Camera and lens rental advice

[thyme4me]

Asking for advice and quick! My 50D and lens is out of commission and I'm still waiting for a price quote for repair. So I won't be receiving it anytime soon. Unfortunately my aunt has terminal cancer and we are uncertain how much longer we have with her. My cousin (her son) has called to ask me to come into her home and take pictures one last time.
My local camera shop only rents out Nikons. My concern is if there is a learning curve here. I've looked at another site that I have rented from in the past for lenses and they have both my 50D and a 24-70mm lens that I adore.
The session will be inside and I'm much better in natural light/outdoors. Should I order a flash as well? I've never worked with one before and I'm nervous. I plan to go over to the home tomorrow and look at the lighting at that time of the day.
Any, ANY advice is much needed. I need to order this very soon. They want to do it this weekend.
(ps please pray for me. Pray for the Lord to give me confidence, the ability to overcome my emotions and to do a good job...ty)

[KerryMac]

Hi Kris....I'm sorry to hear about your aunt. It's wonderful of you to be there for your family with your camera.
I'm not sure when you are going to go over there, but Aperturent.com is really great. And they have Canon. I'm super lucky because they are here where I live, but I've heard their shipping times are just incredibly fast. Maybe they can help! I hope so.

If you get your hands on the 50D or something similar, you can try using natural light. But maybe having a flash as a backup and bouncing it off a wall or diffuser will help.
You'll do a great job! I know you will!

[dugarner]

Kris, so sorry to hear about your aunt. What a hard time for you to be worrying about photos, when you know she is so sick. I went through this with my aunt three years ago, and she died before I was able to visit her outsideo of the hospital. I think you should rent a flash just in case. I recently rented from lensrentals.com and it was a flawless process. I would rent the equipment you know. You will be sad and feeling pressure to perform and fighting strange equipment will make it worse.

That said, you will do just fine. Your standards are higher than everyone else's and they will appreciate everything you do. Try to relax and really see her life and love through your lens, and that will come through in your photos. Let us know you're doing as time passes. Keep your chin up and stay confident

[thyme4me]

Thanks for your input ladies. In the past I have used borrowlense.com and have been happy as well. Unfortunately they are in CA and I'm hesitant about everything making it here on time. I just placed my order with Apeturent.com but I will definitely keep lenserentals.com in mind as well. I went with the Canon Speedlite 580EX II. I need to get info on how to work it now. After this I'm off to search.
You both eased my mind confirming what I need to do. This is one of those times where I don't want to second guess or mess up. It's so comforting to come here and know I have good advice. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[KerryMac]

Good luck and keep us posted, Kris! Glad aperturent worked out for you
That flash is the same one I have and it works wonderfully easily in TTL mode with the camera on manual. There are some good tutorials on the internet. Have fun!

[LauraBean]

Kris--quick and dirty way to use the flash: Set your camera on manual and pick a reasonable aperture and shutter speed--something like f/5.6 and 1/80 for a typical indoor shot without a lot of motion, but I vary this at will depending on the circumstance, and the camera deals with it using ETTL metering. For ISO I usually use 400. Point the flash straight up (assuming white ceilings here, with the little white card sticking up to bounce a little light forward). Set the flash for +1 (I do this on the flash, not in the camera); test and chimp. Watch for overexposure--if the histogram shows clipped highlights--stuff off the graph on the right--increase flash exposure compensation and test again.

The camera, using ETTL, does most of the work for you; bouncing means you get a bit less light from the flash, so increasing the flash helps with that, and bouncing also means a less ugly/flashy look.

I wish you the best--tough situation. You are kind to make the effort and do this for your family.

[thyme4me]

I just wanted to update you all regarding the photos. Unfortunately we've had some storms here and each time we've planned on a photo session we'd get lots of snow. Between basketball games and practices being rescheduled we kept having to put it off. Which in the end meant I had to increase my rental period. I called the night before it was due to be shipped back and they allowed me to keep it for a bit longer. The gentleman mentioned they would be closed during the week between the holidays so if I rented it for another 7 days then I could have it a week free! Music to my ears. I have to send it back January 3rd. Now I'll have wonderful Christmas photos too. I'm happy with the flash and it's on my wish list. I very thankful I rented it. I'm including a link here to show you the wonderful woman who is succumbing to cancer. I love members of my family but this lady is indeed something special. You know when you have someone who is one of your favorite people in the whole wide world? She is that certain someone to me. MANY thanks again for all your help.