Lenses for Wedding Photography

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Another good question today:

Hi David,

I am a regular reader of your blog - thanks for doing this, it is a great source of information for people new in to the business like myself.

I hope you don't mind but I do have a quick question. I shoot with a 5DMKII and am looking to buy either the 24-70/2.8 or the 70-200/2.8 - I have the 16-35/2.8, 50/1.4 and a 100/2.8.

I have read your blog post and am tempted to get the 24-70/2.8 as you say you use it more often. If you had the choice between the two - which would you get? I know you answered this question fairly recently but I would be interested to know whether your stats have changed much since.

This is for shooting weddings - I have a 30D as a backup.

Many thanks for any light you can shed on the situation!

Al

Hi Al,

Many thanks for your feedback on my blog - I really appreciate this.

With the lenses that you already have I'd be tempted to purchase the 70-200mm first - it will extend your current capabilities more than the 24-70mm. I'm sure you'll end up buying both of them eventually anyway - L-series glass is habit-forming! ;-)

These two lenses feature in many professional wedding photographer's kit. The 24-70mm is incredibly versatile, allowing you to shoot wide without too much perspective distortion, and also has just enough reach for classic portrait shots - but you already have this covered with your current lenses. The 70-200mm is a wonderful portrait lens and is also great for grabbing candid shots from a distance - something you can't do at the moment. Obviously you do need plenty of space to use this lens in this way - I tend to use it less frequently at winter weddings when I'm primarily shooting indoors.

Unfortunately lens prices are very high at the moment. 123fStop.com, who import lenses from the US and Far East, have the 24-70 for £923 and the 70-200mm for £1315. Since you're buying them in the UK, you can register these with Canon and they will be treated as UK stock. Warehouse Express has them for £1049 and £1550.

Yours,

David

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