Here’s a break down of my camera bag when I shoot weddings:

Main camera – Canon 5d mkII

back up camera – canon 5d original

Lenses – tamron 14mm 2.8, canon 24mm 1.4, canon 50mm 1.4, canon 85mm 1.2, canon 200mm 2.8

Flashes – canon 550ex, nikon sb-24, nikon sb-26

Accessories – Canon ttl cord, canon macro converter, quantum battery, AA batteries, camera batteries, lens cloth, soft box, wrist bands, 5 hour energy, 6 extra compact flash cards, pocket wizard transmitter and receiver, tripod, monopod, 200mm collar, mini tripod.

Notes:
Lenses: You’ll notice that I don’t use or even own a zoom lens. I do this for a few reasons: Fixed lenses are sharper. I like the fact that they force me to move rather than standing there fumbling with the zoom back and forth. The main reason is that they are faster(have a larger maximum aperture and let in more light). A wedding will always become a low light situation at some point and you need lenses that can capture as much light as possible with out having to rely on a flash. I’ve also noticed that there’s this point right at the very end of light for the day that I can still shoot with my low light lenses and get some amazing stuff, that I could never do with a zoom that’s only a f2.8.

Flashes: I use the nikon flashes as off camera – they are great and inexpensive – I trigger the sb-24 with a pocket wizard and the sb-26 has a slave function.

Macro converter: this is a very cool tool. you can attach it to most lenses and it changes the focal distance, on my 50mm I can almost touch a ring with the lens and still have it in focus. A very cool tool and inexpensive.

Wrist bands: I’m a big sweaty guy and once the juices get flowing, I need some wrist bands to keep my forehead presentable.

Check out some of my wedding work here

thanks,
Stephen

Stephen K. Shefrin is a Phoenix & Scottsdale based wedding photographer. He can be reached by email at stephen@stephenshefrinphotography.com or by phone at (480) 471-6289