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The Wedding Photographers Equipment List

What equipment do you need to shoot a wedding? Find out what gear pro wedding photographers use with our guide.

If you have ever yearned to become a wedding photographer it is crucial to invest in gaining the necessary skills, experience and importantly photographic equipment.

This blog offers a quick guide to the important pieces of kit that a wedding photographer will have in his or her bag. We also consider the benefit of shooting full frame, to help you achieve that perfect wedding photo.

Getting started in Wedding Photography

Training and experience is important and most wedding photographers initially start by photographing a friend or relatives wedding. This was the case for wedding pro David Peake.

Additional training can also be undertaken to supplement your knowledge - pay a visit to our School of Photography page to see what courses are available.

Why full frame for wedding photography?

There are some compelling cases to shoot full frame. We'd even suggest that you are better off using an older, used full frame camera body rather than a newer, smaller sized sensor. Check our used equipment here.

Reasons to use full frame to capture the bride and groom:

• Wide angle capability - With a full frame sensor camera  you are able to use wide angle lenses such as 24mm for group shots without worrying about crop factors, generally these wide angle zooms tend to have wider apertures which are ideal for low light use
• Low light performance - Although the modern crop sensor models allow for light low use, the full size sensor cameras do offer far superior quality when shooting at high ISO’s. There are certain situations in which flash cannot be used such as in the interior of the church and in these conditions it is sometimes necessary to increase the ISO to 6400, 12800 or even 25,000.
• Increased Bokeh - This is the Japanese term meaning  “blur”, this effect lends itself beautifully portraits. The increase in sensor size means depth of focus is decreased, which when coupled with a telephoto lens and a wide aperture gives more bokeh / lens blur in the background.
• Increased Dynamic Range - full-frame records more detail than a cropped sensor, allowing you to push/pull shadows or highlights without introducing as much noise

The benefits of Mirrorless for a wedding photographer

There are some clear benefits to shooting full frame for wedding photography, but that is not to say that it is the only option.

Mirrorless offers something a bit different to a DSLR - namely discretion. The cameras, as a rule, are smaller, and offer a silent shooting mode. They can also offer higher frame rates than a DSLR.

The good news is that there are plenty of options now for full frame mirrorless cameras:
Sony a7iii, Sony a7Riii and the mighty impressive Sony a9
Canon EOS R
Nikon Z6 and Nikon Z7 

Read how wedding photographer Stuart Dudleston found the discreet size offered by his (APS-C sized sensor) Fujifilm X-T2 reinvigorated his approach to wedding photography.
 

So, what's in a pro's wedding kitbag?

• Full-size sensor camera  - Canon EOS 5D Mark IV,  Nikon D850, Sony a9
• Wide angle zoom - Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM, Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f2.8G ED,  Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 + suitable lens hood
• Telephoto zoom Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM,  Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 G (IF) VR ED II, Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 + lens hood
• A decent bag
• Bounce head speedlite (Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT / Nikon SB 700 Speedlight)
• Flash diffuser
• Suitable back up camera (Consider looking at second hand options)
• Spare batteries
• Reflector
• Vertical battery grip for single portrait shots
• Assistant, if possible to help out on the day
• Confetti
• Manipulation software – Adobe Lightroom

By Park Cameras on 18/10/2018