Most important of all of this is, did you expect the client to compare (subconsciously or consciously) the resulting photos with the samples you showed them before the shoot? Would you have thought it unreasonable for the client to expect his/her pictures to be far superior to those samples?

I would wholeheartedly agree better pics would have been made with better equipment and a tripod. Of course, Jose Villa, Cliff Mautner or Ben Chrisman would have made better pictures than the defendant using the exact same equipment that they did. So again, it is not the equipment or lack thereof that should be the focus here.

Do we really want to send the message that if one wants to be a professional, they must get the top of the line camera and likely upgrade every year or two (oh, it may be that a DSLR is not good enough, you need a medium format Hasselblad, or is a large format necessary? It could be only film will render the necessary quality, right now I would think it very unclear) and the fastest lenses available no matter the price is an absolute necessity. To do otherwise would seem to mean that, no matter how good or bad your photos, you will not be a professional and every client can instantly demand a refund. Further, you better understand that your sample book/portfolio is meaningless – the client is totally correct in thinking the resulting photos will meet any standard they so choose and they do not even have to share that standard with you beforehand.

I never would have guessed this was what we should expect as professional photographers. No wonder so many wedding photographers look so haggard.

My reaction was these photographers were really not professionals. I personally would probably taken a loss before going on national television. That stunt had to hurt their business.

The photographers should have know their equipment a lot better along with their limitations. The limitations should have probably put into the contract as well. That way both parties are getting what they agreed upon. It would have given the bride a chance to try to pick another photographer. I would have to say I always test new gear and figure out limitations before I am on location. Not doing that brings to much risk and liability.

I have been both situations during the wedding ceremony. Some priest do not like flash during the ceremony, and some do. It really depends on the situation. They should have used a tripod at least for a couple of them. I do not really believe the bride about the priest telling the guest not using flash because it would ruin the professional pictures. That statement was really hard to swallow.

My wife’s reaction was totally different. Her view point was any bride could get the pictures and say they were not happy with the quality. That concerns me as well.

Last weekend I shot a wedding with my highly professional assistant and both of us would know exactly which body and lens was used for each image and could probably pick the f-stop for each image too.

And we certainly shoot expecting each one to be the winner the bride want enlarged – a lot.

Incidentally our kit was 4x Canon 5D (5Dmk11), 2x 70-200mm F2.8, 17-40mm F4, 85mm F1.8, 50mm F1.8 and a 24-105 F4. As well as Canon 580ex11 strobes. And yup a tripod was used.