Lens advice

Okay... I have a Canon EOS 400 with the standard 18-55mm lens that comes with it.

My brother in law has asked me to take his wedding pictures with it, just wondering if anyone could recommend the kind of lens I should use.

I have seem various ones with different ranges and image stabilizers and ones called macros, but am a bit lost as to what a macro lens it... It is also seems to come in a fixed mm, like 50mm macro aaarghh... A bit confusing for the novice

hi,
i am not a camera buff although i used to do a lot of slr film photography..
first of all take a ride over to the dpview forums.... you got a lot of experts and they can specifically address your camera...
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/

now all your lens have to some degree a magnification factor....
the thing with macro lens (not micro) is that there designed for a 1:1 ratio (magnification to speak of) and for real close up work...

now some people will use a zoom lens and that quick but some time get picture distortion...

other tips.... with digital..... and you have anew camera so do a lot of practice shots paying attention to lighting conditions and differences.. for example setting up your camera for out side lighting conditions for inside shots..... not good... or setup camera for inside shooting where incadescent lighting and you really have neon lights... you can get some funny colors... if your going to do large group shots.... may want to get a tripod... go head and use your regular lens but to get a close up... you may need to take just portions of the group and then stitch the segments together...

Rich said:

Okay... I have a Canon EOS 400 with the standard 18-55mm lens that comes with it.

My brother in law has asked me to take his wedding pictures with it, just wondering if anyone could recommend the kind of lens I should use.

I have seem various ones with different ranges and image stabilizers and ones called macros, but am a bit lost as to what a macro lens it... It is also seems to come in a fixed mm, like 50mm macro aaarghh... A bit confusing for the novice

jerrylb, nowadays you can shoot your digital images in RAW and change the white balance and exposure afterwards, really handy when shooting weddings. When you shoot images inside and outside, you have more control to color correct the images afterwards.

About the lenses, I wouldn't use a macro lens when shooting weddings.
An example of what macro lenses can do can be found on my website:
http://www.vibrantphotos.nl/nature/gallery/cricket.php
Macro lenses are designed so you can really focus on objects nearby, and zoom in to get all the details.

To be flexible during a wedding I would use two camera bodies (one for back-up aswell), one with a wide angle lens and one with a zoom lens.
This makes sure you aren't tied to making the same shots over and over.

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated, I will take a look at the links and work out what will be best.

Rather than a macro lens, something like a fast 50mm prime lens could be really great for portrait shots, isolating subjects and capturing action with a fast shutter speed.

Cheapest is the 50mm f/1.8.

As mentioned above, lots of practise with it first to get a feel for it.

Good luck!

S