What type of camera is best for wedding photography?

5 Responses to “What type of camera is best for wedding photography?”

1. T. Le says:

   July 3, 2010 at 3:25 pm

   The camera doesn’t matter nearly as much as the lenses you use (and the photographer’s skill and knowledge).
   For weddings, you definitely need fast lenses unless where the wedding takes place is fully lit and bright enough so that fast lenses or flash isn’t needed. But more than often, that doesn’t happen. You also need several types of lenses, such as a:

   - Fast prime, mid-telephotos are probably the most useful (50mms or 85mms work very well, especially for portraits)
   - General purpose zoom
   - Telephoto lens (zoom or prime, that’s up to you. But as a heads up, 70-200mm lenses are especially handy)
   - Wide-angle lens

   You may need more lenses than that, or you may need less – that totally depends on you and how you shoot. That list is just to give you some ideas. The cost of fast lenses really add up though, so I’d be prepared for that.

   Now that I’ve covered lenses, let’s talk about the camera body itself..
   It’s hard to suggest a specific model since you didn’t name a budget. But for wedding photography, you’ll probably need 2. One primary, one backup. At the least, a mid-level DSLR is what you’d want. And when you say image stabilization, do you want it in the camera body or in the lens?
   If you can include some more details I could help you out a bit more.
   References :
2. BL says:

   July 3, 2010 at 4:11 pm

   I would recommend Nikon D90 digital SLR camera, a great camera that provide great color, sharp pictures.
   http://www.amazon.com/gp/redir.....ive=390957

   and good lens for wedding that I would recommend is Nikon 17-55mm, a great all around lens but if you want cheaper then Nikon 50mm is a good lens for portrait.
   http://www.amazon.com/gp/redir.....ive=390957
   References :
3. keerok says:

   July 3, 2010 at 4:59 pm

   What’s your current camera?
   References :
4. Eclipse says:

   July 3, 2010 at 5:08 pm

   I’m assuming you know you should probably be looking at a DSLR. If you are on a tight budget, it will probably be an entry-level to mid-range crop body like Nikon’s D90 or Canon’s 50D. If you’ve got a little more money, may be a Nikon D700 or Canon 5D Mark II. Classic wedding lenses are 24-70mm and 70-200mm f/2.8 zooms. On crop-body cameras, you might use a 17-55mm f/2.8 instead of the 24-70mm because of the narrower field of view common to crop-bodies. Within these focal lengths, image stabilization isn’t normally considered a critcal feature for competent photographers but it is nice to have if available.

   We’re I in your shoes, I’d want the best image quality for the money. With that in mind, I might skip the latest camera and look for a used 5D (the original rather than the current MKII). That would free up substantially more money for the 24-70mm and 70-200mm f/2.8 zooms mentioned earlier if you want a full-frame camera as most folks doing your type of photography do. If you are professionally shooting weddings, you need to build a certain degree of redundancy into your kit. This means two camera bodies at a minimum and primes at critical focal lengths to backup the zooms if it is unreasonable to have spare copies of the zoom lenses on hand.

   I am a semi-pro Canon shooter using a 7D and 5D MarkII. My main lenses are the EF 24-70mm f2.8L and 70-200mm f2.8L IS. A third lens used at some events is the 16-35mm f/2.8L. I also have several fast primes for those times, the zooms just aren’t appropriate and as backup to the zooms. My primes are the 35mm f1.4L, 50mm f1.4, 85mm f1.2L and 135mm f2L.
   References :
5. Carl_the_Truth says:

   July 3, 2010 at 5:45 pm

   Hasselblad.
   References :
   http://www.hasselbladusa.com