6 cameras for a wedding?! Ideas?

[Pete Cofrancesco]

All we are saying weddings are stressful enough without adding more to it. Stress and complexity leads to mistakes. That's the foundation of KISS rule. There's a point at which the amount of work and risk begins to out way the gain. Reminds me a while back someone thought it be a great idea to hand out a bunch of consumer cameras to the guests...

It sounds like you're determined to do it anyways so good luck let us know how it turns out.

[Robert Benda]

Just a note, space isn't an issue here. Tons of room. I'll be in the church building for a few hours before the ceremony, with plenty of downtime. Afterwards I'll have short time, to move on to the reception, but that's manageable.

I really am determined to try it once. I'll have a 2nd shooter who is very qualified. Not worried about CCTV since the extra, unmanned cameras would be setup entirely to try and get one great 5 second shot.

In this case, the parents' reactions during vows, or some other key moment. Shots I don't usually get because the cameras are pointed at something even more important I can't afford to miss.

Depending on layout and space, I might do one or two other shot attempts during the processional (like a side aisle, pointed straight at the center aisle, maybe catch the bride through the people sort of thing. High risk, but here, entirely worth a shot since the camera will be #4 and not a shot I count on).

[Steve Burkett]

Originally Posted by Robert Benda

Not worried about CCTV since the extra, unmanned cameras would be setup entirely to try and get one great 5 second shot.

CCTV really only applies to shots on high and on wide. I've mistakenly had my GoPro too high up and to the side and on reflection didn't use the footage as it was too CCTV like. Keep your FOV lower down, more ground level and vary your extra cameras to both wide and closeups, then cutting between them won't look like CCTV at all. In some cases 4K can help if available, as you can make use of the crop factor to pan and zoom within the image.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

If you have a second shooter there's no reason for all this. While you shoot the bride and groom he shoots the reaction shots. I think you're making this more complicated than it needs to be.

[Robert Benda]

Originally Posted by Pete Cofrancesco

If you have a second shooter there's no reason for all this. While you shoot the bride and groom he shoots the reaction shots. I think you're making this more complicated than it needs to be.

The moment I'm referring to is the vows. We each have a close-up, over the shoulder shot of our respective bride or groom. Camera 3 has the medium/wide shot from the aisle. That means no reactions or such.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

You only need a few seconds to capture reaction shots and they don't need to be at the exact moment of the kiss or ring exchange. The same technique is used for the procession. You quickly pivot for the groom reaction then back to the bride coming down the aisle.

[Nigel Barker]

I am surprised that nobody has raised the issue of actually handling all that extra footage when you come to edit. The only time I used 6 cameras was in a very large Jewish wedding where the Chief Rabbi officiated. I had a C300 2 GoPros 2 5D3s & a 5D2. I also had two other shooters. When I came to do a multi camera edit in Premiere Pro it was a bloody nightmare even after I converted all footage to ProRes so everything played smoothly when scrubbing through the timeline.

For a 'normal' wedding ceremony & a single shooter three cameras is plenty - a locked off wide at the back looking down the aisle (or at the front looking up the aisle) - another locked off close on bride's side looking across to the groom. Finally operating a camera standing on groom's side looking across to the bride.

[Steve Burkett]

It rather depends on your system. I've recently edited a Ceremony with 5 cameras, 4 of which were 4k and it didn't handle it all that bad. Actually the worst one was the GH2 avchd footage. My system struggles with that more than the 4k, even though it's HD.

Whilst 3 is plenty to do a degree, I find a 4th gives you a bonus angle such as close up from the back that works very well in the edit. Sometimes I don't have a good angle of the rings being placed and a close-up down the aisle is great in filling in when needed.

However some venues I like to add a 5th and 6th as the room is large enough to allow some additional angles that sell the location and not just about safety shots and covering the audience. Views from the balcony which I would otherwise avoid for any of the main cameras can be lovely fill in shots at certain points in the Ceremony. They can also be very useful if my position at the front is heavily compromised and restrictive when it comes to the Readings.

[Robert Benda]

[QUOTE=Nigel Barker;1916037]I am surprised that nobody has raised the issue of actually handling all that extra footage when you come to edit./QUOTE]

Now that is a fair question.

I think since the extra cameras will be locked off and trying to get one or two shots for cutaways, I'll simply not load it all.

/my biggest issue is using the GoPro's 4K footage.

[Paul Mailath]

Originally Posted by Mike Watson

Perhaps this is a rookie question, but how do you overcome the 12 minute limit with 6 cameras running?

don't shoot with Canon... easy

I have been using 6 cameras for a while now. 2 main cameras left & right shooting a dirty on the bride & groom, 2 wides up the back in the left & right corner and 2 on a belt holsters for each operator to get random stuff I may take one of the wides up the back to put up the front facing the crowd but it often get blocked.

I did one wedding in a small church were we had to stay up the back in the balcony so I put 2 cameras up front hidden near flower arrangements, 2 main cameras up in the balcony an the 2 belt cameras

[Paul Mailath]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

I am surprised that nobody has raised the issue of actually handling all that extra footage when you come to edit.

I don't have a problem with the edit:
I load in my 6 tracks plus 2 extra audio, let pluraleyes sort it out and I'm good to go. If my 2 main cameras are in 4k I can get a bit of lag but nothing major - that's in Edius but I'm sure premiere has the same facility

[Kyle Root]

I routinely use 5-8 cameras for wedding ceremonies as a solo shooter. I place the unmanned cameras out of the way on stage, hidden behind things, clamped to things etc.

At the once this past weekend, we had 4 shooters and 6 cameras which was nice.

Anyways, I use regular camcorders for most of that though, so I have no time limits to worry about.

Also, having several with 600mm zoom range helps as well... and is one of the reasons I don't rely on DLSRs for ceremonies. (Although today I did buy a Nikon 1 lens that is 810mm equivalent so I can get close with that guy if I need to)

When I shoot solo, I attend the rehearsal and set up my Stage Left and Stage Right cameras the night before and mark with area with tape so the couple knows where to stand. Then we go over everything again on the actual day to make sure there are no obstructions like flowers etc.

[Peter Rush]

Originally Posted by Peter Rush

I would have a heart attack trying to manage 6 cameras - I'm assuming you don't work alone? I usually have 4 in church, a GoPro mounted near the outside entrance to get guests arriving, a handycam at the back and another at the front on the bride's side and me and my main camera at the front on the groom's side. And even then it can go wrong, just last week I had to run around in a panic turning things on as the bride was mega early and double pressed the record on my rear camera - result: no footage! While the shot from my other static cam is fine it limits my options in post.

More gear = more stress for me as a solo shooter, I can just about manage those 4. I have thought about locking off my main camera and getting some nice shots of the congregation with my A7s and 200mm lens but the last 4 church weddings I've had to be in a choir stall so could not even use a tripod so that killed that idea!

Guys you can Ignore my comment - I'm coming from a solo shooter perspective but I see Paul you have 2 or 3 shooters and Kyle 4!!!

6 cameras no problem for you guys then - I do 4 normally on my own and it's stressful enough (1 GoPro, 2 Handycams and Main A7s)

[Kyle Root]

The last one I did was in Texas alone.

Attached is how I set up all the unmanned cameras.

I had a D750 with 70-200 on a monopod and was roaming.

This was a at mega church and a wedding party of about 15 people.

For me, it's more about safety in terms of camera, card, or battery failure etc.