KC Weddings .net - Types of Cameras

What Kind of Camera Should My Photographer Use?
By Christopher Maxwell

If you are in the process of looking for a wedding photographer, chances are you will soon here the terms: medium format, 35mm, and digital. Those are the three primary types of camera systems currently used by wedding photographers. We, the wedding photographers, have argued amongst ourselves for years as to which camera system is best. The goal of this article is to share information about these types of camera systems and the possible impact they may have on your wedding photographer decision.

Medium Format
For many years medium format has been the absolute best option. A medium format camera uses film that is often 3 times the size of a 35mm negative – resulting in higher resolution images and better looking enlargements, however the cameras and processing costs are very expensive.

Primary advantages: high resolution negatives.

Disadvantages: expensive to operate (film costs are so high that some wedding photography books encourage photographers to limit the photos they take); slower to focus and operate.

35mm
For many years 35mm has had a bad reputation for providing poor quality enlargements – especially when compared to medium format. However, over the past 10 years the quality of 35mm film has improved tremendously. It is now a common format used by many professional photographers, especially those who use the photojournalistic style and shoot close to a thousand or more images on a wedding day.

Primary advantages to 35mm: fast (easy to quickly focus and shoot during), much improved quality of enlargements (many people would have a hard time telling the difference between a 35mm and medium format 8x10 enlargement).

Digital
Professional digital wedding photography has been around for the past five or so years. The quality of digital cameras has now reached a point where many photographers feel the quality rivals, or even beats, medium format negatives. In fact, many digital wedding photographers used to shoot medium format.

Primary digital advantages: instant review of images on the back of the camera; no film and processing costs (although the savings is offset by the additional computer time required to process the digital images); more control over the images (i.e., a slight rotation or cropping of an image is quick and easy with digital but requires a custom print from 35mm or medium format).

The bottom line:
No matter what you have been told - all three formats can be a viable method for wedding photography. Many photographers use several of the camera systems. Some might use medium format for the formals but 35mm for the reception and ceremony coverage. Others will primarily shoot digital, but might bring film cameras as backup equipment.

Advice to prospective brides: before signing a contract with a photographer, ask to see sample enlargements that were taken with the same equipment that would be used at your wedding. If you like the quality and color of the images, it doesn’t really matter whether 35mm, digital, or a medium format camera was used to record the image!

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