ckuang
Established
Hi everyone, over the last 2 weeks, I've been using a Leica M9 while shooting my weddings. I've written up an initial review of my thoughts of the camera at www.39eastvision.com and I'll be adding more thoughts after this weekend when I'll be doing another 2 more wedding shoots with this camera. If anyone else would like to add in their thoughts on tips and tricks to get the best out of the M9, I would love to hear it. Thanks.
Ronald M
Veteran
My dear friend ran a wedding business 1955 to perhaps 1980. He had on average 5 photogs working for him and they all did 2 or 3 weddings a weekend. Started with two Voitlander Prominents and the RF`s self destructed in a month. Got Leica 111F until until the M3 came out.
He would tape them and resell sell them every year. His shots were 85% 50 mm, a few 28, the rest 35 and 90 4.0. Braun EF3 flash units which put out light like a flash bulb, infact they look just like a satin reflector and bulb. Absolutely wonderful light. Hold it high with the left arm. 10 feet was f8, seven was 11, 13 was f 5.6. Did not have auto exposure flash.
Each man had two cameras which he checked out Fri, returned Sunday. Basic 35/50/90. All were trained how to pose, focus and expose. To this day the pics are stunning.
He got the formals hand painted from Opal G paper if people had money. The was a pro who did this for him.
He got 100 foot rolls of film by the case. 44 exposures went into the brass cassettes.
Table shots were done on factory rolled film.
Attention to detail got him a big enough business to put put 3 children thru Northwestern University which is an expensive private school. Today it is $50,000+ a year.
So here is the thing. Detail, learn to light with whatever is available today, Braun EF3 are still the best but long gone, process your files carefully. You don`t need ISO 3000 and fancy zoom lenses. Quality basic lenses are fine. Learn to pose. Repeat learn to pose, Learn to light, photography is all about light. Have back up equipment, check it all long before every job, things like flash sync.
Don`t work cheap. Good equipment is is expensive. Your time is valuable. If they want a cheap job, they can let Uncle Bob do it with his Canon Rebel. But have albumns to show why Uncle Bob can`t do what you can do. If they can`t see the difference, just let Bob mess up the wedding.
Work with some other locals so you have back up in case you get the flue.
Have a place to stach the back up gear.
I want to wish you luck because I could not do this, but that is what is required.
Hone your sales skills so you get the job.
He would tape them and resell sell them every year. His shots were 85% 50 mm, a few 28, the rest 35 and 90 4.0. Braun EF3 flash units which put out light like a flash bulb, infact they look just like a satin reflector and bulb. Absolutely wonderful light. Hold it high with the left arm. 10 feet was f8, seven was 11, 13 was f 5.6. Did not have auto exposure flash.
Each man had two cameras which he checked out Fri, returned Sunday. Basic 35/50/90. All were trained how to pose, focus and expose. To this day the pics are stunning.
He got the formals hand painted from Opal G paper if people had money. The was a pro who did this for him.
He got 100 foot rolls of film by the case. 44 exposures went into the brass cassettes.
Table shots were done on factory rolled film.
Attention to detail got him a big enough business to put put 3 children thru Northwestern University which is an expensive private school. Today it is $50,000+ a year.
So here is the thing. Detail, learn to light with whatever is available today, Braun EF3 are still the best but long gone, process your files carefully. You don`t need ISO 3000 and fancy zoom lenses. Quality basic lenses are fine. Learn to pose. Repeat learn to pose, Learn to light, photography is all about light. Have back up equipment, check it all long before every job, things like flash sync.
Don`t work cheap. Good equipment is is expensive. Your time is valuable. If they want a cheap job, they can let Uncle Bob do it with his Canon Rebel. But have albumns to show why Uncle Bob can`t do what you can do. If they can`t see the difference, just let Bob mess up the wedding.
Work with some other locals so you have back up in case you get the flue.
Have a place to stach the back up gear.
I want to wish you luck because I could not do this, but that is what is required.
Hone your sales skills so you get the job.
Last edited:
David Hegar
Established
Ronald: ckuang is already an experienced wedding photographer, and he does beautiful work too.
ckuang
Established
Hey David, thanks for the kind words. Hey any chance I could get you to call my parents and you tell them the same thing you just wrote? 
Growing up in an Asian family, being a photographer equals fail!
Ronald, thanks for the tips. It's a good story. Success in the field of photography isn't easy at all, and it's nice to hear of success stories past or present especially given the current economy.
I'm looking forward to another shoot tomorrow on the M9. It's really a beautiful camera but I do need to spend some time really getting to know how to get the most out of it. Any tips on shooting the M9 well would be great!
Growing up in an Asian family, being a photographer equals fail!
Ronald, thanks for the tips. It's a good story. Success in the field of photography isn't easy at all, and it's nice to hear of success stories past or present especially given the current economy.
I'm looking forward to another shoot tomorrow on the M9. It's really a beautiful camera but I do need to spend some time really getting to know how to get the most out of it. Any tips on shooting the M9 well would be great!
kzphoto
Well-known
ckuang: Wonderful write up. I'm happy to see that the m9 can be used as a tool for wedding photography. I hope you get your lenses back soon -- DAG or Sherry should be able to turn around the calibration more rapidly then Leica NJ.
Leigh Youdale
Well-known
Further to Ronald's post, I had a friend who ran a wedding business in similar fashion except there were only two cameras - both Leica IIIf's (I think) with special bodies that took bulk loaded 250 shot magazines.