Yesteryear Wedding Lenses?

Before the digital age going back to the 70's, what Lens/s did the pro photographer use?
Would he have carried 3 or 4 primes for instance?

I have recently been scanning some wedding pics from the 70's for someone - arrival, confetti throwing, and a few formals outside the church and just wondered what was used.

Anyone got any ideas?

Hello Dave,
I used medium format for weddings. Bronica ETRS with speed grip and Rotary head, along with a Seconic Digital Flash meter and Hammer head
Metz Flash. I only used two lenses. The standard 75mm and the wide angle 50mm.
The 75 gave an angle of view of 50mm of course, while the 50mm gave a wide angle veiw.
Using medium format had the advantage of allowing good cropping of course, so telephoto was less important.
However, since you cant crop backwards to create wide angle... A wide is always esential for when you simply dont have the room to get your
subject in. I later used the Bronica RF645 with 3 lenses but it was still mostly the standard and wide that was used.

Thanks for the feedback Westmill. I think that answer also answers a question about modern shoots - as in you really need only a couple, maybe 3 prime lenses, or 1 zoom (size depending on FX or DX) to shoot a wedding.

Yes, I still do a lot of weddings. I just use a fast standard zoom these days. The 17-55 F2.8 or Tamron 17-50 are perfect.
I always used 400 ASA film in the old days and the lenses were F2.8s
Its far better now of course, since we can efectively change the ISO rating as we go.
The D300 will easily manage 1600 ISO in RAW and give great results for any wedding album size of print.
The Pentax K5 which I also use, shares the same sensor as the D7000 and gives as good if not better results at 3200 ISO
than the D300s at 1600 ISO so is very usable even at that range.
Thats a 2 to 3 stop advantage over yesteryears gear

Would you say that you need the reach of 3200 ISO, as in a must have for inside shoots?

And on that subject, I have been to many weddings (as we all have) and I have not yet encountered the pro unable to use the flash. You have been to countless more I know, so have you ever been told NO flash photography?

Oh god yes lol.... Its actualy unusual these days to be allowed to use flash during the ceramony itself.
Thats where the problem lies. You are allowed to set up and use flash for the signing etc but its genraly the actual ceromony thats the problem.
It always depends on the amount of light in the church, since they are all different of course.
1600 ISO is normaly enough but I have been reduced to 3200 on a number of occasions.
A fast lens is not always the answer as most believe either. If you shoot a fast F1.4 for example the DOF is so shallow its unlikely
the bride and groom etc would even be in focus, hence my preferal for using DX over FX.
You can gain even more advantage here using four thirds system, but its a balancing act because four thirds is not as good with high ISO
so its all swings and roundabouts. Good high ISO ability is a godsend for any wedding photographer.
In the old days it simply wouldnt have been possable. The church has now reconised that modern cameras are now capable, is what I believe.
Its been a while since I was allowed to use flash during the actual ceromony.

When I started shooting weddings around 1968, zoom lenses just weren't there. I started as a second shooter with a Yashica Mat 124, then got the Hasselblad with the 80 and 150. The iso, which by the way was then called ASA, was 100. We had to use flash for most shots and there was simply no time for flash meter. So, one really had to get used to gauge distances and their flash unit. Of course we were using negative film that gave a little more leeway. Oh, and we had to wait to see results. The first studio I was working for always had me shoot a few pictures on the B&W back I had. After the wedding, I had to run to the studio to process and print the B&W so the sales lady went back to the reception to try to make sales of the group shot and the official groom and bride portrait. That made for a lot of work. Two weddings a week were then about the norm for me, but, people were getting married then.

Westmill, that was another thing I was thinking about - a 1.4 being too shallow DoF to get the couple in focus.

Funny enough most of the weddings I have been to have been in the summer with plenty of light indoors. Last year I attended 3 weddings with only one church being a bit dark inside and the photographer used flash during the ceremony. I guess he was rather lucky to be able to do that..

Marcel, that sounds like a nightmare compared to today.

DaveW said:

Westmill, that was another thing I was thinking about - a 1.4 being too shallow DoF to get the couple in focus.

Funny enough most of the weddings I have been to have been in the summer with plenty of light indoors. Last year I attended 3 weddings with only one church being a bit dark inside and the photographer used flash during the ceremony. I guess he was rather lucky to be able to do that..

Marcel, that sounds like a nightmare compared to today.

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You'd think that wouldn't you. But, I had a friend who was working for another studio and he, DRUM ROLL, had to use 4x5 with the rapid back (don't remember how they were called exactly) with huge flash bulbs. Those were heavy times I'll tell you for sure. Does that make me that old… Getting there a day at a time.

Marcel said:

You'd think that wouldn't you. But, I had a friend who was working for another studio and he, DRUM ROLL, had to use 4x5 with the rapid back (don't remember how they were called exactly) with huge flash bulbs. Those were heavy times I'll tell you for sure. Does that make me that old… Getting there a day at a time.

Click to expand...

Lol I guess that was a bit before my time at least lol
I actualy shot my first wedding with a 35mm practica MTL3 lol
It wasnt paid, but I was certainly the official photographer. Heyyyy we all have to start somewhere
I then bought a Minolta XGM or sumitt like that lol. I later bought Two Minolta X700s When I decided go pro at the tender age of 18 lol.
It wasnt long before i earnt enough to go medium format. Lots has changed over the years but Im still going.
I actualy found film to be a lot less work than what I have to do now. It can take a whole week for me just to prepair and design an album.