Best Prime Lens for Wedding Photography
- Kevin
- Mar 17, 2020
- 5 min read
I'm a firm believer in the idea of quality over quantity. When it comes to camera gears I like to own few of the very best gear and know my gear very well. Recently, I shot an entire wedding in Sacramento using two prime lenses. After roughly 8 hours of photoshoot I'm sold on using exclusively my 35mm and 85mm on separate bodies. This is a fantastic combination for wedding photography. It's hard to beat a lightweight system that take changing lens out of the equation. I thoroughly enjoyed my day emerging in the creative process. Beside producing great results, the best gears are the ones that make photography more enjoyable. And even though my lens were prime, there was no scenario that I could not walk a few steps to get good coverage.
I hope if you're staring out or on the fence about how to gear up for future jobs this article will save you an enormous amount of money and time trying out five or six different lens to figure out what work best. Eventually down the road when you're actually making profit the move to acquire more lens that could possibly make your job easier in 10% of the cases will make more sense. However, this two lens combo will still be essential for the majority of your work.
Another side note is that this system will also work great using f1.8 lenses of the same focal lengths which will save you thousands of dollars on gear.
My Nikkor 85mm f1.4G and Sigma Art 35mm f1.4 next to the D750 for size comparison. The entire package included my D850 and one Profoto A1 flash which carried comfortably on my Swag Camera Straps
I had my Sigma Art 35mm f1.4 on the Nikon D750 and Nikkor 85mm f1.4G on my D850. One camera also had a Profoto A1 flash attached. The entire system is attached to my Holdfast Camera Swag strap which I highly recommend. These lens were relatively small (no where close to a 70-200mm lens) so my hands did not feel any fatigue by the end of my day.
The Lens:
Sigma Art 35mm f1.4
The Sigma Art 35mm 1.4 is very well build and not exactly light but balance well on my DSLR body
The Sigma Art is a beautiful lens in both design and performance. It feels very solid in my hand and the elegant fine details are apparent. Performance wise I love the color from this lens; everything feels very rich and creamy. Sharpness is no problem but I don't think could be compared to the best Nikon lens. However, this is not a big issue since above a certain level of sharpness there are many other factors that make a lens worth buying.
I had to calibrate my lens as with every lens I own and I really don't shoot at f1.4 much or at all because there aren't any lens out there that is reliable wide open. In reality I don't really adjust my aperture much even if I shoot in manual. My aperture is often set at f2. For shots that requires more depth of field I use f4-6.
I used the 35mm mainly for shots that gives more perspective and a better narrative. The 35mm focal lens was also great throughout the day to get group photos and I didn't have to deal with anything too wide that I cannot step back to get full coverage.
Nikkor 85mm f1.4G
The Nikkor 85mm f1.4G is an extremely sharp lens and is a little bit lighter than my Sigma!
The sharpness of the Nikkor 85mm is amazing. I haven't used many off-brand lens except for Sigma and in comparison the sharpness of Nikkor lenses is really better. It's a thing to behold when you nail focus. However I wouldn't spend the extra money just because of sharpness. There are definitely many other factors that make a lens great. For example the Nikkor 58mm f1.4G isn't very sharp but in some way give a beautiful "feel" to closer portraits.
The Nikkor 85mm is relatively light and smaller too compare to its Sigma counterpart. It feels great on my D850. Ergonomic and weight are absolutely essential in wedding photography. Overall for Nikkor lenses my philosophy is to spend as much as you could afford on a few lens that are very good rather than spending on too many mediocre lenses. Great lenses are enjoyable for as long as you own them. For it's size, weight and performance the Nikkor 85mm definitely worth my money.
The ceremony was at Saint Maria Goretti Church in Sacramento, California.
I used both of my focal lengths equally during the entire ceremony. I had my Profoto A1 flash on during the entire shoot and used the church low white ceilings to bounce light on to my subjects.
You can check out an awesome bounce flash tutorial by Sam Hurd here: https://www.samhurdphotography.com/patreon/bounce-flash-critical-skill-develop/
I only had one flash but it was very easy switching the flash from one camera to the other.
Dinner and dance were held t Blue Goose Event Center in Loomis, California. The venue did not have a good ceiling I could bounce my flash. Luckily there were adequate lighting at the venue so that I didn't need to rely heavily on my flash. For situation were there is no reflective surface I found that my friend light dome works pretty well.
Summary of Why Two Lenses System Works so Well
The number one reason for why this combination works so well is because of how enjoyable it made my day. I was able to focus on the creative process and this is very important for me. I don't like changing lens during the shoot and I can't imagine any one does. Weddings are fast paced environments so there is a clear advantage to being ready to catch beautiful moments at all time. I used to change lens on one body and finding myself playing a guessing game of how my lens could cover what is coming up next. This work most of the time but I also had quite a few missed opportunities. If you noticed the lens combination is pretty small and lightweight. The combinations almost look "unprofessional" compared to something like a 70-200. I don't think I will ever use my 70-200 in a wedding again. Beside looking like a cool guy with big lens it's a pain to carry and my 85mm cover the job just as well. With my smaller prime lens combination carried on my strap midway through the day and toward the end my hand felt little to no fatigue.
One final but very important advantage of having fewer gear is the ability to understand your gear very well. Every focal lengths are different let alone the differences of individual lens of the same focal lengths! With only two prime lens in my main arsenal I am confident that the lens are calibrated for the bodies and I know how my lens behave at different apertures. Knowing my lens well helps tremendously in the creative process.
Other Lens That Could Help But Not Essential
- 24mm Prime Lens: I could imagine there could be situation where there is a huge group of people that a 24mm lens could be useful. This is not likely because most likely I could walk a few steps back with my 35 and cover the scene.
- 50mm Prime Lens: During the dance I found my 85mm to be a little bit too tight. In other situations I could've move further back but the tightly packed dinner tables close to the dance floor made it harder for me to move back. I would love to use a 50mm here. My Nikkor 58mm f1.4G would be great in this situation.
-Macro Lens: I could use a macro lens to get a ring shot more easy but with some creativity I can create good ring shots without a macro lens.
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