You need lights, man.

Have you tested your lenses to see how they handle lens flare/ghosting from lights when it’s dark? I’ve never had a problem with mine, but I’ve always checked a new lens to make sure.

In low light I use manual mode with auto-ISO, I put the lens wide open, and I vary shutter speed to keep the ISO reasonable while keeping shutter fast enough to avoid blur. I might stop the lens down a little for more depth of field, if lighting allows. The parade might be lit up enough where you can get away with auto exposure. I would scout out the location and see what the lighting is like at night.

Changing lenses out in the open at night with people walking around is one of my least favorite things to do as a photographer. I’ve seen parade photographers in my area with two bodies, they seem to favor 70-200 and 24-70mm. I also shoot with two bodies but I don’t have those lenses yet.

When I’ve shot parades I find a spot with a couple of good vantage points near each other, like a corner where the parade rout makes a turn (so I can take pictures from “in front of the parade” without actually being in the way) that might be near a picturesque or recognizable back drop like a fountain, park, fire station, town hall, library etc. I scouted out what I thought would be a good spot, and the professionals came to the same spot.

It seems like the photographers and town employees are friendly with each other and they build some good will by taking pictures of all the fire fighters and EMT responders if fire trucks and ambulance are part of the parade.

I’d go with two bodies, one wide and one telephoto (not too long if you are going to be close) mounted so you don’t have to swap lenses.

Maybe a speedlight if you want more people shots. I sometimes do a timelapse or long exposure from a tripod for these kind of things too.

I took photos at an evening Christmas parade once. It was very hard to get enough light on people’s faces. You probably want to figure out a good way to use flash for at least some of the shots.

Who is your client and/or what are their expectations? The benefit of knowing what you can ignore is immeasurable. And then, remember to ignore it.

Become familiar with the route and if possible the itinerary. Go there in person ahead of time at the same time of day as the event. It will be hard to line up shots and have them actually occur as planned, it’s a moving subject and things just happen (the subject may arrive as scheduled but YOU may not be there at the required moment for whatever reason), don’t rely on planning lines of sight (and don’t promise them) unless you know exactly where a needed shot will be, or if there is a must-get background, just be ready for anything.

I could shoot the whole thing with just those two primes, barring any required reach or FOV advantage. At 1.2 it just opens up the possibilities, at the expense of depth of field of course, so I would prioritize more shots at a greater subject distance to avoid overwhelming bokeh in every shot for a client that wants to convey the presentation and atmosphere of the event.

Medium teles force you to make space between you and your subject, so manage your working distance–only consider subjects/scenes >X feet away and position yourself accordingly, look for opportunities to layer interesting foregrounds and backgrounds to open up your compositions and create depth and space, compose with bright lit-up backgrounds, and just think on a larger scale in terms of subject distance than a wide-angle would afford, you will see the great shots if that’s what you focus on. Of course get the great closer-up bokeh shots too, just don’t get hypnotized by aesthetics when the job you need to get done requires more. If you do have a wider lens it’s probably larger and not as fast. I would opt for the faster speed and smaller lenses over the greater field of view.

There will be plenty of holiday vibe family and performer portrait opportunities everywhere you look. If these are on your shot list, prioritize a flattering direction of light on the subjects’ faces for all portraits. Running around, cuteness abounds and you want to get it all, but if it’s a streetlamp directly over their heads it’s not going to be a keeper. Get it if that’s what you have in front of you, but plan and think ahead of time as you move around where the great light is, everything shot in it tends to also look great, especially portraits.

Get a shot list, underpromise and overdeliver

Wear comfortable shoes that will perform as needed

Keep your hands and batteries warm

Watch out for condensation when moving your equipment from warm to cold air

Take advantage of moments to pause and take in the event without a camera in your face

This sounds fun, good luck.

Not sure what you have committed to, but I think you will almost certainly have to use flash if there isn’t some unusual lighting going on. Parades are moving. It is dark. I would not think they have lighting even as good as a high school gym for indoor sports. The lighting is the key. Have you used flash before? You will need to understand how it works at distance. You will need to understand flash sync speeds, etc. You really need to do some testing beforehand, but I doubt you can recreate exactly what a parade will entail… slow moving vehicles will people standing on it moving around… bands marching down the street, etc.

It’s not hard just shoot like any other event you shoot.

Stay alert. Don’t get hit by a float.

Scout the location for good viewpoints and angles (same time as the parade).

Probably a good idea to carry two cameras with different lenses.

Tripod and flash

shoot jpg + raw

if your camera has two card slots, use them both

do u have a speedlight???

I’d probably go 85 1.2, 70-200, and a ultrawide. If you’re far off from the parade then maybe a little longer but I feel like that’ll cover you.

I just shot a night time day of the dead parade. I hadn’t shot at night for awhile. No flash, just ambient light ( street and building lights) Was shooting at 1600 but quickly went to 6400+ ISO. Many shots were blurry but some real keepers though.

I would shoot with your fastest lenses to temper the ISO setting. And, as others stated walk the route around the planned time and shoot the traffic to work out your settings.

I did that last Friday. It was a night parade, no sky light, with inadequate street lighting, on a narrow two lane old-time urban street. 50 mm was definitely too long (on full frame) for many of the shots but I managed to place myself at a turn in the road so it wasn’t awful. I exposed for the highlights, which consisted of a multitude of Christmas lights on each float, and a lot of the shadows were indeed rather dark. The lens was a f/1.8, and most of my shots were f/2.2 at rather elevated ISO. My keeper rate was well below what I’m accustomed to. Definitely I’d use a wider lens were I to do this again, like maybe my 28 mm f/2.8, and I’d shoot it wide open.

Keep it simple as you’re in a low light situation.

Go manual with auto ISO, setting what your high limit will be for ISO.

This is a parade so there is going to be constant movement. It’s at walking speed so try 1/125 shutter speed. Or try walking backwards with the subject and using a slower shutter speed.

Aperture between f2 to 5.6 depending on depth of field needed as well as available light. It’s night time so accept some noise in your images and fix latter. Idea is to get the shot. Better one with some noise vs missing the shot.

Narrow your lens choices down two lens for low light usage and use your feet to make them work. Carry both on you, maybe one in a jacket pocket so you can switch easily. Too many lens, too many choices to make and too many missed shots.

You didn’t say what the wide angle was but I’d test it at the parade time and the location to see how it looks. 24mm or 35mm will work for close up shots, just use your feet to frame how you want.

Other lens might be the 85mm for portrait type shots. Forget the 50mm. 24/35mm & 85mm should have you covered for the distances involved.

Try to have fun!