So it’s finally your wedding day. You spent so much time planning it and making sure all the preparations go accordingly that you found yourself stressing over it for the past several months. Now that the much-awaited moment of your life has come, all you have to do is live your best day and hope it doesn’t end too soon!
When you hire wedding photographers to document the most memorable occasion of your life, you may tend to feel conscious about each pose you and your partner make. You can’t help but be nervous about how the photos will turn out, especially if you aren’t used to being in front of a camera. It’s crucial to avoid overthinking the situation because you aren’t strictly required to pose. In fact, depending on the style of photographer you choose, your photographers will prefer it if you keep it as natural and candid as possible!
Keep reading below to find out some of the best wedding moments that can be perfectly captured on camera without the need to pose so much.
Monique Anthony
5 Wedding Moments That Look Good When Naturally Captured
Trying on the Dress
It’s every bride’s dream to wear the perfect wedding dress on their big day. You spend months or even years finding inspiration for the dress you want, looking for a reliable tailor, and waiting for the day you can finally fit into it. On your wedding day, when you finally put on the gown, you don’t have to think about anything and let the natural emotions flow—and that precise moment makes for an unforgettable wedding photo.
Al-Ru Farm bridal preparation
The Groom’s Preparation
Just like the bride, the wedding is also a groom’s big day, so he should also be given his fair share of the spotlight. While a groom’s preparation can much faster than the bride’s, every step involved counts—from putting on the shoes, buttoning the suit jacket, and buckling the belt, to wearing the watch and securing the bow tie in place. The groom’s preparation should also be best captured as naturally as possible to really showcase the emotions leading up to the actual ceremony.
Groom staring out window
The Walk Down the Aisle
The most stereo-typical moment of every wedding is when everyone is gathered at your wedding venue waiting for the bride to finally walk down the aisle. As soon as she enters, the groom finally gets to lay his eyes on his soon-to-be wife—which is a moment of pure magic.
Given its intense nature, it’s the very moment that has to be captured candidly because you don’t have to think about anything else—not even the photographers. All you have to do is focus on the moment and see the people you love, especially the person you’re looking forward to spending the rest of your life with.
Bride arriving
The Slices of Life
Part of wedding photography is ensuring that not all the necessary poses have to be serious and planned out all the time. The random moments where everyone is laughing and having a good time are the ones that are best captured on camera, without you even remembering that there are photographers present. They often happen during the preparation and the reception.
Laughing couple
The Couple Shots
Even though there will still be times that a wedding photographer will ask you to do specific poses, you can play around with the shot however you like. If it comes down to the intimate couple photos where you’re strolling along the wedding venue, you can genuinely be yourself with your partner. It’s one of the few moments you can be together, and there’s no one with you, so you should savour the moment and let the photographers do their magic.
Kangraoo Island Elopement photoshoot
A wedding happens only once in your lifetime. Instead of going over how you want it to happen, it’s best to let things be and enjoy every second of it. When it comes to wedding photography, you can leave it to the experts and let them handle the shots—because more often than not, the candid photos make the best memories. The wedding moments captured by your photographer will better represent you as a couple, rather than a contrived overly-posed ‘representation’ of the day.
As a wedding photographer , a trend I’ve noticed in weddings I’ve covered over the years is that brides often say that they have their wedding dresses inspired by Disney Princesses. Now when you hear that statement it sounds fairly childish, but when you sit back and have a think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Disney movies are what we in western society are brought up on.
Their morals and stories are ingrained in our childhood minds and stay with us right through to adulthood. The Disney variants of the classic fairy tales such as Cinderella and Snow White have even replaced their original storylines in common knowledge. For example, did you know the original story of Notre Dame? written in 1831 would not suit a typical Disney movie… Far more death and adult scenes involved there..
Wedding dress
ANYWAY, modern brides are more often turning to dresses they have grown up and idolised in Disney movies. The most popular Disney princess wedding dresses by far from my experience as a wedding photographer has been Belle’s Ballroom dress she wears when first dancing with Adam aka the Beast.
I’m a huge Disney nerd, and in particular love the princess movies, so having a closer look into Disney Princess Wedding Dresses is an interesting topic to me! Obviously some of these Disney Princess Wedding Dresses arent actually their wedding dresses, but are just iconic dresses they happen to wear in their movies – but they are still interesting to look at.
Belle
Belle
I haven’t had the privilege yet of photographing a banana-yellow dress design 100% copying the style of the dress seen in the movie, but I have had more than one bride telling me they modelled their design on this disney princess dress. Little wonder why really; Belle featured in Beauty And the Beast, a film released in 1991, when then-7 year old girls would now be turning 30-35, or prime-average age to be married these days.
Otherwise Belle also follows a fairly relatable life for girls in modern society (as far as I can make of it anyway); always being called pretty and beautiful while also feeling slightly different on the inside due to her ‘nerdy’ habits of never having her nose in a book. She is romantically pursued by a handsome but arrogant hunter, in whom she shows no interest because of his conceitedness. Luckily she finds her perfect match in the Beast while trying to live for her family (saving her father) and avoiding the clutches of her sexist suitor.
Sounds pretty much like a typical parallel to a modern life of a growing woman. At least from what I’ve heard, I mean I haven’t lived the life of a growing woman… as I’m male; but it seems to me the attractive and intelligent girls out there like the Disney princess Belle out there live a similar life.
ie revelling in the popularity their beauty brings, but also feeling like an outcast due to their good grades, always the subject of an annoying or boorish guy’s affection and finally finding their ‘Beast’ of a groom to whom they will be married and live happily ever after.
I think? I don’t know, I’m just trying to dissect why Belle is such a popular choice in having wedding dresses inspired by Disney Princesses.
Cinderella
Cinderella
Cinderella of course is the archetype design of Disney princess wedding dresses, however quite different in personality to Belle’s. For example she is made a servant in her own home and is constantly tormented by her evil stepmother and two stepsisters. Quite different to the free range of lifestyle Belle enjoyed, while Cinderella is also shy and romantic, Belle on the other hand is quite extroverted.
One can see a parallel to modern life here, where by a bride could feel like they are made to be a servant at their work, or even family with little time to look for their ‘prince charming’. Suddenly through chance, or their ‘fairy god mother’ are granted a chance to meet someone and live happily ever after, despite making social faux-pas such as leaving their shoes all over the place…
Cinderella is not as popular a Disney princess in choosing her dress to mimic as a bride’s wedding dress. Possibly due to the age of the Disney film; it was released in 1950. I wonder if wedding photographers were having brides tell them about wedding dresses inspired by Disney princesses back in the 1970s? Quite likely I would assume.
Rapunzel & Elsa
elsa
It hasn’t been too common to have brides state they’ve drawn inspiration from more modern Disney Princesses like Elsa, Rapunzel or Anna, I mean the films were only released in 2010 and 2013. But I’m pretty sure that it’d be highly likely I’ll be hearing stories from future brides, perhaps in the next 10-15 years about how they’ve always wanted to have a dress like their favourite Disney Princess.
Particularly with the success Frozen and Tangled have enjoyed as the first two 3D Disney princess movies. Tangled was the highest grossing DVD of the year, and Frozen was the highest grossing animated film of all time, which is impressive considering the number of 3D animated films being produced these days. So look out for this type of dress in the near future!
The others
Wedding dress hanging At Alru Farm wedding
While there are some traditionally conservative designs still in the line up of Disney princess wedding dresses, one would be hard pressed to envision a dress inspired by Pocahontas, Jasmin, Esmerelda, Fa Mulan or Kida except on the most adventurous of brides. That isn’t to say that any bride who grew up idolising these Disney princesses wouldn’t look fantastic in their designs, it’s just that they aren’t traditionally wedding-type dresses.
Others though like Ariel’s from The Little Mermaid could possibly be overlooked as she isn’t often pictured in her wedding dress other than right at the end of the film, promptly followed by giant calamari-making by her prince..
Tiana from ‘The Princess and the Frog‘ might be a popular choice in the United States as its one of the few Disney princess movies even mentioning America. Besides her dress has a bit of an eccentric design, it’s nice, but a bit strange when compared to the more traditional shape.
Aurora (or Sleeping Beauty) is possibly not overly appealing as a dress design as she is pictured more often than not asleep. Pretty boring eh? Besides, who among you knew that her name was Aurora? I had to google it :/.
Finally, Snow White is probably too old fashioned, and Megara isn’t really a princess until she marries Hercules so she doesn’t really fit in this list anyway… Actually, neither is Fa Mulan.. huh. OR BELLE! oh dear there goes this whole article!
Photographers have their fair share of difficulties, but that just comes with the stress of the job. We do everything we can to capture the magic of your wedding day in your photos.
In this job you really wear your heart on your sleeve and the best of us are passionate about what we do to a fault, But while we try our best to provide the best possible service, there are some things we keep to ourselves that we hope you understand. Here are just a few things most wedding photographers wish you knew:
3 Things Professional Wedding Photographers Wish You Knew
1 – We don’t want to replicate cheesy Pinterest photos
Wedding photographers have their own style. They have their own creative vision and want to be able to use it with their clients. While bringing in some inspiration is much appreciated (and even highly encouraged), we don’t want to commit a case of creative plagiarism. We do not deliver a replica of a fellow photographer’s vision because most of us have a great portfolio to show you as well.
Plus, we want to give you a new and fresh concept that has never been done before. Every wedding is unique and special, so we want your photos to reflect your own personalities.
Instead of searching for photos you want to imitate, compile a mood board with the vibe and feeling you’re going for and look for a photographer with an impressive portfolio that can interpret that vision. We love creative ideas, so don’t be afraid to tell us what you want to go for – sometimes cheesy can be fun – but too much is just silly.
OMG it’s an engagement ring
2 – Our rates are like that because we’re professionals
We understand that you’re on a budget. And as much as we want to help, we need to support our business and families too. Our equipment is an investment, and the skill we possess comes from years of experience and training.
Wedding photographers wish you knew just how much of our lives are poured into our craft and we price ourselves accordingly – it’s not just because it’s a ‘wedding’ and many people like to say.
We know that people are willing to do your shoot for two hundred bucks, but every photographer bases their rates on their skill and years of experience. If you want high-quality photos, you have to be willing to invest in a professional. At the end of the day, the adage, “You get what you pay for,” holds true.
Waterfall wedding photographer Hobart
3 – We wish you’d give us some credit online
It is completely your prerogative to do whatever you want with our photos. We’ve edited them the best we could, and it is our pleasure when you post them online. But tagging us in your photos and leaving us positive reviews can help out our business — especially if you post them without any filters. It would be much appreciated if you give us credit.
It’s the best thing in the world to hear and to see that you enjoyed our work so it’s really put a smile on our face!
Happy groom
At the end of the day, wedding photographers can let these things slide. It is a special day for a lovely couple, so most photographers will do everything they can to make the newlyweds’ experience special. When clients show their appreciation for us and all the creatives who worked tirelessly on their wedding, it reminds us just how fortunate and special our job is.
Photography is more than just having good equipment and pressing a button. It’s a skill that takes years to develop, so every heartfelt “thank you” recommendation, online mention, and tip in any shape or form truly brightens our days.
Don’t let one of the best moments in your life go uncaptured. Contact Sven Studios, the creative company of the best wedding photographers in Hobart, Darwin and Adelaide. From lovely prenup shoots to formal wedding shoots, we help make this special time in your life last longer through breath taking photographs. Contact us today!
All photographers view weddings as a major day. This is because the amount of responsibility on the shoulders of wedding photographers is gargantuan. After all, it’s one of the biggest days in the life of the couple involved. In that case, there is no question that nerves will always be part of the equation for each and every wedding that they cover.
The key to successfully executing wedding photography is to ensure that both the groom and bride are comfortable in front of the camera’s lenses. A pre-wedding photoshoot is a great way to manage the nerves on both sides and establish better rapport between the photographer and the couple as well – but it’s not a requirement.
I feel as though being a successful wedding photographer is really all about putting the trust in oneself and your experience in order to be confident in capturing the day no matter what is thrown your way. Being flexible is very important.
There are also some wedding photography dos and don’ts that really need to be heeded at every wedding. While these guidelines are primarily for your wedding photographer, knowing these will help you be more mindful of photography details during your big day.
Some simple Wedding Photography Dos and Don’ts
DO focus on even the smallest details
Weddings are planned months in advance, and often, even years. It’s safe to assume that even the most minute detail was well-thought-out and has some sort of significance. Aside from candid couple photos, and even some sneaky shots of guests with their guard down, the photographer should look at the setting and small details the bridal couple has put effort into.
Your photographer should ensure there’s a photo of the entertainment at the reception, especially if it’s your favourite performer. Shots of buffet or plated meals are a must, too. If an heirloom has been passed down to either bride or groom, a captured snap of that should not be missed as well.
This is something you should communicate to your photographer – as even the best wedding photographers may sometimes miss a ‘must have’ shot that you expect to have. Despite it being best to let your photographer have freedom to do their thing – pointing out small details would always be appreciated.
Guest gift
DON’T stand out so much or call attention to yourself
Weddings and the receptions that follow are incredible training grounds for photographers to be ninjas. It’s important that people are able to feel unobstructed by cameras suddenly in their face, or by constantly being asked if they’d like a photo. While there may be an idea for a great group shot, the photographer shouldn’t start pulling people from different corners together just for a shot unless it feels absolutely necessary.
OMG an engagement ring
DO use natural light where possible
Authenticity comes through in a photo well when natural light is involved. There’s a lot of family and friends at these events, which leads to emotions running high. These are some of the best moments in the life of both the groom and the bride, so it’s best to make sure the day is captured accordingly and reflects as much. Even if you have a flash kit, only use it when absolutely necessary; nothing beats the magic of natural sunlight.
bride looking out window as she gets ready
DON’T get caught up in capturing everything
Aside from the key shots, there’s a lot of room for candid wedding photos. If the photographer finds themselves missing a moment by a few seconds, don’t dwell on it. There should be another candid moment worth capturing after all. The photographer shouldn’t attempt staging the shot either. It’s natural to miss some things, since it’s practically impossible to photograph every minute or instance during a wedding and reception.
If a bride asks for a specific photo though – it’s certainly best practice to go grab it! haha
Laughing and playing
Weddings are undoubtedly special for the couple getting married, which is one main reason why wedding photographers feel immense pressure. A good way to start a good working relationship between you and the photographer is a pre-wedding shoot. There are several wedding photography dos and don’ts, and it’s vital you choose a photographer where these comes naturally.
Looking for wedding photography services? Contact SvenStudios today! Allow us to craft the precious memories of your wedding day in a fun and relaxed way.
As a passionate wedding photographer with a bit of a background in Landscape photography, the idea of having, and primarily using a Medium Format camera has always been a bit of a pipe dream until finally laying hands on the new Fujifilm GFX100s. That being said though, as primarily a wedding photographer, Digital Medium Format cameras have typically not been the best tool to produce wedding photos – so hopefully this little hands-on insight makes it clear why I chose the GFX100s for wedding photography.
I’ve always been a bit of a gear head – I’ve always tried to raise the bar in what I offer to my bridal couples when comparing what I offer with my competitors. This is evident in my early offering using a drone at weddings, also my used of virtual reality technology to record your day, even underwater drones for those of you who get married underwater! I just like my toys, and in my view a digital medium format camera was my personal gold standard of technological toys – they just weren’t viable as a working camera, until now.
A wedding photographer who uses a medium format camera is quite rare for a number of different reasons, hopefully I’ll help you understand why that is, but also why I’m now one of the rare ones using the medium format Fujifilm GFX100s for wedding photography!
Fliying veil at Alru farm wedding
What is a Medium Format Camera?
The name ‘Medium Format’ comes from the days of film where there were a selection of different sized films for use in different cameras. Those of you old enough to remember using a Box Brownie in their family photography would remember the film size being much larger than what came next in consumer-grade photography in the standard 35mm film rolls.
Basically speaking, most consumer film cameras would use 35mm film, while professional photographer-grade cameras would be using larger medium format film, and a few might even use large format for some applications. There is a marvelous true-story film about a photographer battling this stereotype of pro-grade camera with Vogue magazine in We’ll Take Manhattan, made in 2012. A really interesting movie.
The larger the film used meant larger negatives of images, meaning more detail can be captured with cameras using medium format film – therefore in theory – making better overall images.
35mm v 120 Medium Format
When considering digital cameras, the sensor where the device mimics the use of film to capture an image has until very recently been much smaller than what was available with traditional film – which is a center of any debate over which is better – film or digital photography.
Cheaper digital single lens reflex cameras, or ‘DSLRs’ tend to have a smaller sensor when compared to ‘pro-grade’ DSLRs who are said to have a ‘full frame’ sensor – which is really just the equivalent of 35mm film. I’m making a few generalisations here, but this makes things easier to illustrate a point.
So taking from this little photography history lesson – the majority of today’s photographers are using a format that was generally reserved for consumer photography – ie 35mm, or full frame format, and the only reason why medium format film fell out of favour was the technological limitations of digital imaging at the time.
All this being said though, digital medium format sensors are still smaller than medium format film, so there is still a little way to go in that regard. And also I need to point out that the Fuji medium format sensor is one of the smaller available digital medium format sensors – which is one of the main reasons why the GFX100s is cheaper than other digital medium format solutions.
Digital sensor sizes
Digital Medium Format Cameras are traditionally not great for Wedding Photography
Since the dawn of digital photography, digital medium format cameras have been developed and have been around for a while now – however have usually only been used in very niche areas that benefit from the high fidelity that such a format can produce due to a number of draw backs the relatively new technology comes with.
Digital medium format cameras are slow
Up until now, medium format digital cameras have been notoriously slow when compared with their film-based counter parts, or in particular digital full frame cameras. This is due to a number of issues related to technology. The processing power required to process and capture an image using a medium format sensor is significantly more than a full frame sensor, also the method of capture using these larger sensors tends to slow things down to a point where these rather large cameras were relegated to photographic applications where one usually used a tripod for every shot.
One wouldn’t generally be taking a medium format digital camera to something that requires a quick camera – like sports, or events like weddings.
Lens selection is not ideal
Another issue that comes with medium format cameras is the general nature of available lenses available. Medium format Lenses and even camera bodies for that matter are usually much larger than usual full-frame camera lenses, making lugging them around all day on a wedding day not an inviting prospect. It’s a big reason why mirrorless cameras have become so popular over the past few years being that they are so much lighter!
While talking about medium format lenses also, they tend to be quite a bit slower than full frame lenses. If you are a person without a photographic background you may not understand what the ‘speed’ of a lens means – basically it’s the amount of light that transits the lens and hits the image sensor. Medium format cameras often have to operate using a higher ISO sensitivity in low light situations to capture the same image as an equivalent full-frame camera – therefore having a reputation of producing too much noise in an image.
Large file sizes
Digital medium format cameras tend to produce images at a resolution not really needed for wedding photography. Many people consider 24mp images ample for wedding photography, while I personally prefer larger images but it’s all a matter of preference. The reason why having too much resolution is an issue with wedding photography is the requirement for editing thousands of images in post production. The higher the resolution of images produced, the longer it will take based on the power of the computer doing the editing.
Cost
Cost is also traditionally a huge factor in deciding not to go with a digital medium format camera with bodies often starting at $15k-$50k with lenses on top.
Bride and groom in the Inglewood Inn creek
What’s different with the GFX100s for Wedding Photography
So if all these negative aspects of digital medium format are such an issue, why would you choose the GFX100s for wedding photography, considering it is a digital medium format camera? Well basically the GFX100s has attempted to address all of these pitfalls traditionally associated with digital medium format cameras.
The GFX100s is rated at 5fps
First of all is the speed, my main work horse cameras throughout my wedding photography career has been the Nikon line up of full-frame DSLR cameras – the D700, D810 and D850. These cameras had 5, 5-7 and 7 frames per second continuous shooting speed respectively – making these cameras not super fast when compared to flagship DSLRS at 14fps or 30fps with mirrorless full-frame cameras, but I felt to be quite fast enough when in a situation like wedding photography.
The only reason why you would need a faster continuous shooting speed would be in high speed situations like sports.
Guess what the continuous shooting speed rating for the GFX100s is? 5fps. Now this is slower than my usual D850’s 7fps but still ample, particularly considering each image is a whopping 102 megapixel image! It’s just incredible it’s that fast! I had used digital medium format cameras in the past in the famed Pentax 645z which had a rating of 3fps and I found that overbearingly slow, but 5fps with the GFX100s for wedding photography is perfectly workable.
ISO handling is amazing
As for lenses, I tend to use the venerable combination of a 24-70mm f2.8 lens on my main full-frame camera, and the 70-200 f2.8 lens on my second body when shooting a wedding, so when looking at lenses for the GFX100s for wedding photography I tried to match that combination as much as possible, purchasing the 32-64 f4 lens meaning that this lens was not as fast as my usual go-to lenses.
Thankfully the GFX100s, and many modern mirrorless cameras for that matter, handle high ISO ratings amazingly well, allowing for little to no noise in low light situations. in fact since swapping to the GFX100s for wedding photography, I’ve used my hot-shoe flash much less often that what I might have with my Nikons.
This may be due to the ability of mirrorless cameras allowing a preview of the shot I’m about to take through the viewfinder I don’t know, but all I know is that my habits in this regard have definitely changed and I’m not afraid to bump the ISO up as much as needed.
Wedding photo in the alru farm greenshouse
Files are large, but not too large
This is probably the biggest issue for most when considering the GFX100s for wedding photography. As it packs a massive 102mp sensor, which is double that over the Sony Alpha1, and 3x the Nikon D850 which many professional wedding photographers swear by.
The fun thing is that when selecting a few options on the GFX100s, like reducing the bit depth to the lower 14bit (still huge) colour depth, and compressing the RAW files make the file sizes a quite reasonable 90-120mb and when compared to my Nikon D850 Raw sizes of 50-60mb that doesn’t seem too bad; particularly when you realise these settings don’t change much in image quality.
These file sizes are still larger of course which requires a beefier computer to handle them which may be a consideration for you – but for me the beefier computer in front of me the better!
Not as expensive as you may expect
Ok, cost is a big one – so many people out there just hear the phrase ‘medium format’ and get scared off immediately, and for good reason! If you’re in the market for digital medium format cameras you cay find yourself looking at AUD$20-$60k for a lens and body setup which is the price of a car.
That said though, those of you in the market for a new camera may be looking at the mirrorless full frame options out there, which is fair enough – but look at the costs carefully, the cost of a Sony A9 II body is $7k with the popular 7s III is $6k. Then there are the Nikon’s 7z II for $5.5k or the Canon famous R6 for $4k. This is compared to the hefty $9k for the GFX100s.
So, sure if you’re only buying a body having a GFX100s for wedding photography is pricey, but go price the lenses! The medium format GFX range of lenses tend to be quite a bit less expensive than the equivalent full frame lenses available. When pricing up a Nikon 7z II setup I found that the total cost for me would be $12k, when a GFX100s setup was $13k. What’s an extra $1000 when you can have the incredible ability of medium format in your hand?
Why I chose the GFX100s for Wedding Photography
I was thrown into a bit of a situation earlier in the year with the untimely death of my main Nikon D850 camera body which I managed to drop into a waterfall while photographing a wedding in Hobart, Tasmania. Claiming the camera on my insurance meant that I had to replace my usual workhorse of my wedding photography with something new.
I had always been a Nikon fan, ever since purchasing my very first DSLR in the venerable D80 while living in Japan – so my first port of call was obviously either a new D850 or join the mirrorless trend with the newer Z7ii.
I had been resisting heading into the mirrorless world as shooting stills with a mirrorless camera always seemed ‘off’ to me having no physical ‘clunk’ of the mirror when taking photos. Whenever I was asked why I chose Nikon over Canon I would always cite the main reason as being the satisfying ‘clunk’ noise that Nikons made over their more electric sounding Canon counterparts.
I had attempted to use mirrorless cameras for still photography in the past heading to presentations and industry nights where professional photographers are given pieces of equipment to try out for themselves. Never enjoyed the process at all and I had attended nights run by both Nikon and Sony.
On the other hand I felt as though taking the obvious choice and opting to buy a new Nikon D850 was an opportunity to upgrade lost. By this I mean that I had a chance to try something new and something astonishing had caught my eye in the new Medium Format Fujifilm GFX100s for wedding photography.
I had become familiar with Fujifilm cameras as I use a couple of X-T3s as my primary video cameras for my wedding videography which I believed was the best application for mirrorless cameras, but the whole idea of having a Medium Format Camera really appealed to my inner tech-nerd so I looked into it further.
First Impressions using the GFX100s for Wedding Photography
As of writing this little blog, I’ve shot 6 weddings using the GFX100s for wedding photography as my main camera – with 4 of them being fully edited, so I think I’m in a good sitaution to outline my thoughts of using this beast of a camera. The great thing about the weddings I’ve shot with it was that each of the weddings I covered with it were very different in regards to climate, theme and time of day so I could really test it out in all situations.
Build Quality
My first thought when picking up the camera was how light it was. I had in the past used medium format cameras, so I was expecting something rather hefty – particularly in the lens department, but I was pleasantly surprised at how sturdy it felt, and lighter than my Nikon D850! 900g vs 1005g for those interested. The lens I chose – the 32-64 f4 lens – was also very light at 875g vs my Sigma ART 24-70mm f2.8 I would usually use on my Nikon at 1020g.
The feel in my hand is really nice with a huge hand grip, and the LCD screen on the top that stays on with a battery installed is just beautiful. Weather proofing and materials used means I really can’t fault it at all!
Mirrorless Functions
A big reason why people are heading in droves to mirrorless cameras, other than the weight benefits, are the technological advances available to such cameras. These include live view in the viewfinder of the camera settings, eye tracking auto focus and the shutter release speed tends to be faster. These are all things I was brand new to coming from my Nikons, so using these things for the first time in a professional sense was quite novel.
Image Fidelity and Quality
Just holy crap. I had always had in my mind that I would swap to being a prime lens user when I finally made the change to medium format, and that was the plan due to the tendency for prime lenses to be that much sharper than zoom lenses, but unfortunately the selection of wider angle prime lenses for the GFX system isn’t great, hence opting for the 32-64 f4 lens.
Could not be more impressed with 102mp images if I tried, including in low light, high ISO setting. They might require a little bit of noise reduction, but there are some amazing bits of software for that these days.
To illustrate this I was lucky enough to cover a wedding at the same wedding venue with a ‘money shot’ everyone gets while there – in this case it was the Inglewood Inn’s Gollop’s Bridge, so here is an example of the same shot using my Nikon D810 and the GFX100s along with a 100% crop of each.
Nikon D810
Inglewood Inn Wedding Photo
100% crop
D850100
Fujifilm GFX100s
Gallop bridge Wedding photo
100% crop
GFX100s100
Hopefully this illustrates why I now love the GFX100s for wedding photography – particularly for money shots like this that are bound to be printed huge!
Ease of use
One of my fears of switching to the Fuji system for stills photography was my experience with the X-T3 cameras which I really don;t like using due to the retro dials at the top of the camera. When using a camera for wedding photography I like to switch settings quickly using my forefinger and thumb on dials like I had been used to with my Nikon systems.
Thankfully, using the GFX100s for wedding photography means it was a very simple transition to the Fuji way of using dials with the only slight difference being the way you select ISO settings which in some ways is better than the Nikon way of doing things – which was cool. I’ve also found myself using the Aperture priority setting much more with this camera, only reverting to my old way of doing things with full manual when I want to overexpose occasionally.
What I don’t like about the GFX100s for Wedding Photography
Lack of a physical shutter clunk
I really do miss the physical clunk of my Nikons, the poor excuse of the physical shutter sound on the GFX100s just doesn’t cut it, and don’t get me started on the tiny little sound it makes for the electronic shutter. makes me feel as though I’m not taking photos and causes some overshooting. This is simply something I need to get used to though.
Too slow for receptions
It’s a combination of my subconscious photographer’s mind relying on the shutter clunk to register that I’ve taken an image and the fact that it is a medium format camera when I find myself feeling as though I’m missing too many shots with the GFX100s for wedding receptions.
Also the fact that I have to use a slower wide angle lens when in lower light situations with medium format means I can’t use a faster shutter speed without bumping the ISO up a little too high.
I have been using my trusty Nikon D810 for reception photos as a result. Once a wide angle GFX mount lens is released I’ll probably be re evaluating this – but currently, having a 102mp sensor for candid, drunken photos is simply too much anyway. I might break it out for a pinup first dance shot, but that’s about it.
I Highly Recommend the GFX100s for Wedding Photography
I have certainly been enjoying my foray into using medium format with my new GFX100s for wedding photography. It really is hard to explain using a blog post to explain exactly why I’m enjoying using the GFX100s for wedding photography so much, but let me just say that I have been using this camera and thinking about my photography in the same way I had when first getting my hands on my first full frame professional camera.
I’m the type of person who gets inspired by using new technology in such as way that prompts quite a bit of creativity from me – it really feels as though I’m relearning how to take photos, but with all the experience I’ve had in the past as a foundation so it’s making taking so much fun!
Weddings I’ve used the GFX100s for Wedding Photography
Here’s some examples of work I’ve used the GFX100s for wedding photography as a main camera.
