lens help!!!

[iamvietness]

ok my gf's sister is about to get engaged and the fiance is planning on proposing to her on our boarding trip in february. he wants me to take pics but of course w/o the sister knowing. my question is what lens would you all suggest i use? i would be taking a snow mobile up and down from the mountain as to not damage the equipment. i use a canon 5d. TIA!

[morech]

My questions to you would be... what time of day would it be. You would want a faster lens if dim outside. How far away would you plan on being (does she know you will be on the trip shooting or not or is this supposed to be capturing a candid moment? Are you planning on renting any gear?

I would say your 70-200 2.8IS would be my recommendation given I am not sure of how your set up would be.

[iamvietness]

it would be during the day...brighter out. she's aware that i'm on the trip (this trip has been planned for us 4 for a year now). she doesn't know that i'll be in the mountains with them at this time since him and i are planning on having him and her go up by themselves on the lifts and then my gf and i will follow up on the snowmobile. i imagine i'll have to be quite a ways away and in some trees to pull this off. i can't really tell you a distance since i don't know the layout. let's say 30-50 yards away? maybe that's too far

[iamvietness]

just thinking out loud here but since it's early in the day and rather bright...i wonder if i can get away with the canon 70-200 f/4. can someone comment on how much bokeh i can get out of it? i imagine that i'll have to shoot around f4 anyways to get both the future bride and groom in focus during the proposal. then for close ups i can use my 85 or 50? am i on the right path of thinking here?

[ronocnikral]

i was confused what "boarding" is. I know realize it is the inferior method of descending a snowy mountain. :)

First, it may be beneficial to fully understand "bokeh" and what creates it, if that is the look you are going for. your f/stop is only part of the equation, and while I haven't run any hard numbers or know the layout, but my guess is at the distances you will be at, 1 "stop" will have very little bearing on your "bokeh."

I see in your signature that you have 70-200 f/2.8IS? if so, what is wrong with that? if you do have that lens, I would be asking more questions about metering in snow and the use of a polarizer if you don't already have that figured out.

if it was me, and I wanted to be hiding in the trees and insistent on doing this during the day on the slopes, I would have the longest lens I could get my hands on.

my 2 pennies worth nothing to the general public.

out of curiosity, what resort are you going to that would allow you to take a snowmobile up instead of the lift?

-ron "if I could change skiing, I would change it back to the way it was before snowboards" nikral

[ngoduyviet]

70-200 F4 is fine, you'll be at the long end most of the times anyway. A couple of things to look out for:
1. Snow reflects a lot of light, meter appropriately.
2. Lens fog. Keep a few of those silicon baggies with your lens prior to using to help with fogging.
Bring that 50 with you, get some scenery shots afterward.

[kayumangi]

TBH, using a long lens may not capture enough emotions. In weddings we have a similar setup called First Look.

The best moments are captured when you're really close. If you are faraway and something or someone blocks your line of site then you're screwed. So my take, is to use a widest glass you have and stay close to either one of them. Think of an excuse to be there and bring out the camera you intend to use to make them oblivious to what you're doing, hiding in plain site is what I suggest =)

[iamvietness]

Originally Posted by ronocnikral

i was confused what "boarding" is. I know realize it is the inferior method of descending a snowy mountain. :)

First, it may be beneficial to fully understand "bokeh" and what creates it, if that is the look you are going for. your f/stop is only part of the equation, and while I haven't run any hard numbers or know the layout, but my guess is at the distances you will be at, 1 "stop" will have very little bearing on your "bokeh."

I see in your signature that you have 70-200 f/2.8IS? if so, what is wrong with that? if you do have that lens, I would be asking more questions about metering in snow and the use of a polarizer if you don't already have that figured out.

if it was me, and I wanted to be hiding in the trees and insistent on doing this during the day on the slopes, I would have the longest lens I could get my hands on.

my 2 pennies worth nothing to the general public.

out of curiosity, what resort are you going to that would allow you to take a snowmobile up instead of the lift?

-ron "if I could change skiing, I would change it back to the way it was before snowboards" nikral

Yeah don't have that lens anymore. I need to update my sig =)