Morning Tea Shoot - Which lens to use?

[adamj123]

Hey,

A mate of mine has asked me to take some photos for a goodbye morning tea his parents are hosting. Being my first official function I am unsure as to what lens would best suite and was hoping some people here could give me some guidance.

My current gears is as follows:
Canon 30D body
Canon 50mm 1.4;
Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS; and
Canon 70-200m f/2.8L IS

So out of these 3 lenses which ones would best suite this situation? They basically just want me to walk around and snap photos of the guests, it will also be indoors… I don’t have any external flashes at the moment so the built in one will have to suffice.
Thanks for your help!

[big pix]

small groups..... use your 18-85.......

[BT*ist]

Agreed - you need to be able to get group shots as well as individuals there, so if you can only take one lens take the one with the widest angle.

[adamj123]

Would the 50mm be of any use for this type of photography?

[BT*ist]

Useful it's particularly low-light (indoors) and you can't use a flash for whatever reason. But you have to be careful because the wider apertures affect your depth of field, and hence your group shots. Nice for portraits, though, of course!

[big pix]

you will find that if you are working indoors, you will be using a lens range of about 24-40mm, but if working outside with a 50 mm prime you will have room to get back to shoot small groups

[PiroStitch]

17-85 for group shots
70-200 for candid fly on the wall style of photos

Most importantly, it's to have fun and treat it as a learning experience Don't be afraid of making mistakes as that's the only way to learn.

[adamj123]

Thanks everyone for the replies so far, I am sure it will come in handy

Just one more concern I have regarding the in built flash. What are the risks or so involved with using the built in flash? if there are any is there anything i can do to reduce the negative impact it may have on the photos?