Thank you Gary. That means a lot coming from you as shooting stage is your livelihood.

Thanks Alan ! The 17-50 did a sterling job on the night too.

I actually like the last shot best - even though there are less 'Northern Lights' in that one !

Definitely need to shoot in landscape to appreciate the 'lights'.

I just love those Grebe shots - those chicks are amazing.

Talk about an Ugly 'Ol Coot !

Busy busy month between running my company (just entering high season), birding, home being decorated from top to bottom and the odd paid shoot. This is from one of the later, hope you like them - they are an excellent band !

#1



#2



#3



#4



#5



#6



#7



#8



#9



#10

As I've seen suggested elsewhere from time to time ... all of your guests are going to bring cameras (that's a cert) so ask all of them if they can send you 10 of the best shots from the wedding (hand out a leaflet with your email details on it) , for sure you'll get a bagful of shots that will capture the fun and flavour of the wedding.

Excellent BM ! I've often wondered if directing the retailer to a thread like this would have a beneficial effect.

When discussing conspicuousness you really have to take the whole package into consideration, my K5 with the 15 Ltd on it (gorgeous small lens - extreme left of this shot) or K5 with Tamron 17-50 will hardly make any difference whatsoever because it's the K5 that dominates not the lens (unless it's that Bigma) !

To be brutally honest : it's your wedding and if your brother is taking the shots you want something that works for him, and not your personal preference. Hopefully you'll only have the one wedding and I'm sure your brother would be thrilled to use a K5/17-50 kit.

You can see the 17-50 is hardly huge (sitting to the right of the 77 Ltd here), or heavy, on a recent paid gig I had it tucked away neatly in a pocket on my togs' vest.

My honest opinion is that you should give zooms another thought, which lens is actually the best and easiest for your brother to use. Maybe ask him too ! I prefer primes (as you can see from my sig.), but for paid gigs it's zooms every day of the week and primes for specialist work (low DoF etc.).

Anyway hope it turns out to be a fantastic day whichever way you go lens-wise 1

Agree with everything John said ..... except the bit about hiring another K7 being ideal. I had a K7 before buying the K5 and when switching to the K5 it was almost as if I was still using the K7 in terms of functionality, totally intuitive. The menu is a little different but you can learn that in an hour or less. I'd hire a K5 as your main camera and use the K7 as your back-up / 2nd camera.

17-50 on the K5, 70-200 on the K7 and your other two lenses in your pockets.

Why a prime ? Most non-DSLR users are well versed in zooms (and primes confuse them) and space is often at a premium at a wedding with lots of people around.

IMO the Tamron 17-50/2.8 is the perfect lens for your brother to use, he can learn the zoom function in less than one minute and it introduces a convenience factor that a prime just doesn't possess. This is why 99% of wedding togs use zooms for most of their work !

The lens is really sharp and a great lens as many here can testify, it can be bought from Amazon : Price: £288.64 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery.

The f2.8 over the 35/2.4 is nothing. The versatility is priceless.