Wedding Season Is Here!
With the busy season now upon us I thought it would be a good time to show what equipment I'm packing for 2024!
What Cameras Do I have?
I did start the year with the first wedding in March with only two Canon 5d mkiii 's. These cameras were proven work horses originally released in March 2012. I love the 5d mkiii, it provides wonderful colours and professional results. There are a few caveats with still using a camera from 2012. To deliver industry standard results comparable to my competition I needed an upgrade in order to keep up. The main issues were mainly the autofocus, as anyone who knows the autofocus in DSLR's just cannot keep up with today's systems along with its low light performance.
You might be asking yourself, which camera did I choose to upgrade too? It was a tough choice as Canon is about to release a R1 and a R5 mkii this year. Did I want to invest in a model that was almost 4 years old?
Turns out I did. It was a very tough choice that took weeks of deliberation! What was I was stuck between you might ask? A Canon R3 released September 2021 or a Canon R5 released July 2020.
On one hand eye controlled autofocus with great low-light performance and all day battery performance with the compromise of a smaller sensor. On the other hand I still had a great autofocus with a huge resolution image sensor with the compromise of increased battery usage with large file sizes. After flopping too and from I chose the Canon R5 as I also dabble in studio work.
With the first official one shoot in downtown Ottawa under the belt of the Canon R5 I can safely say I made the right choice! The dynamic range of the Canon's R5 sensor is incredible.
Canon R5 and Canon 5D mkiii 's
Lowepro Nova 200 AW II
Lenses In The Bag
In my bag a Lowepro Nova 200 AW II satchel, I have four great lenses to choose from. The workhorse lens that is used with about 80% of my work; the Sigma Art 24-70mm f/2.8 constant aperture lens released in February 2017. I chose this lens over the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 version II lens as the Sigma came with optical stabilization. Sigma have really stepped up their game with releasing lenses that producing image results that compete directly with first party manufactures like Canon.
Moving swiftly on too my favorite lens of the bunch! The Sigma Sport 70-200m f/2.8 constant aperture lens released December 2018. This lens is crazy fast and durable. It produces wonderful portrait images that outcompete Canon's own version iii lens. This lens handles flaring wonderfully when shooting portraits directly into the setting sun. I try and use this lens as much as I can, however my workhorse lens still comes out on top!
Getting into low light situations I can pull out my old trusty Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM lens released in 2008. I love the look of my "nifty fifty" however dated it might be in comparison to the newest 50mm lenses. I must add now mounting it on the new mirrorless R5 it has given this lens a new lease of life in terms of focus speed and reliability with one caveat, due to the high megapixel count of the Canon R5 using it wide open will render softer than acceptable results than using on the older Canon 5d mkiii. I have had this lens kicking around for quite some time and was given to me by my godmother so even if I upgrade away from this lens I could never get rid of it. It's been from my first Canon camera the Legendary 50D, then on to the 7D (which I sadly let go late last year).
The last lens left in this years line up "drum roll..." the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 SP 72E Macro lens released way back in 1996. "1996!" you might shout, yes you have read that correctly. To be fair I thought it was even older a 1992 lens. Now you might be saying "why are you using a lens this old?" honestly it's still a lens that produces sharp enough results for deliverable images and I nabbed this lens off the internet for $100 CAD. Being a macro lens they are designed to be sharp. Typically I would be using this lens for close ups, so the majority of time I would be operating the lens at smaller apertures like f/8. Now due to this lens being old it does focus fairly slowly when mounted to my Canon 5D mkiii however when I used this lens with the Canon R5 it feels like the focus motor got an upgrade, it drives so much faster than before and can now keep up with my children playing in the backyard. Not bad for a mid 90's lens eh.
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 Art | Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 Sport
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM | Tamron 90mm SP f/2.8
And Lastly Of All
A wedding photographers bag wouldn't been complete without speedlites. When there's no more light coming from that burning ball in the sky or I'm in a dark room you can be assured I'll have a speed light on my camera. Part of being a wedding / event photographer is that sometimes you have to bring the light to you. The speedlites I carry with me I have also carried with me for quite a while now. They are the Yongnuo YN600EX-RT speedlites with the Yongnuo YN-E3-RT radio transmitter. The Yongnuo YN-E3-RT transmitter is great for setting up my speedlites away from my camera in a separate location of a wedding reception. Tucked away in the depths of my camera bag I have various light modifiers for my speedlites to bend, reflect or direct the light coming from my flashes. One of those light modifiers is a medium sized Rogue Flash bender with a diffuser panel. Hidden in my bag I have a couple of home made light light modifiers for directing the light effectively.
Yongnuo YN600EX-RT | Yongnuo YN-E3-RT
Lowepro Nova 200 AW II camera bag full
Best Of Luck For 2024
That about wraps it up for the equipment I'm taking to weddings this year. I hope you have enjoyed reading my latest post about some of the equipment it takes to photograph an event as important as a wedding.
