Lenses

I usually get at least one question per wedding about my lenses. Let's face it, there are a lot of guys at weddings who love taking photos! So when I pull out these very expensive lenses to photograph weddings, you can see all the "camera guys" turn and try to figure out what lens I have mounted on my camera! It's actually kind of funny to watch.

I have gone through so many lenses over the course of my photography career. I buy, sell and replace them like there's no tomorrow. Why? It seems something new comes out every year that I just have to have for my clients. Sure, I can get by with the same old lenses and probably make more money per year since I'm not spending all my earnings on new gear, but somehow, I just have to have the sharpest images out there. Some say I'm fanatical when it comes to my gear. Maybe they are right. But it benefits my clients as well, so I'm ok with it.

My lenses are all "Fast Lenses" meaning they will capture images in very low light. Couple this to the high ISO settings on my cameras (the equivalent to fast film), I can shoot where there is very little light and still gather a great looking image. Plus, fast lenses have a quality of blurring out the background of an image that is not the main subject matter. It just makes the subject "pop out" at you because it's the only thing that's in focus. It really looks cool and many of my clients comment on how "professional-looking" my images are. Well a lot of it can be attributed to those great new lenses!

Pictured above in order is the Sigma 30mm f 1.4 lens (a new acquisition for this year's wedding), the Nikon 17-55mm f 2.8 DX lens (also a new one for me this year to replace my 28-70mm f2.8 lens) and the Nikon 70-200mm f 2.8 VR lens - not new, but it was new last year...

The 30mm f1.4 lens is really nice. This thing is two f stops faster than the f 2.8 lenses which means it can really get low light photos better than any other lens in it's class. I also have a 50mm f1.4 from Nikon that is used quite a lot too.

The 17-55mm f2.8 DX lens will be my "main lens" for this year. I replaced the 28-70mm f2.8 because I needed a slightly wider lens so I would not be switching lenses as often. Plus it's a tad lighter in weight which comes in handy since the new Nikon D200 camera is heavier than my old cameras. That extra 1/2 pound means a lot over 8-12 hours of carrying it non-stop.

The big 70-200mm f2.8 VR lens is really cool. With "Vibration Reduction" technology, I can shoot very long telephoto images without blur even hand-holding this lens! I've shot many weddings where I had to be way in the back of the church with this lens. Nothing beats a fast telephoto lens with VR and high ISO on a camera!

I have many other lenses that I use for special purposes as well... but more on those later!