Wedding
Engagement
Family
Headshot
Senior
Sports
I’ve been using popular 126 LED DSLR Video Light for shooting DSLR photo and video. This thing is really great and last really long time. One thing I don’t like about this is the bottom hot shoe mount. It’s not stable at all and I had to drill and replace with shoe mount-swivel shoe adapter from LED 4 Video. It’s probably Best Bang for the Buck. I highly recommend this ball head. Here’s some of the images with Jag 35 follow focus.
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- 126 LED DSLR Video Light + Jag35 Follow Focus
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- 126 LED DSLR Video Light + Follow Focus
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- 126 LED DSLR Video Light + Follow Focus
The sound quality off the canon 5d mark II is not great (I posted how I get around this on this post). Eternal microphones such as Rode ViodeoMic is good option but not great capturing sounds that are far away. Only option for capturing sound during ceremony is using lavalier microphone system, preferably wireless. I am a wedding photographer and don’t really want to think about wireless lav mic system and recording device on a wedding day (I am a photographer not videographer). I just found great way to record sound. It’s Olympus DS-40 and I picked up $50 on ebay. I also purchased olympus ME-15 mic lavalier microphone that clips grooms clothing. The whole system is less than $100 and very very small.
DS-40 Digital Voice Recorder I use on wedding day
I used this setup during recent engagement session and sound quality was pretty good. I had some problems with sync and alignment using this system. The solution that I found was to use MPEG Streamclip software by Squared 5 (here’s a link to download) and it’s free. Only tricky thing was to change some of presets. I use following presets:
Wedding Portfolio ~ Contact ~ Pricing
With 5D mark II manual audio control, I’ve been trying to configure out ways to record better sounds. Canon 5D Mark II has a 1/8th inch stereo input which allow to use external microphones such as Rode ViodeoMic.
Rode VideoMic
Like
- small
- doesn’t require external power source (with 9v battery, gets 100 hours of power)
- switchable high-pass filter (works fairly well)
Dislike
- build quality (it’s made of plastic and fragile)
Later, I returned the Rode VideoMic and bought popular Zoom H4N by Samson.
popular Zoom H4N by Samson.
Excellent audio quality and 4 channel recording allow me so much flexibility (adding lav mic etc). I am going with dual system which means I will have to record sounds separately and edit them in Final cut. If dual system is hassle, try this:
I just found a special cable with 25 dB attenuation from Markertek allow me to connect Zoom H4N line out to 5D Mark II stereo mic level input.
Zoom H4N with 5D Mark II
Set camera volume around 30% (with manual volume control, you can do this) and always use wind screen. I’ve been testing audio (ambient) quality with it and it’s been great so far. I also have stereo Y-cable so that I can monitor sound at the same time.
I’ve been traveling a lot this year and thought I’d post wedding photography gear that I normally bring.
Bag: Think Tank International V2.0. I was little afraid about carrying this with me since I’ve never travel this before. It fitted overhead without any problem.
Camera
- Canon 5D Mark II : great for formal portraits, reception photo
- Canon 1D Mark III: fast, AF is fantastic
Lems
- Canon 17-40 4.0: for outdoor portrait. I usually overpower the sun with lighting and don’t need 2.8 at that point
- Canon 35 1.4 : stays 5D Mark II 90% of the time. very sharp, great image quality
- Canon 85 1.2: for lowlight ceremony
- Canon 70-200 2.8: stays 1D Mark III 90% of the time. can shoot journalistic style with this and that’s way it’s my favorite lens
- Canon 15 2.8 fisheye: maybe used 3-4 time but it’s great capturing the whole venue
Lighting
- Canon 580 EX II (x2): one main, one for back up.
- Nikon SB 26 (x2): mainly use for reception dancing photos
- Elinchrom Quadra: great for outdoor portraits. It’s about 4 times brighter than 580 EX II
- Canon OC-E3: for off camera flash (just in case)
- Canon CP-E3: flash power pack for faster recycle time.
- Pocket wizards: Transceiver (x2), Mini TT1, Flex TT5 transceiver
Computer: Mac book pro
Also carry 2 light stands, umbrella,westcott apollo softbox in small tripod bag
Gear that I no longer use
- canon 24-70 2.8: too heavy
- canon 24-105: great focal length, image stabilization is great but I like prime lens a lot better for some reason
- canon 100 macro: it just too many lens to carry
- canon st-e2: never used
- flash bracket: never used
- gary fong lightsphere: I don’t know why I purchase this
These are all the gear I bring for wedding and I trust them to work 100% of time.
I’ve been trying to optimize my website so that it can be seen on an iPhone. Since an iPhone does not support flash, my flash gallery wasn’t shown on an iPhone. Today, I just installed wordpress plugin called “WPtouch” and my site is now can be seen on the iphone, blackberry, or any smart phone out there. Did you know that even apple iPad does not support flash? Anyways, please check out my site on your mobil devices www.soobumimphotography.com
iPhone friendly website using wordpress plugin WPtouch
I’ve been carrying Thinktank Airport AirStream Rolling Camera Bag pretty much entire winter season. I also have airport international bag as well but it’s just too big to carry everyday. Anyway, here’s my gear bag and thought someone would be interested.
thinktank airport airstream rolling bag
Here’s my camera gear for basketball and hockey. Two camera bodies: 1d Mark III and 5D Mark II. I know 5D Mark II is not designed for sports. But it’s great in low light situations and full frame body is nice for remote. Glasses: 300 2.8 is, 70-200 2.8 is, 15mm fisheye, 17-40, and 1.4 x teleconverter. I think this bag is perfect carrying 300 2.8. Occasionally, I carry pocket wizard for remote and some canon 580EXIIs depends on assignment.
Thinktank airport airstream
I also carry stuff like, extra memory cards, old credentials, AM radio (so that I know what’s going on during the game), laptop security lock, card reader, laptop charger, and bible memory verse cards.
I was organizing my old photos today and found this photo
I sold both 1Ds Mark II & 1D Mark II earlier this year and replaced with 1D Mark III & 5D Mark II. Man, I miss them a lot