What Lens is Best for Wedding Photography?

Lenses, lenses, lenses. There are hundreds of camera lenses to be choosing from when looking for the best lens for wedding photography. The perfect answer would be something like a 16-200mm F/1.4, but unfortuntely this doesn’t exist and will likely never exist! Budget is usually a key factor when people ask me what camera gear they should be buying, and so I’ll try and give setups for different price points in this post. There are too many brands for me to list the best lens from every manufacturer, and so I’ll keep it neutral – but as a Canon user myself, I am slighly biased!

Prime or Zoom Lenses?

The age old question! There are many advantages to both, and this makes it all the more difficult to choose what to buy. Prime lenses typically offer a better quality photograph, and a lower maximum aperture, which are huge bonuses. Equally to get this you sacrifice the zoom, and so it depends what you prioritise! Another advantage of prime lenses is that they tend to be slightly cheaper, as they have less moving parts and are easier to manufacture.

Zoom lenses on the other hand typically don’t have as wide an aperture, and potentially provide a lower quality image (unless you spend a fortune!). In exchange however you get the zoom function. They can be hugely convenient, with the likes of 24-105mm lenses, and 70-200mm being hugely popular across all industries. I have had phases of my career where I lean toward one or the other, and currently I prefer prime lenses; I just use my legs as the zoom! It’s always handy to have a zoom lens either way in your bag as you never know what sort of situation you’ll be shooting in.

Best Prime Lens for Wedding Photographers

When it comes to choosing prime lenses for wedding photography, there are two main factors to consider; budget and focal length. I say this as your budget will mostly dictate the quality of the lens, as well as the maximum aperture. The focal length is crutial to get right, as naturally there is no zoom and so if you buy a 35mm, you need to be comfortable shooting at 35mm! The most popular prime lenses are the following focal lengths: 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 135mm. My personal favourites are 24, 35, & 85mm lenses as it gives me the range I need, and as I have them all at F/1.4 the possiblilties for background blur are endless! I primarily use my 24mm for dramatic wide shots, scenic, & dancefloor photos. 35mm is my go to for most of the day, and 85mm I use if I need a little bit more reach.

The most important part of choosing lenses is going for something you’re comfortable using, as there’s no point buying a 24mm lens for the dancefloor if you’re afraid to get in people’s faces!

Best Zoom Lens for Wedding Photographers

For zoom lenses, the focal range is super important, as is the maximum aperture the lens can do. Ideally, the maximum aperture will apply througout the entire range, but in some lenses it gets narrower the further you zoom so keep an eye on this when purchasing! The only two zoom lenses I’ll ever buy for Canon are the 28-70 f/2, and the 70-200 f/2.8. The Canon 28-70 f/2 is a marvel of engineering, to allow a maximum aperture of f/2! It’s the perfect compromise to replace a 35mm & 50mm prime lens, and with the f/2 aperture you can barely notice what you’re missing! The only drawbacks to this lens are the extreme price point, and the weight. It costs near £3000 brand new, and may as well weigh a tonne. If you can move past these points though, it’s a superb option to have in your bag!

The Canon 70-200 f/2.8 is another excellent zoom lens, perfectly sharp and perfect for sports or anything that you need a bit of reach for. As it is an old model lens, you can pick one up used for £1000 – making it extremely good value for money. I won’t take these to weddings anymore personally as I find it causes me to become lazy – I prefer to work with more prime lenses and wider angles these days!

Best Lens for a Tight Budget/Beginner

As a beginner wedding photographer, choosing where to spend your money for the best value & return can seem like a really daunting task. You may be on the lookout for the best lens for wedding photography, but you may need to settle for something within your price range. This doesn;t mean buying rubbish lenses though! Buying used camera gear on MPB or Ebay is a fantastic way of reducing the cost for the same bit of glass. For me, the essentials when starting out are the following:

• An All-Rounder Lens – usually either the kit lens, or any other standard focal range between 24mm and 105mm. As these are common focal lengths, you won’t struggle with finding cheap lenses! 24-70 or 24-105 work well here. This lens should cover a good 80% of any wedding day and means you won’t need to spend too much time changing lenses and you can focus on getting the shots you need! If budget is super tight, then take a look at the Sigma range, which are a bit more price friendly.
• A Lens for Portraits – Your all-rounder lens won’t produce the most flattering shots, this is just the nature of lenses of that nature. This is why a seperate lens for portraiture is key to producing gorgeous photographs of the couple! The best budget lens for this would be some form of 50mm, with an aperture of f/1.8. These are common and cheap, and they are nicknamed the ‘Nifty Fifty’ because of this! The f/1.8 aperture creates dreamy bokeh (out of focus background), and will level up your wedding photography as a beginner.

To Conclude

To conclude, there really isn’t a simple answer to the question of what is the best lens for wedding photography! It really boils down to the photographer, and how you prefer to work. Personally, my camera bag currently has a 24mm, 35mm, 85mm all at f/1.4. I also have the Canon 28-70 f/2, as this is en excellent zoom lens at the best quality possible! My suggestion would be to try and play around with different focal lengths, and see what you enjoy shooting with. I’ve written a similar post about the best camera for wedding photography too should you want to take a look at that! Take a look at my Wedding Photography, and the rest of My Website, to see how I put these lenses to good use.