Shooting weddings with leica m cameras

[kuanghwang]

Hi, just wanted to do a quick survey to see if there are any wedding photographers who have shot an entire wedding using leica m cameras only. If you have, do you use these cameras for wedding photography on a regular basis? do you enjoy using them for wedding photography? what are some of the difficulties/challenges of using these cameras for wedding photojournalism? Just been toying with the idea of using my leica to shoot an upcoming wedding [don't worry, i'm not the official photographer, so please don't flame for experimenting on people's weddings]. Normally, my rig for shooting weddings include 2 1d a 16-35 and a 70-200 which makes for a burdensome load. Since i don't have the pressure of producing images at the next wedding, i was thinking that using the leica might allow me to work closer, quiter and more fluidly. what are your opinions? thanks in advance.

[MarkFieldhouse]

Check out Jeff Ascough on Digital wedding forum he shoots VERY high end weddings using only Leica M gear. Must say I've been very tempted to go this way after carrying a heavy bag of Canon gear all day. If only they made a digital M series!

[JP_Vellotti]

I've shot with 2-M6's and a 35 and 50 f2. used trix and tmax3200. Very good results but you really have to be extra sharp. could have used the 21mm, but didn't have one.

[Jeff_Tiemann]

Did a wedding with a contax g2 and an olympus stylus epic (fixed 35mm f2.8) once upon a time. Shot mostly fujipress 800 and a few rolls of Reala. Had the lab produce a set of color and B&W proofs for the client. On the g2 I had a 28mm, 45mm and a 90mm. My whole camera system was soooooo light weight and I had a lot of freedom. That whole experience makes me wonder why I still carry around all of this heavy digital equipment. If you were to go to doing really high end wedding work and had a lot of time, you could easily use an M or G system along with a scanning solution - oh well, just food for thought...

tiemann

[David_Buzzard]

The Leica's are great for artistic, "photo journalist" shots. If you had to do a pile of family portraits or use some fill flash on something, you'd be in trouble. I know a lot of the really high end guys just don't do those kinds of shots, so working with only two Leicas is feasible. For the way I work, I wouldn't give up my F5's for anything.

A well respected news service photographer once tried to sell me his Leica M6. I asked him what was wrong with it, and he said, "nothing, I just can't afford expensive jewelry".

David Buzzard

[KeithAhlstrom]

Go for it!
I shoot mine as much as possible....lightens the load and just simplifies things.
Just remember it has nothing to do with the gear in the end. Either you shoot good or you don't.
I guess we should be able to walk into a situation and with a little 110 pocket camera and be able to do the job if we had to.

[Scott_Streble]

I always bring my leica m (using mainly the 50mm noctilux) and use it along with a few nikon digital bodies.
(I previously used F-5's.) The leica is a nice compliment to the Nikon system which allows the convenience of
the auto focus and ttl flash which would be hard for me to live without. My fantasy would be to just use leica's
but it would require the right type of client. Many years ago, Leica Fotografie published a wedding photography
portfolio of mine. You can see the text on my website. www.scottstreble.com