Shoot a wedding with Z1 & T2i?
 

Currently have a Z1 and looking at spending up to £1000 on another camera. The T2i (500D) is currently selling for about £500 here so its quite tempting.

Would using the T2i as the main camera, and the Z1 as the b-cam be a good/workable combo?


Any advice would be great :) thanks

I am thinking the same way too, I will keep tab on what others would say about this combo. To throw in some more food for thought, how about an Olympus Pen combo. I am debating T21 vs. Olympus, my wife is a Canon user, we already have a 50mm, 70-200 and 17-40. I want an Olympus so I won't have to borrow her Canon Lens.

Hey James... I just picked up the T2i as a B cam a few days ago... For the price I don't think it can be beat. Lens's play an important roll in the outcome of the picture (obviously), so it sounds like you would have some extra money to pick up at least one decent lens, plus the stock lens. I just shot a wedding using this camera as the b cam last friday. I mainly used the stock lens since I haven't invested in anything else. When there was light, the picture looked great. Luckily the photog let me use his 85mm/1.2 The picture looked great. I posted a video in the samples section that was a highlight just using footage from the T2i. not trying to plug my thread, but it will give you an example of a DSLR rookie's footage...
It was'nt hard to match the footage to my JVC 200U. My JVC produces a relatively flat picture and makes it easy to adjust in post.

Steve

This would be a bad idea. The t2i image will BLOW AWAY that from the Z1. They will not intercut well.

Hey, cheers for the posts

I'm starting to think now that I might be best off selling the Z1 and buying the t2i plus something else that will work well alongside it (maybe another DSLR?). Is there anything in a similar price bracket to a (second hand) Z1 that would work well with the t2i?

James

60D is about $1,000 USD and it also uses SD cards like the T2i. I would think that'd be your best option if you're planning on buying the t2i and another dslr. If you have the cash, I would say even go with 2 60Ds.

I'm not sure what a second hand Z1 would fetch you, but I remember a guy I know got one for $2,000 used.

If that's the case, I would estimate you have about $3,000 USD to spend, maybe a bit more.

$2,000 for 2 60Ds
$350 Sigma 24-70 2.8 EX macro (used)
$350 Sigma 30 1.4 for the low light times (used)

And the rest on cards and batteries. I've used both those lenses and if you're just starting out, they will get you plenty of mileage with a low investment upfront. They're not the BEST lenses around, but very very usable and affordable. I started out with the sigma 24-70 and it got me thru a few weddings when I could then spend the money I made into upgrading lenses. I've been shooting all DSLR since last may so I'm a bit partial to suggesting them as solutions ;). I would also recommend shooting in the same frame rate as mixing frame rates is doable, but not the most recommend practice. The Z1 does do 30F so you can shoot in 30F mode if you decide to keep your Z1 with the t2i/60D 30P. Not sure how the NLE would treat it though.

I assume you have audio sorted out as well as support gear (tripod/monopod/slider) already?

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the info. Yes, got a manfrotto tripid & a monopod. No slider yet but do plan on getting one eventually. For sound I use a DVR (olympos ds-40) and am about to buy a zoom H2 recorder. I also have an Rode NTG-2 for the Z1.

Is it not a bit of a struggle shooting a wedding with 2 dslrs? The 12minute shooting limit scares me a bit. I think I'd rather have one camera that was able to continuously shoot (during the ceremony & speeches), to be certain that I don't miss something. Also I've been reading that overheating is a major issue?

Will have a look at the 60D. What features does it have that the t2i doesnt?

James :)

The 12 minute limit isn't a big deal, just stagger the recording :). If I only had two cams, I'd roam with one on a monopod and have one fixed on the bride angle. Depending on how you deliver your edits of course. Overheating was an issue with the 7D when I used to shoot in 30P. After the recent firmware updates, I haven't seen the overheating icon in the past 7 weddings I've shot. YMMV

60D has a rotating screen, I believe it has more video function but I shoot with 7D and 5dmk2 so I never looked into the 60D vs t2i much. I have alot invested in CF cards so once I read the 60D was SD, I stopped researching into it.

Slider, I would suggest building your own glidetrack or springing the cash for a cinevate atlas 10 that is supposed to be released within the next 2 weeks. I got to beta test one and it was the best slider / linear tracking system I've ever used :). The price between a fully built glidetrack and the Atlas 10 is not too far apart and it's hard to recommend the glidetrack over the atlas 10 when you get so much more for your money.

Hope this helps!

-Randy

For the camera that you would leave fixed, how would you stagger the recording? Wouldn't it need someone behind the camera to stop&start the recording every 12mins?

Good to hear what you say about the overheating issue. Hopefully this is now a thing of the past then!

I think with the glider its definitely something that I want, but its probably down the list of priorites at the moment- my budget is a bit tight! Will do some research on the atlas 10 though

cheers! :)

James, I shoot by myself with 2 DSLRS for the ceremony. Start/stopping the tripod based camera is really no big deal at all for a Catholic mass. I find it more challenging though for the shorter 15 minute ceremonies where there really aren't any breaks in the service.

How about saving some money, selling your Z1 and getting the new Panasonic AGAF101 which has all the goodness of your Z1 and all the goodness of a DSLR rolled into one? It's released in December. I too was considering selling up my V1 and buying a couple of DSLR's, but with the new generation of cams just around the corner i figured it would be wise to weather the storm and see what Panasonic's competitors can pull out the bag. Or just buy Panasonics AGAF100, i cant wait to get my hands on it - time to raid the piggy bank.

YouTube - Panasonic AG AF-100 01/02 evaluation footage by CREWS.TV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhROy...eature=related