Wedding Photography Camera Upgrade

[KatieBell]

Hello,

I'm mainly a portrait/family photographer, however, I've done a few craigslist weddings recently (very cheap 2 hours, less than $300 smaller than 50 guests, the majority of my weddings are 8-10 people!) I am obviously doing them to create a portfolio, and get better technique at doing weddings so I can eventually take on bigger weddings. Currently I refuse anything over 50 attendees. I am looking to upgrade my equipment in the next few months and want to know fellow photographers feelings on D7500...vs looking at a mirrorless sony a6500. I've only ever shot with a Nikon. If you made the switch, do you prefer your DSLR over the mirroless or vice versa? pros cons? Is one significantly better for weddings?

 

[KmH]

You're a beginner?

Full frame for weddings, or a D500 if you want to stay with a APS-C sensor.

 

[chuasam]

D7500 will do fine. Your clients get what they pay for.

 

[KatieBell]

You're a beginner?

Full frame for weddings, or a D500 if you want to stay with a APS-C sensor.

Yes! I'm trying to get about 20 or so small weddings under my belt before I go for bigger weddings. Thanks for the advice!

 

[KatieBell]

D7500 will do fine. Your clients get what they pay for.

True, I'm only charging $300 or less at this point.

 

[Vtec44]

Invest in fast full frame lenses and off camera flashes. When you upgrade cameras, you can reuse those too

 

[KatieBell]

frame lenses and

Thank you!!

 

[chuasam]

You don't need a full frame. I know tons of Wedding Photographers using crop sensor (typically Fujifilm XT2 or XPro2).
The client doesn't give a flip if you're using full frame (and it costs more).
If you're serious about wedding photography, concentrate on your marketing, your image and your packages offered. And FFS start charging more. Cheap weddings look cheap and there's no way to freshen that and make it look good. Your branding counts for much more than your camera.

Offer to assist higher end photographers for $200 to $300 a day and learn from that.

 

[SquarePeg]

Invest in fast full frame lenses and off camera flashes. When you upgrade cameras, you can reuse those too

This is advice from an expert who takes gorgeous wedding pics. Since you're new I thought i should point that out for you.

 

[KatieBell]

You don't need a full frame. I know tons of Wedding Photographers using crop sensor (typically Fujifilm XT2 or XPro2).
The client doesn't give a flip if you're using full frame (and it costs more).
If you're serious about wedding photography, concentrate on your marketing, your image and your packages offered. And FFS start charging more. Cheap weddings look cheap and there's no way to freshen that and make it look good. Your branding counts for much more than your camera.

Offer to assist higher end photographers for $200 to $300 a day and learn from that.

I'm trying to find photographers who will let me assist, as you know it's a lot easier said then done. Nonetheless, I'll keep looking.

I will probably raise my prices at some point. I'm trying to be cautious while I start up, and make sure I crawl before I walk.

Invest in fast full frame lenses and off camera flashes. When you upgrade cameras, you can reuse those too

This is advice from an expert who takes gorgeous wedding pics. Since you're new I thought i should point that out for you.

Thank you! I'm checking everyones bios out now! So much talent!

 

[chuasam]

Thank you! I'm checking everyones bios out now! So much talent!

it's not talent...it's hard work and never giving up

 

[jpross123]

I personally have a D500, and I think this camera would work well with weddings. The low light performance is amazing, so if you are shooting the reception it would work well with that. If you want to go full frame, the D750 is a heck of a deal right now, and was an award winning camera for Nikon. You can't go wrong with either of these

 

[chuasam]

Invest in fast full frame lenses and off camera flashes. When you upgrade cameras, you can reuse those too

This is advice from an expert who takes gorgeous wedding pics. Since you're new I thought i should point that out for you.

Once upon a time, pro wedding photographers only used large format...then medium format came along. It was smaller and more nimble and old timers like TiredIron swore by it.
Then after the Vietnam War...photojournalists proving how good 35mm (the tiny format is) started showing how much more candid shots you could get with a smaller camera.

35mm is the same as FullFrame.
Eventually, it will be supplanted by a smaller format that's more candid and nimble.
GoPro weddings anyone?

 

[DarkShadow]

Sure get the D500 so when the bride flies away that 10fps and 200 shot raw buffer will suffice. or get a more practical good all around D750. The D7500 would be fine to but with paid gigs I think having two card slots is a much safer bet for back up.

 

[Solarflare]

Just a fair warning: wedding photography is generally considered the hardest of all photographic genres.

It is recommented to learn it as an assistant / second shooter to an experienced wedding photographer.

Clients are infamous for being very difficult and hard to please, even if you did a great job. Its their big day, after all.

High performance gear is generally prefered. That means Canon or Nikon full frame with bright lenses.

You dont get second tries. The shot has to be taken at the right moment. You need to preplan that.

You will absolutely want at least two camera bodies for redundancy and quicker reaction times. Besides, having redundancy is true for all types of professional photography that have to happen at a certain time. You cant be a paid professional and lose the shot because you had no redundancy.

You might really want a battery pack and multiple TTL able flash units of the same type later. You need multiple flash units because they will overheat with constant use on a battery pack.

Recommented are special effect lenses and unusual perspectives: a macro lens for details such as the rings, a fisheye for overview shots, lenses with special bokeh for glamour shots, a monopod and cable release for shots from above, heck throw in one of these new drones for images from the sky and the aforementioned GoPro for even more unusual shots.