Which lens is best for wedding photography?
That’s harder to answer than you might think.
If I was working in a shop selling you a camera lens, my return question to you (the customer) would be, what style of photography do you do?
Documentary photographers shoot more towards the wide angle of lenses, whereas fine art photographers lean more toward the telephoto end. And of course there’s everything in-between.
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Expect to be stood at the back of the church? You might need a 70-200mm lens.
Love getting in super close and personal? 20mm might be the one for you.
In this article, I’ll go over the key considerations and weigh in with my real world shooting experience. Remember, there is no best wedding photography lens, generically speaking, but there is such a thing as the perfect wedding photography lens for you.
Let’s start with the basics that we need to cover before we can find you the ultimate lens for your style of wedding photography.
- Focal Length: Decide which focal length you prefer to use for wedding photography. Typically, 50mm, 85mm, 135mm, and 24-70mm lenses are popular choices.
- Aperture: How fast do you need your lens to be? Most likely though you’re going to be needing a lens of at least f/2.8. But if you want to shoot in a street style, maybe f/4 will do. A wide aperture, such as f/1.4 or f/1.8, will be needed if you want to capture images with shallow depth of field and create a bokeh effect.
- Image Stabilization: Do you need it? I’ve never used it, but consider if you need a lens with image stabilization to help prevent blurry images when shooting in low light conditions.
- Autofocus Speed: The faster the better, weddings are fast paced. Choose a lens with fast and accurate autofocus speed to capture sharp and in-focus images quickly.
- Lens Weight and Size: Consider the weight and size of the lens, as you will be carrying it around all day, potentially twelve hours.
- Weather Resistance: Choose a lens with weather resistance to ensure it can withstand any weather conditions you may encounter. A rainy wedding day is no excuse to not get any photographs.
- Zoom vs. Prime: Decide whether you prefer a zoom or prime lens. Zoom lenses provide versatility and convenience, while prime lenses offer better image quality and wider apertures.
- Lens Compatibility: Ensure that the lens you choose is compatible with your camera model. Annoyingly some of the Sigma lenses I’ve wanted in the past are only EF-S.
- Brand: Consider the brand of the lens, as certain brands have reputations for producing high-quality lenses. Canon, Nikon and Sony have strong branding history behind them, Tamron and Sigma also make quality glass.
- Budget: Set a budget for your lens purchase, and choose a lens that meets your needs while staying within your budget. Lenses can get very expensive, be careful not to ‘sell it to yourself’. Stick to what you actually need. A great photographer can make a great photograph with even low-end gear.
How to choose the perfect wedding photography lens
What style of wedding photography are you trying to shoot?
Your style is going to determine the lens you need. Please note, please check your camera lens fitting before buying to make sure it fits your camera. DM me if you’re not sure and I’ll help.
Fine art style
Fine art wedding photographers often use film cameras and natural light to create soft, romantic images with a light and airy feel to them. There’s nothing to say you can’t recreate the look of film with a fast lens and a high quality film preset though (is it quite the same? not really, but film processing is expensive, so…). Extremely shallow depth of field also helps to define the style, but lenses that can achieve this look often comes with a higher price tag.
Jose Villa helped to start the fine art wedding photography movement, he shoots on a Pentax 645 with an 85mm lens. Taking into account the bigger size of a piece of 645 film, an 85mm on a medium format camera is closer to a 50mm lens on a 35mm size piece of film or digital SLR. Translation; to recreate his style on an SLR, buy a 50mm lens.
That being said you’ll still need some variety, shooting wedding ceremonies often requires you to stand back a fair distance, so a good combo might be a 50mm prime and a 70-200 zoom lens. You may well need a lens that’s a bit wider for group pictures, 35mm will give you a bit more width whilst still maintaining the ‘fine art’ look. You may come unstuck though if the couple wants a picture of everyone at the wedding. For these enormous group shots I use a 17mm lens and use a ladder…sometimes you have to sacrifice your stylistic choices to meet the customers needs.
Check these lenses out:
35mm
50mm
85mm
100mm
Documentary/editorial/street style
Documentary wedding photography is a style of wedding photography that aims to capture candid and natural moments, without interfering or directing the subjects. The photographer acts as a silent observer, capturing the day’s events as they unfold, aiming to tell a story, documenting the highs and lows and all the funny stuff in-between. This approach results in photographs that are authentic and full of emotion.
To shoot in a truly unobtrusive fashion, flash is out of the question. You need to be able to react to moments as they happen, and shoot multiple frames of the moment unfolding, so repeated flash’s would alert people to your presence and ruin the moment.
Everyone wants to shoot in beautiful light all the time, but that’s not the reality of wedding photography. Even the most grand hotels are often lit really poorly, so fast lenses (wide apertures) are a must.
A documentary photographer might use a variety of lenses to capture different aspects of the wedding day. Wide-angle lenses can be used to capture the big group pictures or epic shots of the ceremony that capture the sense of scale, while telephoto lenses can be used to capture intimate moments without getting too close. Prime lenses, with a fixed focal length, are also popular for their sharpness and low light capabilities.
Churches and reception halls can be a nightmare for photographers. No natural light, weird colour casting or the DJ’s lasers can create difficult environments to shoot in. In these situations, fast aperture lenses, such as f/1.4 or f/1.8, are used to allow more light into the camera and capture sharp images without having to use a slow shutter speed, which could result in motion blur.
These lenses are often more expensive but can make a significant difference in the quality of the final images.
Check these lenses out:
24mm
24-70mm
35mm
50mm
Fashion
Fashion photography aims to showcase clothing, accessories, and beauty in a way that emphasizes their style, quality, and desirability.
In wedding photography, fashion-inspired techniques can be employed for posed images but are pretty much impossible for anything else. You can’t interrupt the ceremony for a few posed pictures. That being said fashion inspired wedding photography is still immensely popular, just be aware that if you’re thinking of getting into this style, you really have to coach your couples so they know how to set the timeline for the day to enable you to get the pictures that you need. I say this from experience, I had a client who hired me to take the pictures (documentary style) and they hired a videographer to shoot in a highly stylised fashionable style, the result? The couple spent roughly five hours of the day away from their guests.
Some photographers choose to photograph the couple the day after the wedding as well to give them more time, but this is an added expense and may not be possible.
To shoot fashion images, a photographer may well need additional equipment beyond just the lenses to achieve the desired look, so factor that into your budgeting. Flash guns, light stands, reflectors and probably an assistant are going to be required to get the look you want.
As mentioned before, the whole day can’t be shot in one style, so expect to require additional lenses for wide angle group pictures and a decent telephoto lens for the times when the officiant won’t let you near the front!
Check these lenses out:
50mm
85mm
70-200mm
Versatile, all round wedding photography lenses.
Weddings are always moving, ever changing events. Sometimes the easiest thing you can do for yourself is to have two cameras on you at the same time.
On one camera, have your lens of choice, on the other, have an all rounder that will get you out of trouble.
Sometimes you find yourself stuck and unable to move, so having two options that give your pictures variety when you’re stuck in one place really helps the final product sing.
I once had this during a Jewish wedding ceremony where the Rabbi said I had to stand in one specific spot and wasn’t allowed to move. When he showed me where to stand initially, the room was full of people finding their seats, so there was a considerable amount of noise.
It was during the ceremony when the room fell silent that I realised I was stood on the creakiest part of the floor. ANY movement and I would have drawn attention to myself. I had a 50mm on one camera and a 24-35 on the other. The 24mm was just wide enough to allow me to shoot the ceremony, but it was tight. You can’t predict everything, so it helps to stack the odds in your favour.
I hope this helps you on your quest to find the perfect wedding photography lens. Instagram and Twitter DMs are always open if you have any questions.