Deliberating on kit for event and portraiture. 16-55, or others?

hotaruhikari wrote:

That's good to hear. Heaviness was a slight concern, but as it has very similar weight to the 24-105 which I've used in the past, I should be able to handle it.

Regarding flashes, I suppose I should get a few in case I need them. I personally dislike the artificial look they create, but in some particularly dark venues I could see them being particularly useful.

How do you find hand-holding the 16-55 in dark conditions? I find that anything less than 1/125th often causes motion blur in people (thus why I don't prioritise stabilization), but I've only used stabilised zooms in the past.

The weight provides for additional stability in-hand. As for motion blur, can't get away from that indoors, or outdoors in low light. I have plenty of very good images that have been taken in low light - both outside and inside. Pixel peeping may prove there to be some blur, but, I print regularly in larger sizes and don't have any problems with my results. I would say that I don't put myself in indoor low-light situations that often...but my needs are different than yours. I don't do indoor events, hence the suggestion I posed that you should look into flash photog. You may not like the color-cast, but clients must like sharp indoor images of people. And, I think that you can use colored filters on the flash to achieve a more natural look (?). Again, I am no expert.

Some pros do portraiture work with existing light and a tripod only, some use artificial light. Find something that works for you and is representative of what you are trying to convey as a photographer.