Low light (wedding party) what lens to use

I have a K10d camera and will be at a wedding reception for our friends daughter.
It would be nice if I can take some fairly decent shots of the evening "bash".

I have these lenses 16-45 f4, 18-55 kit lens (mark I) and the 55-300 lenses available.

Should I look at a f2.8 lens, and what would people recommend

Thanks

The last time I was taking pictures at a wedding, I found the most useful bit of equipment was a decent flashgun which could be tilted (I also used a cheapo omni-bounce diffuser). I used (pretty much exclusively) a 16-50mm zoom. It was a f2.8 lens but I didn't use it much at f2.8... That said, I am certain there will be people on the forum who have done loads more weddings than I have. I used the Pentax 540 flash and found it was fine although if you are going to use a flashgun for a lot of shots it's worth taking spare batteries.

Regards

Mat

Have you got an external flash? I'd be tempted to grab a cheap 'un (a manual one) from ebay and have a practice at bounce flash. This one was taken that way:

I used a 50mm f2 lens, but I think it was set at at least f5.6. The 16-45mm would be fine I think.

Hi Pentaxophile,
Flash is not allowed at the venue.

That's unfortunate! In that case, a 50mm f1.7 would be a good bet.

I have the "A" version of this lens, so will have a try with that.

Thanks for the advice, I may get a flash and play just in case.

if no flash try a video light and a fast fifty.

If you've got cash, I'd recommend the Sigma 30mm f1.4 in a second. I take it out with me to all sorts of night time events and dances. I've gotten tons of incredible shots of people and things which just seem impossible. In fact it's on my camera more often than my DA* 50-135mm... I'm often finding I'm shooting at iso800/1600 with the Sigma when I'm out at night which I don't like as I've got a K10d, but with LR3 beta 2 the results are actually alright. Furthermore, it's probably the best focal length for people shots as well, and it's much cheaper than the 31mm FA limited (which is it's only real competition).

I would post some shots, but all the stunning ones are of my friends and I don't think it's really that fair to post shots of others on the interweb without their consent.

Assuming that you're going as a guest (rather than the official photographer) this will be fine. Exactly the lens I'd have on if I was going to such an event. Well, that or my M 28mm f3.5.

Unless there's a football match planned for the reception I doubt that you'll need a flash - you don't need that high a shutter speed providing people will keep still for a fraction of a second!

Thanks for all the suggestions, if I manage to get any reasonable shots will post ASAP after the event.

Decided to post a shot. This is shot with the Siggy 30mm f1.4 with no flash in a very dark room with very bad lighting. I've cropped the face so they don't get annoyed

I was at a friends wedding on Saturday with my K10D and 50mm f/1.4.

Without flash you'll find f/1.4 at ISO1600 is probably too slow, I wouldn't consider anything slower.

I found ISO1600 & f1.4 good enough with SR on, or if I was braced up against something.

if you gonna use those then try get yourself a bounce/swivel flash then point it upwards or at an angle and use 2nd curtain sync, this will improve the picture qaulity without having tooo much noise in the end picture.

the ISO recommended for that might be along the lines of 400-800 depends on your camera.

Hope you find this a bit helpful ???