Wedding photography gear.
What’s in the camera bag?
It’s a question I get all the time. What camera is that? What lens do you use? Well, this is all for you.
Typically on a day, i’ll run 2x camera bodies, one with a 35mm lens, the other with an 85mm. This combo covers 95% of a wedding day, with longer or shorter lens’ kept in my bag just in case.
Canon R6 Mk2 (x2)
This is my camera of choice. Solid and reliable Canon build quality, with great battery life and swift, accurate autofocus. I use two of these on a day, usually with a 35 and 85 lens combo. The high ISO capability of these cameras is amazing, and shooting at ISO’s at or above 6400 is no longer an issue. Compared to my previous digital SLR’s, these new mirrorless cameras are incredible. I shoot in compressed RAW, and usually in aperture priority mode, auto ISO.
24.1 mega pixel full frame sensor.
12 frames per second (mechanical) or 40 frames per second (electronic shutter).
Weather sealed
Good battery life (I typically do 4 batteries in one full-day wedding)
Canon EF 35mm f1.4L mk2.
I cannot tell you how much I love the 35mm focal length. It’s the closest thing photography has to the human eye, not in terms of field of view exactly, but in how it feels. It's wide enough to give context and place your subject in their environment, but tight enough to stay connected to them. It doesn't distort like a 24mm or compress and flatten like a 50mm. I love it because it puts you physically close to your subject, which gives intimacy and presence in the frame. It’s also great for environmental shots where the person and their surroundings tell the story together. It just looks... natural.
The mk2 version of this lens is razor sharp wide open, and its auto focus when paired with mirrorless bodies is rapid and accurate.
Canon EF 85mm f1.4L IS.
I tried the f1.2L and found in too slow to focus and inaccurate. I tried the f1.8 which was super fast and much lighter, but wide open it had really bad purple fringing. I was then introduced to the 85mm f1.4L IS and I haven’t let it go since!
The 85mm focus length is a classic pairing with a 35, meaning I can get tight when needed. It’s great for creative portraits, and wide open into the sun it makes for brilliant sunset images.
Wide open, it’s nine-blade aperture produces bokeh that's smooth and rounded, close enough to the f/1.2L to be indistinguishable in a finished image, but without the sluggish focus that made the f/1.2 a pain to work with at a wedding.
It’s weather-sealed and has Image Stabilisation, both of which come in handy in poor weather and dimly lit churches!
Canon EF 24mm f1.4L mk2.
24mm is my ‘wide angle’. It’s a solid lens that has had a good life in many weddings and events over the years. This is an older lens that you can get pretty cheaply now, but works with modern mirrorless bodies very well indeed, especially with the RF-EF adaptor.
At f/1.4 on a 24mm, you're pulling in enormous amounts of light while keeping the whole scene in frame. That makes this ideal for dark churches, tight rooms, and big group shots where I can't physically step back any further.
Wide open it's not clinically sharp in the corners, but that's not what 24mm is for. It's an environmental lens, placing people in their surroundings, telling the story of the room, the light, the moment. Stopped to f/2 the sharpness snaps into shape across the frame.
Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS mk2.
Ask any events photographer about an ‘essential’ lens, and the 70-200mm will nearly always be the answer. My one has had a great life, shooting events all over the UK. It’s rock solid, super versatile and never lets me down.
Despite it’s size, it’s the lens you don't notice — and that's the point. I can be standing at the back of a long aisle capturing the moment the doors open, completely invisible, while the 35mm on the other body covers the guests. Wide open, it throws backgrounds into a smooth blur, which makes it awesome for portraits. The subject pops, the world behind them melts! It also doubles as a reportage tool; the reach lets me observe rather than participate, which is exactly where candid photography lives. Yes, It's heavy, and you know about it by the end of a long day, but the images it produces make that worth it.
