I keep wedding photography equipment to a minimum and use minimalist wedding photography gear for my business making it much easier to travel. Anything that isn't used is sold on after 3-6 months as I do like to keep it for a bit as I may change my mind, haha! But to be upfront there needs to be certain equipment needed for wedding photography.

Table of Contents

Wedding Photographer Equipment List

My wedding photographer equipment list is my checklist but you find something useful here especially if you are a Nikon shooter.

Nikon Z6
Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S
Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.8 S
Yongnuo flashes
Light stands
iMac (silicon)
Adobe Software

Now I’m not saying this is the best gear for a wedding photographer in Northern Ireland but it ticks all my boxes bar a couple that I can live without. My Wedding Photography Equipment list is always expanding and growing as you’d expect so there needs to be some testing of new gear and equipment which is why I have my YouTube channel. You can read more on my switch from DSLR to mirrorless.

Wedding Photography Equipment for Beginners

Wedding photography equipment for beginners is very vague as you could use any make and model of equipment, particularly a camera. My preference is Nikon but there are lots including Sony, Fuji, Canon and so on and then you can look at models within those brands. Most wedding photographers either use a zoom lens like a 24-70mm 2.8 (which is what I did for ages by the way!) or a prime lens (which is what I use now) where they would be using 2 camera bodies as it would take too long to keep changing lens throughout the day. The way I thought of this was I had a backup camera body anyways not being used so why not start using it and ditch the 24-70mm? To be honest with you if there was one lens you are only allowed to use throughout the wedding day it would be the 24-70mm 2.8.

Minimalist Wedding Photography Gear

As I said earlier I like minimalist wedding photography gear as there is no point in having gear that’s not used in some way or another. Have a look at my Nikon Z6 unboxing, first looks and also Z 50mm 1.8 with a couple of other things including Transcend CFexpress Card Reader and Integral 64GB CFexpress Memory Card. I keep things minimal by using two cameras, two lenses and one flash which I switch between the two. Usually, this is used for 50mm photos as the 35mm is wide so the flash might not be much use.

Nikon Z6 x2 (upgraded from 2x Nikon D750s and 1x Nikon D610)
Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S
Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.8 S

Nikon Z6

I love the Nikon Z6 camera system and I am super glad I moved over from the D750 and older still the D610 which I had the longest. Someone on YouTube said you're investing in the next five years and they are right as I know exactly what they mean.

Best Lens for Wedding Photography

I love these two and find at the moment they are the best lens for wedding photography because you are shooting wide with the 35mm and also shooting close-ups, portraits as well as details and lots of other things with the 50mm. Due to the focal length the 50mm has a nice separation between the subject and the background whereas the 35mm most things are in focus unless they are close to the lens or far away from the subject. I mostly shoot wide open on the day at f/1.8 closing down for some groups with rows of people. I am planning and hoping to buy a Nikon Z 85mm f/1,8 S soon so stay tuned!

Nikon Z6 sitting on the table with strap.

Computer Hardware and Software

iMac (silicon)
External hard drives of varying sizes ranging from 1 TB to 12 TB
Adobe Software including Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premier Pro

iMac

I love the Apple iMac 24” because I like the way Apple makes both the hardware and software called the operating system. I know PC systems can do the same job cheaper but I find the PC system to be a complete disaster due to having Windows (the operating system) installed. Unfortunately, the iMacs don’t last forever so I’ve had quite a few in my career as a professional wedding photographer as well as a tower too. With Apple making their chips now called silicon I’m finding applications work a lot faster than Intel-based iMacs and I’m hoping there will be fewer upgrades.

External Hard Drives

External hard drives are a must-have as keeping all photography work on your computer is not good. Back-up external hard drives are a must in case something happens to your computer, well you guessed it you have a backup. Smaller hard drives are older drives that are still working and going today and the largest hard drives are used for back only.

Editing Photos

Not the cheapest software to use but I still like using Adobe software as I have the full suite that I have signed for the whole year. There are cheaper alternatives but when you’ve been using Adobe software since the early 1990s it is quite difficult to stop using the software. Adobe Lightroom is for batch processing and editing with some editing with Adobe Photoshop. Most of the time lightroom.

Other Gear

3x Yongnuo flashes with Selens light modifiers
CFExpress type B cards
Epson XP-960 Expression photo printer
Light stands x2

Flashes

I have been using Yongnuo flashes for the past several years progressing from the Neewer brand which I found a bit too cheap. This past while I have been thinking about upgrading to the Godox brand, still undecided as yet. I quite like the Yongnuo though which I find very reliable.

CFExpress Type B cards

CFExpress type B cards are what I use in my Z6 and to be honest, I thought the older SD cards were great but filming in 4k is where the problem might be. SD cards are simply not fast enough to film in 4k resolution I’m afraid. There was a choice between XQD cards and CFExpress type B cards and opted for the latter because XQD is an older format but both are the same size.

Epson XP 960 Printer

I use my Epson XP 960 Expression photo printer for some photo prints for customers as I think it’s great to see your photos actually in print instead of always looking digitally on a computer screen or iPad tablet.

What lens do I use throughout a wedding day?

I was using the very heavy Tamron 24-70mm 2.8 and Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 using the 70-200mm less and less keeping to the ceremony and speeches. I gradually phased out this lens out when I went mirrorless and am not using the two lenses I have, the 35mm 1.8 and 50mm 1.8. I would like to add an 85mm and maybe a macro 105mm too at some point in the future.

Can I save money?

You can certainly save money when buying camera equipment as I buy refurbished and second hand through MPB (where I have bought multiple cameras and lens from), Wex (where I sold all my old DSLR gear), eBay (where I bought my second Z6 from) and the Facebook marketplace (where I have bought a few difference things) in the past. My particular favourite now is MPB as they are camera experts and everything is thoroughly tested beforehand. I have gone completely off Facebook marketplace and eBay now as the amount of scams seems to have doubled this past year. If I am selling gear I try Facebook marketplace and Gumtree first before contacting MPB and Wex. I much prefer to sell privately.

I hope this has proved helpful

I hope this or at least some of my wedding camera equipment list has proved helpful to perhaps those starting in the professional and are essentially starting their journey in wedding photography. If it is leave a comment at the bottom of the page.

Wedding Photography Camera Tests

As always when getting new equipment in professional wedding photography it is a good idea to conduct some camera tests before a work shoot. I spent a bit of time during the lockdowns (thanks corona!!) testing out the Nikon Z6 camera system and lens. Below are some of my YouTube.

Nikon Z6 Face Detection

Nikon Z6 face detection test footage with the 50mm 1.8 S lens in the back garden, mostly shooting wide open but didn’t have an ND filter so had to adjust the shutter. Overall very good and I am generally happy with it but not brilliant as couldn’t lock onto my face if there were a few things in the foreground but early tests so will need to test more. Let me know if you’ve any questions or anything else in the comments. Coming soon

Nikon D750

One of my older cameras was the Nikon D750 which I had two of. These were both fantastic cameras producing very sharp images and superb in low light conditions. At first, I thought I could keep the two D750s for photos and use the Z6 but it became obvious after a bit of time photographing and testing out the Z6 that the D750s were reductant as the Z6 was on par with the D750 with a few extras too therefore had to go, so to help fund the transition from DSLR to mirrorless both camera bodies we're sold.

3D Focus Tracking Nikon D750

As you can see from my 3D focus tracking Nikon D750 (stay to the end) it is a tad wobbly (understatement!) and not the greatest (far from it), Nikon early attempt I’m guessing, manual focus on the D750.

Wedding Photography Equipment & keeping Gear Minimal