normanhall Loc: Leslie Missouri

Thanks it is my first time shooting sometnhing like this and i am excited about doing it.

14kphotog Loc: Marietta, Ohio

These will work. For 22 years I have used 2 lens, a
24-70mm and a 70-200mm zoom on 2 cameras for weddings. Use what you are used to!

hj Loc: Florida

I'm not as much concerned about the shadows as the blown highlights.

egglady Loc: Knoxville, Tn

maybe you want to rent one ftom a camera shop earlier and try it out, see if it does what you want. just a thought

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

If you have a cropped sensor camera; then there is a real sleeper of a lens out there for you. It's a 50mm "nifty fifty" and it replicates a 75mm lens because of the crop factor of your camera...it's not bad for portraits and it's able to get in "semi" close...reasonably close.

The good news is that the slowest version of this lens is f/1.8 and it's cheap and sharp!

They also have 1.4 that's reasonably cheap and 1.2 if you're rich.

They are fast, plentiful, and won't break the budget.

Couple that with a good external flash; bounce the flash using the "black foamie thing" and you could have your bases covered with very little invested.

Just google "neil van neikerk black foamie thing" and you'll what amazing shots you can get with it.

If you don't like the black foamie thing you can buy a cheap softbox to put your speedlight in and that helps in diffusing the flash for any posed pics.

madcapmagishion

As stated above the Nikor 50mm f/1.8 AF is an excellent choice and fairly inexpensive at $130 new.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005LEN4/ref=s9_simh_gw_p421_d0_g421_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1G9NQE19X23SA43074EG&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

While the 50mm f/1.8 AF-S is only $219
http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-50mm-1-8G-AF-S-NIKKOR/dp/B004Y1AYAC/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1327931144&sr=1-2

Wabbit Loc: Arizona Desert

The 85mm is a good choice for a lens but it's not necessary unless you're going to do some portrait shots where you want to blur the background.

A good flash is much more important and you could do well with your 18-55 lens you already have if you can't afford both.

Wide angle by nature makes protrusions longer. Try taking a picture of someone sitting slouched down on a couch while their legs are straight out in front of them so their legs are aimed at you. Take one picture using 18mm and a second picture at 55mm. You'll notice that at 18mm their legs look extremely long compared to the 55mm pic. This is what happens to peoples faces too, not so obvious but it's still present. Noses get longer. This is the reason lenses from 85mm (35mm film) and up are usually used for portraits.

When I shot film Nikon made a manual focus 105mm and 135mm lenses that were considered portrait lenses. Nikon still make a 135 DC (de-focus control) especially for portraiture.

The newly released 85mm (crop factor = 127.5mm) raises you very close to the 135mm portrait lens.

But as stated by another poster most of your pictures will be a larger angle of view so you'll get much more use from your 18-55.

RG4073 Loc: Kettering, OH

The SB-600 that Jacquie mentions is great. I have one and love it, save for its size and weight and the initial expense of buying it. For most things I now use a little SB-400 and it performs well with a Stofen bouncer. It sits high enough above my camera body to nearly totally eliminate barrel shadow,.

The lens? I would NOT go with a prime lens at a wedding, although an 85 is near perfect for portraits. There's way more to shoot than those and for maximum flexibility and cost effectiveness I think a zoomer is the best option. I use a Nikon 16-85 and it is fantastic. It has just the right amount of length to get the portraits you'll want and it'll zoom out to get the family pics just fine. Note, however, that there is a fair amount distortion at the wide end, so I wouldn't shoot too much down there unless you plan a shot well. Staying in the 35-85 range should work well.

Wes Loc: Dallas

I used a Nikon DX 18-200 VF II on a D70s for all these pictures. I even set it on the green (auto everything) setting. How could you not be relaxed?

www.dallasweddings.biz

Benttree Loc: GA.

I shoot with Canon, but Nikon have similar lenses. On wedding shoot it is ideal to have two cameras and three lenses. One camera with 24-70 and second camera 70-200.
By hanging 70-200 on slink and 24-70 with flash on flash bracket. On your camera back have 85mm to take some soft portraits etc. 24-70mm is your main lens for this images.

rthurlow

I did my 3 boys wedding, fine for me but my wife suffered from my absence. I would go with the 18-55 lens unless you have two bodies, then a longer lens would be nice.

normanhall Loc: Leslie Missouri

Wow!!! this has been some great information i really appreciate all the input.

scrnmker42

Do you diffuse the on camera pop up flash with or without off camera flash, that little sucker seems to cause hot spots and funny eyes on my dog. Nikon D5100

Dave

PHOTOBILL71 Loc: Corinth, Ms

WHY DON'T YOU LOOK INTO RENTING A LENS....TRY LENS RENTAL OUT OF MEMPHIS, TN. THEY WILL RECOMMEND AND SHIP FED EX FOR OVER NIGHT DELIVERY.

Wabbit Loc: Arizona Desert

Pets get their version of red eye easier than people. If you use bounce it won't happen.

Your other option is a flash bracket, you need to move the flash away from the lens, it's the angle of the field of view in conjunction with the bright light that's causing the red eye.

This is why professionals use flash brackets.