subject: Gear for Wedding Photography [print this page] Gear for Wedding Photography Gear for Wedding Photography
My favourite lens for wedding photography is the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G AF-S VR II lens. This lens enables me to shoot from a reasonable distance and get great photojournalistic style shots with fantastic bokeh, perfect for my signature style of photography. Coupled with my full frame Nikon D3S it provides a very useful range of focal lengths. The 70mm end is wide enough for instances when my subject moves a little too close, forcing me to use a shorter focal length. There are times though when I wish the 200mm focal length was a little longer. The downside of this lens is that it's reasonably heavy, and I usually end up with sore arm and shoulder muscles carrying around 6kg of gear for 10 hours at a wedding.
My next choice of lens to carry at a wedding (provided you are a Nikon shooter) is the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G super wide angle lens. This lens lets me create unusual perspectives that emphasize the foreground by making it larger and de-emphasizes the background. Not forgetting the ability to cover an amazing amount of the scene in tight spaces, which is usually the reason why most people buy a super wide angle lens.
The other lens in my bag at a wedding would be the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lens. For me, this lens beats even Nikon's own 50mm f/1.4G AF-S lens. The 50mm lens is perfect at Chinese tea ceremonies where space is often tight, yet the large aperture enables great separation of the subject from its background.
I also have a Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G lens, which I usually use for commercial photography assignments. This is also another razor-sharp lens, which together with the 14-24mm and 70-200mm makes an unbeatable trio that is all you will need for world-class technical quality.
My choice of the Nikon D3S full frame camera body is purely because of its awesome high-ISO capability and its professional-grade autofocus performance. This body enables me to even use AF-S (instead of AF-C) with moving objects with a very high rate of in-focus images.
Apart from lenses, you will also need speedlights that will complement available light. Multiple speedlights will add a unique dimension to your photography. The Nikon SB-900 Speedlight and Nikon SB-700 Speedlight are both CLS (Creative Lighting System) compatible speedlights that can be used individually (eg. for weddings) or as part of a group of speedlights (eg. for portrait lighting).
Just starting out?
If you have a smaller budget, here is a kit that can be used in a similar fashion as my selection above.
