Wedding Shots with the D600 (et al)

This wedding I have been gearing up for ended up going well.  As I wasn't the main photographer, it gives me lots of latitude to experiment and have some fun.  My main responsibility was to get some shots of the guys getting ready, so not too difficult.

As usual, the way I used my gear at the wedding didn't really go according to plan.  I took the Nikon 24-85mm f2.8-4 AF-D, the Nikon 85mm f1.8 AF, Nikon 50mm f1.4 AF-D and the Nikon 20mm f4 Ai; but only the zoom got used.  The space ended up being quite tight inside the house where they were getting ready, so most of the time I kept it on the wide end of the zoom.  This changed to mostly long end for a few shots I took inside the church.

Groom to be checking his bow tie   Nikon D600 with Nikon 24-85mm f2.8-4 AF-D abd Nikon SB800 flash

Bride about to walk down the aisle - Nikon D600 with Nikon 24-85mm f2.8-4 AF-D abd Nikon SB800 flash

What got a lot of use was the NEX5n.  I took both the two old Leica lenses (50mm f3.5 Elmar and the 50mm f2 Summitar) and also threw in the Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 Super Wide Heliar as a last minute thought.

Groomsmen  - Sony NEX 5n with Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 Super Wide Heliar

Due to the tight confines of the house, I ended up attaching the Voigtlander 15mm, setting the camera to Black and White with some added contrast, and snapped away. As this lens is wide and slow, scale focusing is easy.  Setting the focus at 1.5m when wide open will get everything in focus from 0.8m to just short of infinity, very useful for this short of shooting.

Groomsmen in mirror  - Sony NEX 5n with Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 Super Wide Heliar

In the church I continued to use the NEX, and attached the Leica 50mm Summitar.  This lens is really quite capable, and adding a little sharpness and contrast to the camera settings cures a lot of the lens's softness when wide open.  The Elmar wasn't used in the end.  The Hawks Factory adapter actually proved to be a pain in the butt.  It would move off position when focusing and my LTM to M adapter is very difficult to get off it.

Bridal party and parents at the church - Sony NEX 5n with Leica 50mm Summitar

The Happy couple with friends - Sony NEX 5n with Leica 50mm Summitar

At the reception, I dumped all the above gear and just took the Fuji X100.  My wife wanted me around as a date, so I wanted something small and unobtrusive for a few shots here and there.  I needed good low light performance and the Fuji's excellent auto white balance and fill in flash performance is great for this environment.  This generally worked well, and there were some great shots for some memories.

With bridesmaids at the reception - Fuji X100