A few posts back I asked if anybody had questions about how I like to shoot,

so now I will do my best to answer a few of them.

Like I’ve said before, I am no expert but I have been shooting for a little while and I hope I can help others with their photography journey.

The fist questions I’ll address is equipment.

Good questions!

I guess I’ll just go through some of my favorite equipment and tell you why I like them.

(Note, I am a wedding photographer so all my gear will be inclined towards that avenue of photography)

First, my 

It’s a Canon 5dmarkii.

I love this camera, it’s a full frame camera which means {click here for the nitty-gritty}.

The explanation of a full frame camera can be hard to understand but just know I believe it will handicap you eventually if you’re not working with a full frame, in most cases.

I started out with a Canon 40d and it served me well but as soon as your business provides you with enough income to upgrade to a full frame camera, I would highly recommend it.

There is a lot more to cover as far as cameras go but that’s it for now.

Good lenses are normally quite expensive for someone just starting out, if you’ve noticed they are normally more expensive than your camera body itself.

There is a reason they cost so much, a good lens is very important and I’ve learned this the hard way.

I started out with the “kit lens” that came with my camera, I thought it was a great lens, I didn’t see any reason to upgrade but once I borrowed, rented and tried out the better quality lenses,

I was amazed at the difference in my images.

Depending on the situation I encourage beginners to get the best lens they can afford sometimes even over getting the best camera they can afford.

The quality of your “glass” affects your image a lot.

There is one lens that I love and that is extremely reasonably priced for what you’re getting,

and that is the Canon  EF 50mm f/1.4.

I love this lens for portraits, weddings, and pretty much a lot of things.

Because it’s 1.4 it’s great for low light and a shallow depth of field.

It’s such a good lens for the money and I highly recommend it when putting your gear together.
Now you also have the f/1.2 but you’re talking a big price jump between the two.

{If you’re not going to go with entirely prime lenses}

Next lens I have would recommend is a Canon L series (“L” means it’s the professional line of Canon’s lens)

EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L.

I love this lens for shooting weddings. It’s very handy to have for groups/family shots and a few other key shots you’ll want to get.

If I had to pick my next favorite lens to shoot a wedding with it would be Canon’s

EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS.

I like using this lens for shooting the ceremony.

It enables me to get a closer shot as well as a wider one without moving around a ton and being disruptive.

Then of course you can get a macro lens for shooting ring shots.

Once again there is so much to say about lenses, ie prime lenses vs. not and etc.

but I won’t be able to get into that right now.

If you can’t afford a nice lens right now I would encourage you to be renting one for shoots that deserve quality work from you.

I didn’t realize how much more I could be giving my clients if I had just rented a better lens.

My advice is to just work a lens rental or two into your price/packages if you can’t afford to own one.

One more thing to keep in mind, not all lenses work on all cameras.

I do have two Canon 580 speedlite EX II flashes in my bag and I really like them, I don’t use them too much with my shooting style but it’s nice to have around for really low light, fill light or some cool effects.

So those are three of the biggys that you’ll be thinking about when you get started or start upgrading.

I hope you found something helpful in all that rambling.

There were other good questions that I’ll try to answer in following posts.

Hope you all have a great Monday!

~Like my work on Facebook~Contact me about shooting~Follow me on Twitter~ 

Share