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

atalwar wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

The ideal event/portrait setup for me is the 16-55 (super versatile and good for portraits) and the 50-140 (versatile, excellent for portraits, excellent OIS for longer focal lengths) on two bodies. Using primes, most folks go the the 16 or 23 with the 56 route, but 35/56 will work too, less versatile though. At an indoor event I’d rather go 16/35 than 35/56. The 90, while great, is a bit long and not stabilized which limits its indoor usefulness somewhat. If I could only have one lens/one body it would be the 16-55, hands down.

+1, 16-55 + 50-140 is the most practical kit.

In good light, yes. Knowing the light conditions OP will be shooting in is crucial to being able to say with confidence that a pair of 2.8 zooms will be their best bet. I'd say 75% of the events I shoot I'd be sunk like the Titanic if I was stuck with those two zooms.

Add one or two special fast primes and you have more or less a workhorse kit. (You already own one).

I take the 16, 23, 35, 56 and occasionally the 90 to about 95% of my events and weddings and end up using them for most.

I suppose it depends what one means by 'events'. I'm a documentary event photographer at birthdays, weddings, luxury parties, etc, and almost all in very dark venues. Last week I was at an event that was so dimly lit that I was getting 1/50th second, ISO 12800, on my 1.2 and 1.4 primes.

Yes, I take a flash. But I will never use it unless I'm asked for a quick-n-dirty group shot by guests as I pass by. Otherwise I'm killing the mood and the ambient light by firing my flash all day long.