A Wedding, and the importance of multiple redundancy in your gear…

Wedding yesterday between some good friends of mine, and in addition to my duties as a man of the cloth, I also brought along my cameras so I could serve as backup photographer when I wasn't up on the stage. I brought multiples so that I could effect several different kinds of photography: straight DSLR (which I installed on one of the wedding party guests), 7 or 8 Kodak FunSaver 35's (installed one to a table among the guests, for them to take pictures with), the Sony F707 (which booted up with "NO MEMORY STICK" errors all day no matter what stick I put in it), and my Nikon FG 35mm and 6 rolls of film.

Wedding yesterday between some good friends of mine, and in addition to my duties as a man of the cloth, I also brought along my cameras so I could serve as backup photographer when I wasn’t up on the stage. I brought multiples so that I could effect several different kinds of photography: straight DSLR (which I installed on one of the wedding party guests), 7 or 8 Kodak FunSaver 35’s (installed one to a table among the guests, for them to take pictures with), the Sony F707 (which booted up with “NO MEMORY STICK” errors all day no matter what stick I put in it), and my Nikon FG 35mm and 6 rolls of film.

There's me in the background with the Nikon. This marks the start of both the Digital and the Film pictures. Keep in mind, of the 2 digital cameras I'd brought, one was already down for the count with a mysterious boot error.

There’s me in the background with the Nikon. This marks the start of both the Digital and the Film pictures. Keep in mind, of the 2 digital cameras I’d brought, one was already down for the count with a mysterious boot error.

The Groomsmen, the Groom, and me - your humble officiant.

The Groomsmen, the Groom, and me – your humble officiant.

Exhuberant flowergirl starts the bride's train, and we get just this far before the battery in the Canon 20D DSLR goes dead. No idea why, as I'd just charged it this morning, and these batteries have performed for a week or more on a charge before. Thus, no more digital pics. After the ceremony, I continued shooting 35mm with the Nikon the rest of the day, and it performed flawlessly. I came back with 9 or 10 rolls of film exposed, which will have to wait until I perfect my Caffenol processing method before I'll risk developing these.

Exhuberant flowergirl starts the bride’s train, and we get just this far before the battery in the Canon 20D DSLR goes dead. No idea why, as I’d just charged it this morning, and these batteries have performed for a week or more on a charge before. Thus, no more digital pics. After the ceremony, I continued shooting 35mm with the Nikon the rest of the day, and it performed flawlessly. I came back with 9 or 10 rolls of film exposed, which will have to wait until I perfect my Caffenol processing method before I’ll risk developing these.

In case you've ever wondered what's inside a Kodak FunSaver 35. Watch out when you disassemble these: you can take out the battery and discharge the flash repeatedly, and *still* the thing will give you a nasty zap if you touch it in the wrong place while it's apart. owch!

In case you’ve ever wondered what’s inside a Kodak FunSaver 35. Watch out when you disassemble these: you can take out the battery and discharge the flash repeatedly, and *still* the thing will give you a nasty zap if you touch it in the wrong place while it’s apart. owch!

The Reverend Munk is sporting A wool felt Fedora by New York, a gold embroidered waistcoat by Neil Allyn, and a double-breasted black wool jacket by Oscar de la Renta.

The Reverend Munk is sporting A wool felt Fedora by New York, a gold embroidered waistcoat by Neil Allyn, and a double-breasted black wool jacket by Oscar de la Renta.

Updated: January 5, 2014 — 12:00 pm

7 Comments

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  1. Nice wedding photos. My congratulations to the newlyweds.

    It always pays to have more than one of everything (even assistants) to shoot a wedding. I never shot film and digital at the same event. Those FunSavers (and thier equivalent) are such fun after they are used. I used to save all the ones that came into our lab to make things. Gotta let them set a few minutes or even longer though or you get hit with several kV. These things make cheap fill-strobes, rescue strobes, and many other things (like shockers). I even reloaded some just fot the heck of it.

    You did not format the memory sticks with the PC did you? That will cause a no stick error in many of the Sony Cameras.
    Olys were similar. The only way out any more is if you have an old DOS PC and the old stick recovery software (no longer on line) or a new stick.

    Good luck with your Caffienol processing.

    1. Strangely enough, the Sony booted up the next day just fine. I think it may have a loosening connector in the memory card bay – another common aging issue with these F7x7’s. Either that or some divine power didn’t want me shooting digital that day. I had intended to shoot near-IR on the Sony and foist the Nikon onto some handy guest who knew what to do with it.

      I’m sad I couldn’t do the IR shoot, but excited to see how the film turns out. I had a lot of fun shooting the Nikon all day, and there was some notable envy among the digital shooters. I had a couple conversations with people telling me about fond memories of their old Nikons, and I found out a friend of mine is a big fan of the FG. The experience is rather a lot like what happens around manual typewriters. :D

  2. Looking sharp there, Rev! And congrats to the bride and groom. Nice photos.

  3. Very dapper Ted. Two of those groomsmen look like they’re ready to eject a gatecrasher!

  4. I completely screwed up my first (and last) wedding as a videographer. Hurried phonecalls and e-mails and I managed to crowd-source enough footage for the “alternative” DVD. And years ago, when I turned up on a “paying” photo assignment, my Nikon FM’s battery died. I think even the maunualest (?) cameras have a chip built in to go down at the wring time. As for the sartorial extravagance, can I introduce to the word “dapper”?

    1. Luckily, I was just the backup. There were 2 other guys there with pro DSLR gear getting shots. I’m not ever going to attempt to be the point man on camera duty, because that’s *exactly* when things start going sideways. :D

  5. Great threads, Rev. Funny you have the FG, I bought an EM just to get the Nikon flash for my N2000. I think I have enough film cameras now unless the top-line Pen comes to me for next to nothing. Glad the film body worked out. I feel that weddings need to be on film as some sort of 21st century superstition.

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