It’s one of every photographer’s worst nightmares. You pick up your camera to start shooting, and for some reason, it stops working and you have NO idea why. Your mouth goes dry, pulse quickens, sweat breaks out on your forehead.

“Oh crap, oh crap, OH $#*%!”

That time my camera broke on a wedding day | Abby Grace Photography

That’s exactly what happened to me several weeks ago! I’d sent my Canon 5dmk3 into the Canon factory for service, and had reserved a rental 5dmk3 to shoot my next wedding. First mistake:  I didn’t test it at home to make sure everything was in good working order- I just packed the rental in my bag and headed off for the wedding.

After greeting my bride and meeting all the bridesmaids, I settled in to start shooting details- after styling the shoes in a great bank of window light, I put my camera up my eye.

And the autofocus didn’t work. And for most people who shoots weddings, you know you HAVE to be able to use autofocus (AF). Weddings are fast-paced and sometimes unpredictable- there’s not always time to be able to be able to focus manually. So, needless to say, this had to be fixed.

That time my camera broke on a wedding day | Abby Grace Photography

I tried everything I knew but nothing worked, so I handed the camera off to my second shooter Lauren and asked her to search Google for an answer while I switched to my back-up body, the 5dmk2. I was a little rattled, but this is what back-up equipment is for, right? We couldn’t find anything on Google so in a panic, I asked Lauren to call our friend & Canon master Stephen Gosling, who walked her through resetting the camera body entirely.

It worked! Back in business. I proceeded to shoot all of the bridal details, the getting ready portion, my bride as she read a letter from her groom, donning the dress, putting on jewelry & shoes, and had just started into a few bridal portraits when I looked down and realized…

My camera was shooting on JPG. Instead of RAW.

I have never in my life shot professional work on JPG.*

I legitimately felt nauseated. How could this have happened?! Oh… when we reset the camera, it reset EVERYTHING, including the file type- the factory standard is JPG, apparently- it didn’t even occur to me that would happen.

That time my camera broke on a wedding day | Abby Grace Photography

The difference between JPG & RAW is substantial- JPG yields like… a 4-9MB file, and RAW yields a 25-30MB file. The RAW photos retain every piece of information the camera records, meaning if you screw up exposure or white balance, it’s much easier to fix with editing later on because more information was stored along with the photograph. JPG is a lot less forgiving.*

I beat myself up ALL. DAY. for that mistake. But you know what? When I got those photos home and imported them onto my hard drive, they were beautiful. And since I’d exposed well and manually controlled my white balance, they were super easy to edit- they were actually easier to edit than my RAW files, which was a pleasant surprise.

That time my camera broke on a wedding day | Abby Grace Photography

But most importantly? My couple loves their photographs. There was no difference at ALL in the end product- the photos still matched my style, I still documented the day well and in a manner consistent with the quality I’m known for, and because of that, my couple never had to know anything was amiss. It just…
you know, gave me a heart attack along the way.

SO. Lessons learned:

  1. TEST your rental equipment before you get on site for a shoot or wedding! EsPECIALLY a wedding- this is too important of a day to leave to chance!
  2. ALWAYS carry back-up equipment. I don’t care how confident you are that your equipment is solid- there is always the chance that something could go wrong unexpectedly (like shutter failure, the mirror falling out, etc.).

*There are plenty of photographers who shoot GORGEOUS work on JPG, by the way- I’m not hating on that at all! It’s just not what I personally shoot, hence the freak out.

Photog Friday- That time my camera stopped working at a wedding

July 22, 2016

  1. Jean says:

    Way to come back from a near disaster! Wow!

  2. Mylah Renae says:

    I had the same thing happen, but at a styled shoot. *insert heart attack* Luckily, that is EXACTLY why we carry back-up equipment!

  3. Rici says:

    Oh my!! Thank you for sharing this! I did not know about the JPG and RAW thing after resetting. I always text Jan (my college) for help if anything happens… But yes. It is important to stay focused on what matters & if the clients love the result all is well. :*

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