Best Gear for Wedding Photographer

[marcos agrelli]

<p>For you, what's the best gear for a Wedding photographer? not about brand, but:<br>

- How many cameras?<br>

- Which lenses?<br>

- Flash, mounted or no?<br>

- Bracket: yes or no?<br>

- Bag belt?<br>

- Tripod?<br>

- Reflector?<br>

- And vest, which one you use? All black, Suit?<br>

....</p>

[marcos agrelli]

<p>In my case that I use Nikon, should be:<br>

2 Nikon: D300s and D700 or D3s w/battery grip<br>

Lenses: 50mm f/1.4G, 17-55mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8 and 10.5mm f/2.8 Fisheye.<br>

2 SB800 or SB900<br>

BeltBag<br>

Blackrapid</p>

 

[Ian Taylor]

<p>What's good for others might not be good for you. You have to find what works best for your style.</p>

[jimstrutz]

<p>I bring use 2-3 camera bodies, wide, normal and long zooms, two fast primes, a fisheye, a flash on a bracket with a spare flash & remote wire, bag to pack it all in, a belt system to shoot with, a tripod that I use sometimes, and a lot of miscellaneous. I wear all black except for the tie, but not a suit; Alaska is pretty casual.</p>

[conraderb]

<p>Marcos - there's no such thing as best gear. Some say 5 cameras, some say one. Some say Canon 5D Mk2, some say Mamiya C330. Anyone who tells you that there is a best gear setup is trying to sell you something.</p>

<p>What is your interest in gear? What are you trying to accomplish?</p>

[markonestudios]

Hello Marcos, I agree with others, you need to give some background to your question. I acknowledge that you are seeking personal opinions, and you are likely to get as many opinions as there are photographers. Maybe if we knew why you are asking. Is it simply an "opinion poll" or "survey" of sorts? Is it that you are looking to get into the industry and want to try and gauge the "norms"? Are you already established in the field and are simply curious? One thing is for sure. There will not be consensus :)

[david_schilling___chicago_]

<p>I'm confused your website has some nice images on it and you report having 5 years experieince shooting weddings and you've posted a complete beginner question that would take a short book to answer.........</p>

<p>For basic equipment questions: <a href="http://www.photo.net/learn/wedding/equipment">http://www.photo.net/learn/wedding/equipment</a> and then try a few searches on specific topics like brackets, tripod, etc....</p>

[marcos agrelli]

<p>The thing is: when I use 2 cameras and I'm alone, I don't like to change lenses often. I use a camera with the main lens (like 24-120 that I have or 17-55 that I like to) and the other one changing lenses, like 70-200, 50mm, or 12-24.</p>

[William Michael]

<p><strong>- How many cameras?</strong> generally three DSLR and three Film bodies are on hand for all gigs – the Film is just about finished except for special jobs and teaching gigs.<br /><strong>- Which lenses?</strong> from fisheye to about 300mm (135 format equivalent) only three zooms – I don’t like zooms much.<br /><strong>- Flash, mounted or no:</strong> Yes, Mounted but I like the quick release – those who know Metz, know the ones I mean. But I don’t like using Flash. <br /><strong>- Bracket: yes or no?</strong> see above.<br /><strong>- Bag belt?</strong> Bags – I use pockets on my coat, I don’t like belts,<br /><strong>- Tripod?</strong> I have three. I use a monopod more for events. And I used a monopod a lot for Weddings<br /><strong>- Reflector?</strong> I have more than three, every Wedding Photographer should use a GOLD one at least once just for fun, maybe it will grow on them.<br /><strong>- And vest, which one you use?</strong> I don’t, usually.<br>

<strong>-All black, Suit?</strong> Usually a suit, yes, for Weddings, for events I dress to suit the occassion - a suit looks silly when working a relaxed Prizegiving, in a Local Pub.</p>

<p>But I don’t think that info will necessarily help you much, unless you are marketing your business like I marketed mine, and you like shooting kinda like me.</p>

<p><strong><em>The thing is: when I use 2 cameras and I'm alone, I don't like to change lenses often. I use a camera with the main lens (like 24-120 that I have or 17-55 that I like to) and the other one changing lenses, like 70-200, 50mm, or 12-24.</em></strong><br>

<strong><em></em></strong><br>

That’s a different question.</p>

<p>If it is travelling light you are asking about then the very first question you need to ask is how often do you use FL = 120 to 200 or the extra speed at the FL from 70 to 120.</p>

<p>If you can work around those two issues, then leave the 70 to 200 in the boot of your car and have the 12 to 24 on one body and the 24 to 120 on the other body and the 50mm in you pocket. QED</p>

<p>WW</p>

<p> </p>

[john_deerfield]

<p>- How many cameras? <br /> Three minimum. I carry two on me via the Black Rapid dual strap.<br /> <br />- Which lenses?<br /> Fisheye (10.5) through up to 300mm (for outdoor weddings). However, I don't take my whole lens collection to every wedding. I bring what I need + back ups.<br /> <br />- Flash, mounted or no?<br /> I always have a flash mounted on the camera because I never know when I will want to pop off a shot. However, I prefer to use off-camera flash.<br /> <br />- Bracket: yes or no?<br /> No. Brackets drive me up a wall. But then again, I prefer to shoot with two cameras and two cameras on brackets would be very unwieldy!<br /> <br />- Bag belt?<br /> Yep, ThinkTank. Keep an extra lens handy, extra memory cards, lens pen, extra batteries, white balance tools, and more.<br /> <br />- Tripod?<br /> Yes. I have a couple but only one I use at a wedding right now. I actually want to upgrade my tripod this year.... I want a RSS head and legs to match!<br /> <br />- Reflector?<br /> Several. Although I am not a fan of the gold! I like the sunshine (1/2 gold) better!<br /> <br />- And vest, which one you use? All black, Suit?<br /> I wear a black silk dress type t-shirt and dress slacks. I usually start out with a sport coat but I lose that after about 30-seconds. I actually wore a collared shirt to my last wedding and was quickly reminded why I gave up on those when shooting two cameras and a dual strap.</p>