What's in my camera bag 2023

Cameras + Lenses

2 x Sony a7iv camera bodies, one with the 50mm f/1.2 GM lens and the other with the 24mm f/1.4 GM lens.

1 x Fujifilm XT5 camera with the 90mm f2 lens. (This will stay in my shoulder bag and only come out when I really need it).

Also pictured - 35mm f/1.4 GM lens.

(I go into more detail about the cameras and lenses further down this page).

Holdfast Skinny Moneymaker harness. I’ve had this for something like 7 years / 7 wedding seasons and it still looks brand new. I find this harness the most comfortable way of shooting a wedding day with two cameras hanging off me!

2 x Peli SD case (one to hold my empty formatted cards, and one to hold my used (shot on!) memory cards.

Tiny USB dual camera battery charger (this is my emergency charger, not my main one). I have 6 camera batteries on me at a wedding and this is always enough to see me through even the longest of wedding days… but its good to have a backup plan.

Vanguard battery holder/pouch. This holds 4 Sony batteries inside the pouch, as well as a zipped compartment that holds 4 more SD cards (in case I use all the ones in the Peli case). It also has two compartments on the outside that hold 8 AA batteries (spares for my flashgun).

Giottos Medium Rocket Air Blaster. A must for removing dust from the camera sensor.

Godox TT350s Flashgun. This tiny (and VERY cheap) flashgun is probably my favourite flash I’ve ever owned. So small and light. Only needs 2 x AA batteries, and recharges really fast (fast enough for me anyway!). I also love its discreet size because it makes it less-intimidating when photographing people up-close on the dancefloor.

And finally… my iPhone and 13” M1 Apple MacBook Pro laptop. (Please n.b. the laptop isn’t on me all day… I’m not that strong! Its just there to show what I generally take to every wedding. I do tend to back up all my images/SD cards onto an external hard drive when I get back to my hotel room/home).

(Not pictured - the camera bag I use all day on a wedding day is the Lowepro Passport Sling III Bag / LP36657-0WW.)

I also have a Lowepro roller case I use for destination weddings. And when I need to take my laptop to a wedding I swap out the Passport Sling III bag and use my Lowepro CompuDay Photo 150 Shoulder Bag which comfortably holds all the cameras along with my laptop.)

The nitty gritty! (prepared to be bored to tears… or interested… there’s no inbetween here!)

I consider myself to be a documentary wedding photography with the added bonus that I love taking editorial/stylish portraits in a fun and fast manner! So for me the 24mm focal length covers my documentary needs, and the 50mm provides the beautiful bokeh and character for when it comes to portraits and detail shots. As for the 35mm GM, well this has been my favourite focal length for almost 10 years now and I know I could easily shoot a whole wedding on this lens alone… because I have done!

For many years I’ve shot with 35mm lenses along with my 85mm f/1.8 lens and have loved that setup, but last year I bought the 50mm f/1.2 lens and have been blown away with its performance and the amazing quality of the images i’ve got from it… despite it weighing nearly as much as my 3 year-old son!

The 35mm GM lens is also an absolutely stunning lens, which is why I have to have it in my camera bag even with the 24mm and 50mm focal lengths covered. I just find the 24mm and 50mm lenses to be a better combo for me RIGHT NOW… check back in with me at the end of 2023 and who knows. If Sony ever get round to releasing a better 28mm lens option then my preferred pairing could change again!

I bought the Sony a7iv camera body last summer and have shot 30+ weddings with it and I honestly cannot fault it in any way! I loved it so much after my first wedding shot with it that I immediately bought a 2nd one.

The improvements they made on the a7iii body weren’t enough to please a lot of people, but for me I thought they did a brilliant job upgrading an already amazing camera into an even better one. Both from a performance perspective AND an ergonomics point of view. The deeper grip on the a7iv makes it a much nicer camera to hold, especially as weddings can be very long days of holding our kit. The larger AF-ON button is fantastic as I use this to select eye AF. The previous model had the tiniest AF-ON button and I was forever struggling to press it. The a7iv also has a larger joystick on the back… thank you SONY! My thumb never ever slips off this joystick, and its very responsive.

As far as improvements in performance go, the quieter shutter is a great addition… the better/faster autofocus is noticeable compared to the a7iii… and the extra megapixels on this new model mean I never worry about quality if I have to crop into an image.

So, the Fujifilm… whats going on there then? Why am I mixing brands? Its not the first time I’ve shot with two different camera brands. Back when I was a Nikon user I was shooting with a D850 and a Fujifilm XPro2 and had no problems at all. That was a good 5 years ago though, and Fujifilm cameras have come on so much since then, or I should say their autofocus system has come on a long way since then! I’m really excited about using the the megapixel beast that is the Fuji XT5 alongside the absolutely stunning 90mm f2 lens at my weddings this year. In full-frame terms this lens is close to a 135mm which means it will be ideal for when I need that extra bit of focal reach. Mainly speeches, and when a grumpy vicar forces me to shoot a wedding from the back of a church.

Yes, I could’ve got the 135 GM lens from Sony, but after testing it I just found it was way too big and heavy for me. Even more so as I already have a bulky heavy lens on me in the form of the 50mm GM.

So thats it! On top of the kit mentioned here, I also have a few spare lenses knocking around at home in case anything ever breaks… (and because I’m a complete camera geek that loves kit!). I also have other Fujifilm cameras (XT4 and XPro3) that I use for my personal photography as I just find them such a joy to shoot with.

Thanks for taking a look at my work, and I really hope you’ve found this info on the kit I use to shoot weddings helpful in some way!