As a wedding photographer, it can be easy to justify a large number of lenses for different purposes throughout the day (35mm/50mm primes for getting ready, 70-200mm for the ceremony, 105mm macro for shots of the rings, 85mm for portraits, and so on). In reality, most weddings can be documented well with significantly less gear. But how much less? I recently had someone ask me: “For someone looking to get into wedding photography, is there a single lens that you would recommend that would be good enough to start with and be able to shoot a full wedding with?”
I thought the answer would make a good article. However, before continuing, an important note. I would never advocate photographing a wedding and bringing only one camera body and one lens. When someone is paying you to capture once-in-a-lifetime moments, gear failure is not an excuse for missing the shot – so at a minimum I would have a backup camera and a backup general lens (something like a 24-70mm f/4 or a 50mm prime). That said, there’s nothing wrong with trying to slim down your equipment. By keeping your gear on the minimalist side, you can be more nimble and not have to worry about missing moments while you’re swapping lenses, resulting in better photos.
Off my soapbox and back to the question. Is there a good, single lens for wedding photography that basically does everything you need? This question isn’t something I had considered much before, so I had to give it some thought.
![Single Lens Wedding 26](https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2024/07/Single-Lens-Wedding-26.jpg/w=960)
First – every wedding is unique. The gear requirements for a large church wedding are quite different than a micro outdoor wedding. If I were to choose a single lens that could do it all, I would need a versatile focal length range, so a prime lens would not be an option.
Second – weddings often continue into the night when the light is very low, so the zoom lens would need to have as fast of an aperture as possible.
![Single Lens Wedding 13](https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2024/07/Single-Lens-Wedding-13.jpg/w=433)
With these two factors considered, an obvious choice would be something like a 24-70mm f/2.8. However, for my personal style, I rarely shoot weddings as wide as 24mm, and very often use focal lengths longer than 70mm (particularly for ceremonies where you may not be able to get near the couple without being in the way of guests). This, for me, actually argues for something more like a 70-200mm f/2.8 instead – but then you miss the ability to shoot wider shots when needed.
![Single Lens Wedding 25](https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2024/07/Single-Lens-Wedding-25.jpg/w=433)
Much to my surprise, the answer came to me not through weddings, but instead on a recent trip to Africa. One of the lenses I brought on the trip was the Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 (available in Nikon Z and Sony E mounts). I really enjoyed using this lens in Africa, and when I got home, I looked through a few of my recent wedding albums. Sorting in Lightroom, I discovered that about 90% of my delivered photos were taken at a focal range between 35mm and 150mm, and only about 40% were between 24mm and 70mm. (This didn’t surprise me since the 70-200 is one of my most-used wedding lenses).
In addition, the bright maximum aperture of f/2-2.8 would do a good job of covering the vast majority of situations. It isn’t quite wide enough for some shots that I like – although you can get creative by finding different vantage points, like for the image below. I’d also prefer slightly longer than 150mm when I’m not able to get close to the couple during the ceremony, but it splits the difference really well.
![Single Lens Wedding 20](https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2024/07/Single-Lens-Wedding-20.jpg/w=960)
Here’s a comparison of a ceremony taken at 35mm and (nearly) 150mm from the same spot, to give a perspective of the type of range this lens could provide.
![Single Lens Wedding 12](https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2024/07/Single-Lens-Wedding-12.jpg/w=960)
![Single Lens Wedding 5](https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2024/07/Single-Lens-Wedding-5.jpg/w=960)
The Tamron 35-150mm is not a macro lens, so it can’t do ring closeups like the following photo. However, it does have a maximum magnification of 0.17x at 150mm, which is still pretty good when cropping.
![Single Lens Wedding 23](https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2024/07/Single-Lens-Wedding-23.jpg/w=960)
I personally prefer my ring shots with a bit more context anyway, and it can focus more than close enough for a shot like this:
![Single Lens Wedding 7](https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2024/07/Single-Lens-Wedding-7.jpg/w=433)
Spencer wrote up a full review of the Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 lens here, so I won’t cover all of the specs and pros/cons, but will list the ones I think would be most relevant for wedding photographers.
Pros:
- Excellent focal range for most wedding subjects
- Very good build quality
- Very sharp, especially under 105mm (I have no issue with the sharpness at any focal distance or aperture in practice)
Cons:
- Fairly expensive ($1900 for E mount and $2000 for Z mount) – however, given that this could feasibly replace a 35mm f/1.8, a 24-70mm f/2.8, an 85mm f/1.8, and even most of a 70-200mm f/2.8, it represents a significant value
- Flare control is not the best, so if you do a lot of portraits with the sun in frame, this may be an issue
- Not the fastest focusing lens. This is probably a bigger con for other types of events, since weddings don’t (usually) involve a lot of fast action
Conclusion
This article is theoretical, at least for now. I haven’t switched out my wedding photography kit for the Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8, but in response to the question I received, I now know the answer. If I had to photograph a wedding with just one lens, this is the clear winner. My experience using it in Africa also showed me how much I enjoyed the lens.
Below are a few photos I took with the Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 in Africa, as well as some wedding photos where I think the Tamron would have made a convincing replacement. As always, let me know in the comments section below if you have any questions or ideas for wedding photography lenses!
![Safari Article 50](https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2024/07/Safari-Article-50.jpg/w=520)
![Single Lens Wedding 16](https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2024/07/Single-Lens-Wedding-16.jpg/w=960)
![Single Lens Wedding 11](https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2024/07/Single-Lens-Wedding-11.jpg/w=433)
![ACP_6013](https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2024/07/ACP_6013.jpg/w=960)
![Single Lens Wedding 21](https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2024/07/Single-Lens-Wedding-21.jpg/w=433)
![Safari Article 47](https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2024/07/Safari-Article-47.jpg/w=433)
Well, with my 40+ years with weddings – my go to pair is 35+85 on 2 FF bodies (20+50 in the bag) + 2.8 Zoom trio as well just in case ;-) 35-150 is very tempting, but the look of the fast aperture primes is in my head saying – no no no… :-)
I want photos shoot
Video
when I was a professjonal photographer bacj in 1980. Shot alk wedding Hasselblad 500C with standard 80mm lense. Never had the need or the time to change lenses. Weddings were shot on about 60 shots generally or 100 max if the client want the fullt day plus evening. Normal time to omplete the event was between 1.5 and 2.5 hours depending on the faith. This brings me back to my youth, thx
I once went to wedding where the photographers just used a D750, Nikon 24-120 and a flash. I’ve also used the same combo for events and it worked great, not video but for photos the 24-120 was more than enough.
I assume that wedding photography has appeared when Z cameras and their equivalents appeared although weddings were before.
I assume that wedding photography is done in open air at natural light.
I assume that there was no wedding photography when lenses were with f/5.6 or 8 or even 11.
Thanks
I remember when photographers used to shoot mostly Canon. I used to shoot with Canon myself. Nowadays, i see wedding photographers most often using Nikon and Sony.
I don’t know about professional photographers ever shooting weddings in f11, but there used to be a saying “f8 and be there”, that’s when photographers used to shoot in f8 all the time. Wedding photographers back then needed assistants to help with those heavy monolights that needed to be set up around the wedding reception area to get sufficient light when shooting with f8 aperture and with those older camera sensors . Those monolights were extremely heavy and on top of that they also needed to shlep those heavy sandbags to keep the (heavy) lightstands from tipping over… today wedding photographers shoot with wide open apertures and the sensors today are much better in low light so thankfully we don’t need those heavy lights anymore.
I used to assist a photographer who shot in f8. She had a second shooter who would shlep in all those lights and gear on a trolley and he and I would set up the lights around the room. My job would also include constantly moving the 3 point lighting setup when she shot portraits and the subjects changed positions … It was so exhausting. When i started shooting weddings myself I originally shlepped 3 Einstein lights (which were much lighter than the old monolights) which I pretty fast swapped out for those lighter, off camera flashes ( i fogot what they were called). But then I started shooting with f5.6 and then f4 aperture. When I started using f4 and the sensors became cleaner in low light, I ditched the flashes around the room. In the beginning it felt scary and weird to shoot weddings without lights around the room, but it was very freeing. It’s great not to have to set up lights around the room and only using one off-camera flash for portraits and an on-camera flash for low light/indoor photos.
Thank you for the analysis, very interesting indeed.
I really think that the Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 is a bit on the heavy side for my taste. I always have the 24-70mm f/2.8 on my Z8 for shooting events and I think it’s also really a heavy set especially with a speedlight on the camera’s hotshoe, by the end of events my arms and feet are always killing me. For this reason I’m always looking for light equipments. I would love a long reach zoom lens weighting around 450g for my events. With the crop capabilities of the Z8 I would also have an extra reach for my photojournalistic shots lol
I’ve been thinking about the 24-120mm f/4 but it’s a bit heavy too.
I would appreciate some tips. Cheers!
Thanks for the comment. Everyone has a different tolerance when it comes to weight. I’m used to keeping the Z 70-200 2.8 on a Z9 pretty much all the time for events, with either the 35 1.8 or the 24-70 on a Z6ii, so using the 35-150 would represent a significant weight savings for me.
If you are looking to keep weight down significantly without loosing low light capability, and especially if you are comfortable cropping as you mentioned, going with primes would be a good option. Something like the 35 1.4 on one body and either an 85 or 105 on the other. That could be a lot of versatility in a much lighter package.
I did a wedding this summer with a canon 6d and a 50mm 1.4 from 93, one SD card slot, one lens, one camera. I committed every wedding sin in a day (I did have backup gear and did cloud uploads during the day) but it went great and was really easy
Thanks for the comment, Tom. Glad the wedding went well! And I completely agree that for weddings (and almost all types of photography), simplifying your kit can be a really freeing experience, allowing you to focus more on what you are doing and less what gear you are using. And you did mention that you had backup gear, so I wouldn’t say that you committed many “sins”. The only thing that I would personally change from your setup is using a camera that has two card slots. I know not everyone does that, but if a card happened to fail before being backed up on a wedding, my anxiety wouldn’t allow me to do that haha.
I’ve shot about 500 weddings. And still going. Many types of gear has come and gone in my bag. I’ve been at this long enough now that I just want the best. I have the 50 1.2, the 135 Plena among others. But I also own the 35-150. It’s such a versatile lens. Not prime sharp. But not far off. If I’m in a mood and want to shoot ceremony or reception with just one body or lens, this is it. For video, this covers 99% of the FL I need for weddings and events. For tighter spaces I still own and use a lot, my 24-70 2.8.
Thanks for sharing your experience Mike! I haven’t used the Plena, but I could see where that would be an awesome lens to pair with the 50 to get the tighter shots.
Thank you for this interesting analysis. I guess at one time there weren’t lenses such as the Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8. I see the appeal of using a single lens for events (or rather, two copies of a single lens, haha). You stated your percentage of deliverted shots for 24-70 but out of curiosity, what is the percentage for 24-34mm?
Thanks Jason! Good question – only about 5% of my photos were between 24-34mm. Admittedly, this is largely because I often shoot a wedding without having a lens that can shoot wider on a camera body. I always cary a 24-70, but don’t always use it. The two main situations I use a wider angle are for top-down style dancing shots, and some creative portraits.