A Passion For Photography
Camera Gear
Over the last 12 years as a full time wedding photographer it's been my delight to be able to constantly look for "the best" gear for photographing weddings.
With the end of my wedding photography journey in sight over the last 2 years I've started to look for cameras that will fulfil the role of "my camera" once weddings are done.
Here's some thoughts about the gear over the years...
Gear Comments
Sony Cameras
When the Nikon Z6 proved un-useable as a wedding camera the Obvious choice was a Sony A7iii. Together with their fantastic lenses they really are perfect for most situations BUT
I simply don't love their image quality - the "look" However also used Sony for the 2024 wedding season. A7iv and A9ii
NIKON DSLR's
To be clear; this is not an in depth review of every Nikon DSLR but rather my experiences of using these over the years as a professional wedding photographer who also gets out to do street photography and some other stuff.
It began in, I think, 1994 when I bought a Nikon FA film camera to replace my Pentax MeSuper. The FA had for the first time, Aperture priority, Shutter priority, Program and Manual exposure modes. It became my only camera until I started using digital in about 2003 with a tiny Olympus camera.
The first Nikon DSLR arrived in 2008 with a D200, 10Mp camera.
Since then I've used literally every Nikon full frame camera (plus the D500 and D7000 and D7500 crop sensor cameras) except the D5 and D6
I'd sum up Nikon DSLR's as "they get the job done" No matter what the shoot, no matter the weather; without any fuss they simply make great photographs.
Their F mount lenses are brilliant for everything from macro and architecture to wildlife or sports and portraiture.
Inspite of the advent of Mirrorless cameras I still find a Nikon DSLR is able to do the job at hand and often preferable due to their ease of operation and reliabllity.
In 2026 I still own and use a D780 and D7500
NIKON Mirrorless
In 2019 Nikon finally announced their first mirrorless camera, the Z6. A 24Mp full frame camera.
I'd been waiting about 6 months for this; Sony had previously released their A7iii; again 24Mp with superb AF, twin cards, tilting screen and much more.
I expected Nikon to be very similar.
The initial reviews and specs. weren't encouraging. I still arranged to try a Z6 out at a local camera store.
Just one word - Dissappointed!
Just a single card, dreadful Af and I think 3 lenses to choose from.
The next week I sold a couple of Nikon Dslr's and entered the world of Sony A7iii.
It took until 2022 until I thought Nikon were ready for me :-) I bought a Z6ii to accompany my D780 at weddings and adapted my F mount lenses. The D780 had better Af and low light Af - but at last I was fully back to Nikon.
It wasn't until the release of the Z8 that I finally found a Nikon Mirrorless that was better than my D780 (the most stellar Dslr by any company ever IMHO) Not that I actually liked the Z8 - I found I disliked the totally electronic shutter, I didn't need 45Mp for weddings and when the Zf was released I swopped.
I now use a Z5ii, yes Nikon's "entry level" full frame camera. It does everything I need for weddings and anything else I get paid for.
Overall I use Nikon Mirrorless because they're there - not because I love them.
FUJI Cameras
Whilst my day job was a wedding photographer I also wanted to just go out and take photos for "me". Street and rural (rather than true landscape as Suffolk doesn't have mountains or vast lakes) Here's where FUJI came in
It started with a Xe1. Fuji's rangefinder style interchangeable lens camera back in about 2016.
After my pretty large Nikon Dslr's and equally big lenses the Fuji was a revelation. Small, discrete and super images from a crop sensor camera. Over the next few years I used the X-Pro2, X100t and Xt3. They all had something special about them.
I love the Fuji image quality - it's slightly "arty" (talking Raw here) and of course there's the film simulations for Jpeg's that I played with but have to say that I never really "got" them. I always used Lightroom for editing and could apply a film simulation to a raw file whilst editing plus any other editing required.
In the last 2 years with my desire to find the gear I'd use after weddings I opted to try the Xt5. An absolute beast of a crop sensor camera with so much tech.... And that for me is a problem. I really was looking for simple, like photography used to be. Set the exposure, focus and take the shot.
So whilst I understand how many photographers love Fuji and I agree they make excellent cameras (and brilliant lenses) they're not what I'm looking for for MY photography
SONY Cameras
I'd just done my first wedding with my existing Nikon Dslr's. I wondered about Sony and their newly released A7 mirrorless camera.
I got one to try out......
Wow!
My first EVF and first face detection and the Sony build quality - loved all of it. The images were super sharp and brilliant colours. For weeks I debated whether to switch from Nikon to Sony.
I decided not - but looking back I wish I had switched to Sony right at the start of my Wedding career.
Sony have lead the field with AF, face and eye detect and so on. They have a range of cameras for everyone with a massive choice of lenses from themselves or many 3rd party options. Their GM range of lenses are simply as good as it gets - period.
In 2019 with the failure of Nikon's Z6 I switched (finally) to Sony and used an A7iii for that season with mostly a 24-70 F2.8 zoom, plus a 50 F1.8 kit lens. Zero problems and fantastic images.
But in 2020 Nikon then released the D780 (and I did miss a Dslr) plus the Z5 which whilst not a match for the A7iii was at least useable for my weddings.
However for 2024 I again went back to SONY - an A7iv and A9ii plus GM primes and a 24-70 zoom. Jeez that was a costly switch but I cannot fault any of their gear - EXCEPT - I still prefer the Nikon image look.
So back to Nikon.....
