Lenses for Wedding Photography

I received a great question from a reader yesterday:

Hi there,

I've been reading your wedding blog with interest. I'm not a wedding pro, but aspire to that standard, and have just ordered a Canon EOS 5D MKII. I've read the post regarding the lenses you take to weddings but wondered which you recommend for bread-and-butter wedding use. Which 3 lenses would you say are must-haves in your experience?  
 
I was thinking of initially buying the 35mm f/1.4, 24-70mm f/2.8 and 135mm f/2. I'm also tempted by the 16-35 f/2.8 but have read some negative reviews.
 
Great blog by the way.

Thank you.

George Bain

Thanks for the question George and many thanks for the positive feedback on my blog. It gives me a lot of satisfaction to know that people enjoy reading it.

So which are the 3 must-have lenses for a wedding photographer? The lenses that I currently take with me to all weddings are the 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye, 16-35mm f/2.8 L II, 35mm f/1.4 L, 24-70mm f/2.8 L, 85mm f/1.2 L and 70-200 f/2.8 L IS. Bear in mind that I'm using a full-frame Canon EOS 5D with no crop factor. Rather than speculate as to which of these lenses I think are most important I've used Lightroom 2 to analyse the metadata from my last 10 weddings in order to see how frequently I actually use each of the lenses (I need to get out more!). Numbered weddings in the first column, percentage use of each lens in the following columns and average use in the bottom row.

A few observations:

1. Perhaps I should remove the 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye from my bag! I only used it at wedding 3 (for some shots on a beach).

2. The focal length range 16-70mm completely dominates every wedding I shoot. The 16-35mm f/2.8 L II is my most used lens. I think this reflects the compact nature of many wedding venues and my desire to shoot people with their environment. The 24-70 f/2.8 L is my next most frequently used lens.

3. The 35mm prime lens is used less frequently at weddings with shorter coverage time. I stick to the zooms to save time.

4. My 85mm f/1.2 L is primarily employed for the bride and groom portrait session and usage reflects the length of time that is allowed for this aspect of the wedding.

5. Weddings 2, 4, 5 and 7 were mainly shot indoors due to poor weather. The 70-200 f/2.8 L lens was then often unused.

6. The length of coverage, structure of the day, nature of venue and quality of weather all have an impact on lens usage.

So on the basis of this analyis my recommendations would have to be the 16-35mm f/2.8 L, the 24-70mm f/2.8 L and the 85mm f/1.2 L (or cheaper f/1.8 variant) for the portrait session - that dreamy bokeh is just irresistible for weddings. A pretty portable set of 3 lenses.

You will always be able to find a negative review of any piece of kit - people are much more likely to write one if they've had a bad experience. Lenses, in particular, show variability and it is possible to buy poor quality examples of them. If you're not happy with a lens then ask for it to be replaced - the more supporting evidence you can provide for this claim, the more willing the vendor will be to help you (theoretically).

Hope you enjoyed reading this. Please feel free to feedback your comments. I think I'll speculate further on lenses in future posts.

Check out my photography here: wedding photographer in Kent

Wedding Photographer Kent - Hadlow, Tonbridge

I had the pleasure of photographing Natasha and Chris's wedding on Saturday at Hadlow Manor Hotel, near Tonbridge - see their wedding gallery. It was an absolutely lovely day, warm and sunny, and we were surrounded by the beautiful colours of autumn. Natasha and Chris were absolutely charming and non-stop smilers - it made my job very easy!

Since the sun was so low in the sky I had to avoid casting my own shadow on subjects and sunlight entering the lens directly to give lens flare. The quality of light under the shelter of trees though was superb.

Check out more of my photography here: wedding photographer in Kent

Alex Hughes Photoshoot, Margate

I had a great time photographing up-and-coming singer Alex Hughes yesterday at Arlington House in Margate. Gritty would be a polite way of describing the location but it was the perfect setting for the shoot I had in mind. His producer Ted Carfrae came along and very kindly held my wireless flash unit and reflector for some of the shots!

Alex and Ted were a real pleasure to work with and I wish them all possible success with Alex's new album. I think Alex could have a future in modelling too - he was wonderfully relaxed and confident in front of the camera. Virtually all the shots were keepers.

The photoshoot took place at midday which meant that no direct sunlight reached us in the covered ground floor car park that we used. The quantity of light was low (ISO 1600 for some of the shots) but the quality was very high. Most of the shots used natural light but I also shot a few with a 580EX II Speedlite triggered with an ST-E2 Speedlite transmitter.

Check out more of my photography here: Kent portrait photographer