"Can I borrow your camera?"
Discussion
NinjaPower said:
A friend just phoned me up this evening and asked if he could borrow my 'big camera' tomorrow to photograph his sisters wedding...
What could possibly go wrong??
Best to tell him that it's away being cleaned; it avoids a) risk of breakage b) risk of you acquiring guilt by association when his photos turn out to be utterly sWhat could possibly go wrong??
te.Well, it's only a D7000, but when you add the prices of the other lenses in the bag plus the Nikon SB flash etc then it's probably the best part of £3000 if you had to buy it all again new (I bought it all new).
But despite the value being a slight concern (dropped/lost/pinched from the hotel etc) that's not really my main issue at all.
It's the photographing of the wedding that has me worried on my friends behalf! It is my understanding that there is no official photographer booked and hence the borrowing of my camera.
It's a rather fancy wedding in a Scottish castle and it never ceases to amaze me when people spend so much money on their wedding, but then recoil in horror when given the price of a professional photographer. They are worth every single penny IMO.
Sadly, all I can do now is await the inevitable phone call requesting me to put the photos through Lightroom to 'make them good'...
But despite the value being a slight concern (dropped/lost/pinched from the hotel etc) that's not really my main issue at all.
It's the photographing of the wedding that has me worried on my friends behalf! It is my understanding that there is no official photographer booked and hence the borrowing of my camera.
It's a rather fancy wedding in a Scottish castle and it never ceases to amaze me when people spend so much money on their wedding, but then recoil in horror when given the price of a professional photographer. They are worth every single penny IMO.
Sadly, all I can do now is await the inevitable phone call requesting me to put the photos through Lightroom to 'make them good'...
NinjaPower said:
Sadly, all I can do now is await the inevitable phone call requesting me to put the photos through Lightroom to 'make them good'...
Nooooooo!! 
Send him a link to Adobe!
PS - Actually no! Post them up on Pistonheads so we can ALL *improve* them in usual PH fashion!!!
Edited by K12beano on Monday 16th February 08:50
NinjaPower said:
Well, it's only a D7000, but when you add the prices of the other lenses in the bag plus the Nikon SB flash etc then it's probably the best part of £3000 if you had to buy it all again new (I bought it all new).
But despite the value being a slight concern (dropped/lost/pinched from the hotel etc) that's not really my main issue at all.
It's the photographing of the wedding that has me worried on my friends behalf! It is my understanding that there is no official photographer booked and hence the borrowing of my camera.
It's a rather fancy wedding in a Scottish castle and it never ceases to amaze me when people spend so much money on their wedding, but then recoil in horror when given the price of a professional photographer. They are worth every single penny IMO.
Sadly, all I can do now is await the inevitable phone call requesting me to put the photos through Lightroom to 'make them good'...
I've heard of people being asked to photograph a wedding 'because they have a big camera', but this guy dosn't even have one!But despite the value being a slight concern (dropped/lost/pinched from the hotel etc) that's not really my main issue at all.
It's the photographing of the wedding that has me worried on my friends behalf! It is my understanding that there is no official photographer booked and hence the borrowing of my camera.
It's a rather fancy wedding in a Scottish castle and it never ceases to amaze me when people spend so much money on their wedding, but then recoil in horror when given the price of a professional photographer. They are worth every single penny IMO.
Sadly, all I can do now is await the inevitable phone call requesting me to put the photos through Lightroom to 'make them good'...
I think you should agree - on condition that whatever happens afterwards is nothing to do with you! Show him the collection and ask him which bits he wants; he may just take the kit lens.
You never know, it might work.
NinjaPower said:
It's the photographing of the wedding that has me worried on my friends behalf! It is my understanding that there is no official photographer booked and hence the borrowing of my camera.
It's a rather fancy wedding in a Scottish castle and it never ceases to amaze me when people spend so much money on their wedding, but then recoil in horror when given the price of a professional photographer. They are worth every single penny IMO.
This is one where I'm in a few different minds. I think what it comes down to is the bride and groom not wanting eitherIt's a rather fancy wedding in a Scottish castle and it never ceases to amaze me when people spend so much money on their wedding, but then recoil in horror when given the price of a professional photographer. They are worth every single penny IMO.
a) Many photos
b) Staged pro shots
c) To pay money if they can have it done for cheap
Having said that, we dont know if the bride and groom actually want the guy to borrow someone's camera and take photos for them. He could be doing it off his own back because it's his sister. He wont the the only one there with a camera by a long way.
I think the view of 'you should have a photographer, you should, and you should pay £x'000' doesnt cut it anymore. Hate to say it, but at our wedding, the photographer we used got some ace shots, but half the album we're putting together is shots from others. We knew that we'd get some good ones from both the photographer and the inlaws as well as the more reportage stuff we hoped for.
I see on a few photography blogs I read that a lot of wedding photographers grumble because they're not getting bookings. Posting things like 'you think I'm expensive, wait til you hire an amateur' Knocking the competition marks your card as bitter and unadjusted. Mostly, for them anyway, they're not producing work of a quality or style that would net them the £1500 they're asking for anyway, instead giving out works of badly edited fiction that went out of style with AMEX and Zippos.
I have similar kit. I think I'd just charge up the battery, load up both SD card slots with decent sized cards, set them to replicate and let him loose with a 50mm and 28-300'ish. If it breaks then it's insured, I'm sure a mate would take every precaution anyway.
I wouldn't really disagree with anything you said Andy.
I personally would always recommend a Pro for a wedding because I've witnessed previous fallout by couples asking a friend to do the photography simply because they didn't want to pay a grand or whatever for a professional.
That said I've seen a huge range of quality difference between professionals.
A guy did a friends wedding up here in the Lakes a year ago and he had a Canon 5D and 7D and the usual combo of an 80-200 and a 28-80 type lens... And the photos were shocking in my opinion. He had been a Pro for years and charged about £1000 a day. The shots on his website looked fairly decent as well. Huge disappointment.
Another friend hired someonenfor their wedding and I st you not, the photos were absolute works of art. Every single one of them Bride photos looked like something out of Vogue magazine.
I personally would always recommend a Pro for a wedding because I've witnessed previous fallout by couples asking a friend to do the photography simply because they didn't want to pay a grand or whatever for a professional.
That said I've seen a huge range of quality difference between professionals.
A guy did a friends wedding up here in the Lakes a year ago and he had a Canon 5D and 7D and the usual combo of an 80-200 and a 28-80 type lens... And the photos were shocking in my opinion. He had been a Pro for years and charged about £1000 a day. The shots on his website looked fairly decent as well. Huge disappointment.
Another friend hired someonenfor their wedding and I s
t you not, the photos were absolute works of art. Every single one of them Bride photos looked like something out of Vogue magazine.stuttgartmetal said:
great camera the 20D, my first DSLR, still my back up camera.He should buy one of those and use it.
stuttgartmetal said:
great camera the 20D, my first DSLR, still my back up camera.He should buy one of those and use it.
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