
> ALL critical shots get exposed on two cameras. Period. Memory cards do
> fail. It's rare, but the one wedding you fail to duplicate the one most
> important formal shot is the one where you get a corrupted file.
>
> Chimping is evil. Chimp only to occasionally check that your exposures are
> reasonable, otherwise, just overshoot and don't worry about it. I am
> appalled at what I've been seeing this year with other wedding
> photographers--they were chimping and literally missing shots while
> chimping. However, when shooting that one big-time formal, it is OK to
> chimp to make sure eyes aren't blinked. If you got the shot in the can,
> there is no reason to keep wasting everybody's time.
>
> AG
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