Advice for Red Carpet/Event Photographer Wannabe

[Biomech]

I shoot with Sonys I also have a Canon.
All my awards and wins have been with my Sony kit. I do want to get a MKIII though, but it would be unfair to buy one then slate all the Sonys simply because it's at a totally different point in the scale. Like comparing a Skoda Octavia to a DB9 or comparing Alien to Aliens!

I chose Sony because the price to value to kit variability was excellent. You can get a whole host of lenses for Sonys, Sony's own, Minolta, Ziess, Sigma, Tamron, the price is good and they do a fantastic job.

My biggest niggle is the bastard custom hotshoe, it means I have to stack up adapters to use my elinchrom Skyports :P

Canon might have 20,000 more lenses than that for a Sony, Nikon might have 600 more flashes. But You're probably going to end up using about 3 lenses. So the fact that Canon make an L lens at 400-500mm f/0.1 for £50k doesn't mean anything at all. Of my ... 9 lenses, I Generally use 3

At the end of the day, don't let people slate your kit if it does what you need it to.

[TheSaintlyOne]

Thanks everyone.

I'm gonna look at the NIKON D7000 today alongside the A77, of course there is rumours of a competitively priced A99 pro level camera coming out at the end of the year which throws a whole new concept on the pile.
Unfortunately for me a lack of SD card slot on the canon 7D is just too big an issue

I think your right Jamie from what I have researched most of the red carpet pros only favour at most 2 or 3 lenses for 99% of their shots. And there are a selection of flashes available that will cover my needs, I don't really plan on doing much studio work, nor need big snooper lenses for upskirt work not my kind of thing.

One question that i am struggling with is what do I do with my images once I get them for example I understand that i need to be getting photos off within a couple of hours Im currently uploading images to PR Photos allbeit a day later, whom else should I be looking at to maximise sales ie do i stick with one agency or upload to multiple ones.

[Jim Bryant]

You want to compete in this market? You need to be uploading the images, complete with mega data tags and captions, not hours or a day later, but minutes after the event is over. Why? Competition! You can bet your butt most of the pros are sitting in their cars, office, Starbucks or where ever, downloading the images their laptops and getting ready to send to their customers. Speed is important. The news/magazine business picture editors want the photos five minutes ago. They don't care if your photos are better than those submitted an hour earlier. That's why magazines/newspapers worldwide have deadlines.

There's been many a time, I've sat on the floor or in my car after the assignment with my laptop and edited, filled out caption and mega data tag fields and sent off by Wifi SPEED is the name of the game. Within minutes after the event is over, staff or freelance photographers working for the various news services: Associated Press, United Press International, Getty Images, European Press Photo Agency, Reuters, Agency France Press, and newspaper photographers are filing their images. Within 10 minutes these photos can be picked up by newspapers and magazines world wide.

If you want to play in the same box with the big dogs, you'll need to get a laptop, editing program, such as PhotoMechanics, card/SD reader, and have internet service to send images off from on location.

Taking pictures is one thing, but knowing what to do with them afterwards and having the resources is critical. Welcome to my world!

[TheSaintlyOne]

Thanks Jim

I really appreciate your reply, I'm gonna start taking my Netbook to future events and aim to get my images straight off after each event before boarding the train home.

Would you recommend that I submit my images to just one site such as PRphotos.com with whom I have already have started submitting images too or select a number of different sites. to get maximum opportunity. and are there any agencies you particularly recommend.


Best Wishes and Many Thanks

Duncan

[Jim Bryant]

Thanks Jim

I really appreciate your reply, I'm gonna start taking my Netbook to future events and aim to get my images straight off after each event before boarding the train home.

Would you recommend that I submit my images to just one site such as PRphotos.com with whom I have already have started submitting images too or select a number of different sites. to get maximum opportunity. and are there any agencies you particularly recommend.


Best Wishes and Many Thanks

Duncan

Duncan, I'd submit them to PRPhotos as well to a Photoshelter gallery. If there's any wifi on the train, you can work everything up or do it while waiting to catch the train.I have one of those portable Verizon 4G Mifi's. Set Your Location

You might want to try Getty images or corbiss, maybe UPI.com, just start, contacting the wire services on the list I sent.

[doctorjames]

Actually, not.. quite.

Try and get TTL PocketWizards for Sony. They exist for both Canon and Nikon, though. Try and get umbrella swivels for lightstands that take the Sony Minolta hotshoe, rather than a standard ISO hotshoe.

Try and find a native Sony 70-200 f/4 telephoto lens for $600. Or a 28-300 full frame superzoom (aka "the paparazzi lens"). The Sony ZA 24-70/2.8 pro lens is $2000 on B&H. The NIkon one is $100 less. Canon gives you a choice between a $1600 and $2200 versions. Canon, faster-than-f/2.8-prime-wise, offers you a choice between a 28/1.8, 35/2, 35/1.4 50/1.8, 50/1.4, 50/1.2, 85/1.8, 85/1.2, 100/2, 135/2.8, and 135/2. All of which are full-frame lenses.

Sony has 35/1.8 (crop), 35/1.4 50/1.8, 50/1.4, 85/1.4, 135/1.8. And most of those are Zeiss ZA lenses that will cost you $1000-$2000. On the Canon side, the slower lenses are all the $350-$500 price range.

And that's just the glass you might need. We aren't even talking about the serious exotics like tilt-shifts, macros, and fisheyes.

Prices and availability are not the same between the brands. With Sony, in the end, you're liable to be shelling out a bit more for Zeiss glass, or having to go to 3rd party lenses. Canon and Nikon both have more lenses in the native mount, and every 3rd party lens you can find for Sony/Minolta can also be found in Canon EOS or Nikon F mounts, and probably more readily and possibly for a little bit less. Renting Sony glass is a lot harder than renting Canon or Nikon. That's the way the economics of numbers works. The most popular brands get the lion's share of 3rd party support, because the numbers mean more profit.

That doesn't mean Sony's a worse system. But it is a smaller one with less support. You are limiting yourself. You also have no way to upgrade to a new full frame body since the A800 and A900 have been discontinued and not refreshed. There is no "pro" tier of camera bodies with integrated grips and weathersealing. Nikon and Canon both just refreshed their full-frame bodies and their pro full-frames (D4, 1DX). An old, used Canon 5D (mark I) can now be found on the used market for $1000--half the going rate on a used A800. A 5Dii is going for $1500-$1700 used/refurbished, and can be had for around $1500 on the CLP (well, today anyway).

Don't kid yourself into thinking that the Sony system has identical advantages as the Big Two. The image quality is good. The feature set is good. The camera body prices are good. But the system overall is more limited. And as a pro, you may hit those limits harder than a hobbyist shooter. Support is the best reason to go with the Big Two. It's not the only one.

Wow, what a load of bull.

Lets start at the top.

Why would he need TTL pocketwizards for what he is proposing? Oh and I have tilt/swivel lightstands for my sony hotshoe, and they cost exactly the same as for a standard iso, and are just as easily available if you are going to be ordering online.

I cant find you a native 70-200 for $600, but I can find you lots of second hand 70-210mm f4 for $200 which is amazing glass for the money. As for the rest of the line up you are completely disregarding the impressive konica minolta line up pre sony, which are still pretty easy to come by.

While it is fact that there is no 'a99' yet, I question the need for full frame, when the crop sensors in the latest releases are coming so close on resolution and noise. The a77 is weathersealed ASAIK.

You only need to look at biomech's credentials to see that you can shoot professionally and shoot Sony without it being an impediment.

From what the OP is looking to do, I think it is entirely appropriate that he continues to shoot sony, just as I do. Sony and Nikon trade off the moronic attitude shown by some and thats fine, I just dont subscribe to that. I

f your living means that you must be able to get a replacement unit that day, then the availability of the replacement kit is of course important, and this is where Canon and Nikon have the edge.

If you think that you are going to get better photos with a Canon/Nikon as opposed to a Sony then you need to take your head out of your *&^% and evaluate who is actually taking the frame.

[Biomech]

Oh and I have tilt/swivel lightstands for my sony hotshoe

Can someone expand on this, I'm pretty sure I don't know what you mean lol - oh unless you mean like the ones you that are a pole with a "hotshoe" fixing on the end?. A light stand for a speedlight/flash? I use ummm... interfit S-Type brackets:

You only need to look at biomech's credentials to see that you can shoot professionally and shoot Sony without it being an impediment.

heh cool thanks

[Jim Bryant]

I asked to use three of those A77's with the prime lenses, which are pretty expensive. Since I was a sports photographer I asked for their 16-35mm f2.8, 24-70 f2.8, 70-200 f2.8, 135mm 2, 300 f2.8, and 500 f4, lenses that I use. Guess it was too much money for them to loan out at one time and told them I could not give them an accurate review. Seems like the A77's and those lenses would be a kick ass kit. But still, as a camera system you're pretty much limited.

[inkista]

Wow, what a load of bull.

Wow. Chip on the shoulder, much?

Why would he need TTL pocketwizards for what he is proposing?

To look different from the other bazillion papparazzi shooting the event by using off-axis light with the help of an assistant. Because eTTL allows for remote commanding as well as automatic power setting. To make going off-camera at all possible in the situations he's shooting.

Oh and I have tilt/swivel lightstands for my sony hotshoe, and they cost exactly the same as for a standard iso, and are just as easily available if you are going to be ordering online.

Right. So, I do a search on "umbrella swivel Sony Minolta" on Amazon, and look what pops up. Not one compatible swivel in the list. All of them compatible with everybody else's iso-compliant hotshoes. I didn't say it was impossible to find one. I said, "try and fine one". There's no way you're not going to notice how much easier it is to find iso-hotshoe compliant gear vs. Sony/Minolta hotshoe gear.

I cant find you a native 70-200 for $600, but I can find you lots of second hand 70-210mm f4 for $200 which is amazing glass for the money.

Oh, hell. If you're going to go used. The Magic Drainpipe is an 80-200 f/2.8L lens you can find for $500 used for Canon.

As for the rest of the line up you are completely disregarding the impressive konica minolta line up pre sony, which are still pretty easy to come by.

Which you have to buy USED. No warranty. No return policies. No set prices. No set availability. And you can't adapt any manual-focus vintage glass to Sony Alpha because the mount throat's too small. You have the Canon EOS limitation of not being able to use the old manual focus mount lenses (MD/MC), and you have the inability to adapt other manual focus mount systems. On Canon, with adpater rings you use six different manual focus mounts. And if you go with Pentax or Nikon, you can not only use older vintage autofocus lenses, but also manual focus lenses, too. In every other SLR system, there's more old glass out there for use to be found than in Sony Alpha/Minolta AF system.

Sony's Zeiss ZA lenses kick ass. I've noted multiple times on this board how I think the ZA 135/1.8 is a better lens than my 135L. But ZAs cost an arm and a leg--often more than the equivalent pro L Canon lens or Nikkor pro lens. As I said. My 135/2L USM is about $1000. The ZA 135/1.8 is about $1800. Where I live, $800 is a big price difference, and 1/3 of a stop on the max. aperture is a relatively small advantage. And the Zeiss 3-d "punch" is subtle enough that there are folks out there who question its very existence.

While it is fact that there is no 'a99' yet, I question the need for full frame, when the crop sensors in the latest releases are coming so close on resolution and noise. The a77 is weathersealed ASAIK.

I didn't say it was needed. I said the choice simply isn't there. And you'll notice that both Nikon and Canon's pro camera bodies (D4, 1D X) are full frame. And that I've shot with both crop and full-frame. I know the advantages a full frame body can give. They are slight, but real. Among them, higher resolution, cleaner high iso performance, and the ability to achieve a thinner depth of field. For the same reasons some pros prefer to shoot medium format over full frame and APS-C over four-thirds or 1/2.3" sensors? That's why some shooters prefer full frame over APS-C.

You only need to look at biomech's credentials to see that you can shoot professionally and shoot Sony without it being an impediment.

You want to tell me anywhere in my post where I said, "You can't shoot professional quality images with Sony?" All I was pointing out is that the system is more limited, and is not identical to shooting the Big Two in terms of the range of equipment that's on offer.

If you think that you are going to get better photos with a Canon/Nikon as opposed to a Sony then you need to take your head out of your *&^% and evaluate who is actually taking the frame.

Which, of course, I entirely agree with, or did you miss the part in my first post where I said that the reasons to go with the Big Two had to do with availability, and not image quality. Maybe it's time to take your head out of your *&^%" and actually read what people write.

[BK553]

Wow, what a load of bull.

Lets start at the top.

Why would he need TTL pocketwizards for what he is proposing? Oh and I have tilt/swivel lightstands for my sony hotshoe, and they cost exactly the same as for a standard iso, and are just as easily available if you are going to be ordering online.

I cant find you a native 70-200 for $600, but I can find you lots of second hand 70-210mm f4 for $200 which is amazing glass for the money. As for the rest of the line up you are completely disregarding the impressive konica minolta line up pre sony, which are still pretty easy to come by.

While it is fact that there is no 'a99' yet, I question the need for full frame, when the crop sensors in the latest releases are coming so close on resolution and noise. The a77 is weathersealed ASAIK.

You only need to look at biomech's credentials to see that you can shoot professionally and shoot Sony without it being an impediment.

From what the OP is looking to do, I think it is entirely appropriate that he continues to shoot sony, just as I do. Sony and Nikon trade off the moronic attitude shown by some and thats fine, I just dont subscribe to that. I

f your living means that you must be able to get a replacement unit that day, then the availability of the replacement kit is of course important, and this is where Canon and Nikon have the edge.

If you think that you are going to get better photos with a Canon/Nikon as opposed to a Sony then you need to take your head out of your *&^% and evaluate who is actually taking the frame.

Sony cameras have terrible high-ISO performance. They force-apply noise reduction even to RAW images because it's so bad.