We hope you are liking our blog series on “What’s in our bag!” Today’s blog is focusing on our cameras that we use. I have mentioned in other blogs that Alan uses Sony cameras and I use Cannon. Even though we use different brands we have similar features that we have said are our must-haves with our cameras especially for a wedding!
Taken with Alan’s Sony.
To start with our overview we each have two main cameras that we bring and use the entire day. I use a Canon 5D Mark III and a Canon 5D Mark IV. These are the same camera series one is just a newer version. Alan uses a Sony A7III and a A7RIII. Alan’s cameras are very similar but the R is an extreme high resolution camera. Alan often uses the high resolution camera for portraits and detail shots because it allows for crisp detailed photos that can be blown up without losing quality. He often switches to using his A7III for the ceremony into the reception because it is a better low light performing camera and because with not being the higher resolution camera the file size of pictures is smaller meaning he can take more pictures before having to switch cards. This is very important during the middle of a ceremony especially but is also a great benefit during the reception when we are taking a higher volume of photos.
We had a card failure at this wedding during the reception. Because we had dual cards we did not lose a single picture and were able to backup all of the photos right away with our computer.
Both of our cameras are full frame cameras with dual card readers. The full frame allows better low light performance which is important especially for a wedding. Usually the getting ready areas are in a hotel room or space that doesn’t have the best lighting-a full frame camera can really be a game changer! Not to mention for those dark evening receptions! For the dual card readers-this is a huge feature for us. We only photograph a wedding with dual card readers because we have seen technology fail as I am sure you have as well. SD cards are great but they fail, issues happen, a dual card reader will record the same image to two separate cards at the same time. Having that redundancy if one of your cards goes bad is huge for us.
*not a camera but...we also always bring a computer and a card reader to a wedding. We like to have two forms of backup at a minimum at all times so if we see a card go bad during a wedding. We first swap cards immediately but second when we have a moment we usually will input the photos onto our computer so that we again have a second form of backup for that chunk of pictures.
Now on to some specialties of why we selected these cameras above the dual cards, and full frame….
Taken with Alan’s Sony he was able to make this tack sharp with his eye auto focus.
For Alan’s cameras these are both mirrorless cameras. He LOVES them and will talk your ear off about them if you ever want to. The mirrorless allows for when looking through the eyepiece and he can see exactly how his settings are-in plain language he gets live feedback when he adjusts a setting (ISO, shutter speed, aperture) of what that is doing for his photo. Some other major features for his Sony cameras are he has eye auto focus. This makes a life changing difference when making sure the bride is in focus when walking down the aisle. He also has a silent shutter that is truly silent which plays into our goal of not being a distraction during the wedding. These two features are primarily the reasoning why we put Alan up at the front of the aisle when a wedding is starting. Another amazing features of Alan’s Sonys is that the number of focus points he has almost completely covers the sensor this means he does not have to focus and recompose to make the photo he wants!
A photo I grabbed at a recent wedding with one of my Cannon 5Ds.
Alan’s camera is heavy in features and yes they do take amazing pictures and make his life a lot easier at times! I still photograph with my Canon that is not a mirrorless meaning I do not get that live feedback when I change a setting. I have to take a photo and check it to see if I adjusted properly. Obviously much of this I can do by feel and don’t have to check a ton but it is still something I have to do. I also do not have eye auto focus or a completely silent shutter (it is very quiet but not silent). So the question you are probably asking is why am I still using my Canon cameras. Well I am a creature of habit and I have used Canon since the beginning so there is a sense of comfort I have with them that is key for me when working under pressure at a wedding. But in addition to it being an incredibly dependable camera the real reason is I think that the colors that come out of a Canon camera are unparalleled. They are often crisp, true to what is actually in front of me, and limit the amount of editing we have to do post processing.
We honestly cannot recommend either the Canon 5D or the Sony A7III or A7RIII enough. When looking at cameras I would look at the things you can’t change post processing first. Such as you can’t fix with editing losing all the photos you took because you had one SD card fail and you do not have a second card in your camera. You also can only lighten a photo so much if you are in a low light setting, you need a camera that can perform well in that setting. That is why you will see the full frame and dual card reader features in common with all of our cameras. The other features are great but find the ones that are your must haves first! The most important thing is that you find a camera that you are comfortable with and meets your needs.
Happy Shootin’! -Meg