Does the Camera Brand your Wedding Photographer use Matter?

For the vast majority of you, the brand or type of camera your wedding photographer uses makes little difference.  You've seen the photos they can take, the proof is in the pudding, right?  Well 5 or 10 years ago this wasn't the case, and there was quite a big difference between the big companies and everyone else, both in capability and prestige.  Unfortunately there are still some online blogs or magazines that make asking this question a big deal, and if you get the wrong answer, you are encouraged to pass.  Here's why you should still listen to the answer and, if anything, just carry on chatting regardless.  If you happen to be a bit of a photographer yourself, this can be the perfect chance to get geeky with someone who knows their stuff!

---

Maybe 5, or 10 years ago, camera brand would have been a big deal but today there are so many players in the market (most of which make extremely capable cameras) that the brand that a wedding photographer uses is now much less of an issue.

Back in the day, you realistically had a choice between Canon and Nikon.  These two brands are still really prominent today and between them still command a big share of the camera market.  Their products appeal to all sorts of people, from beginners to working professionals.  The workhorse cameras from each company are rugged, reliable and solid performers – as they should be. 

In truth, I have only been asked what brand of camera/equipment I use once, and I’m not entirely convinced in that situation the couple who asked really knew what the answer meant.  That’s not the fault of the couple at all.  They could have been real camera buffs for all I knew, and an incorrect answer may have led to a long debate on my suitability as their wedding photographer for using ‘inferior’ equipment.  However it’s quite possible that there are still some dated lists of ‘questions to ask your wedding photographer’ out there that are being used to field this question.

Nowadays there are some strong competitors to Canon and Nikon: Sony, Fuji, Panasonic, Leica, Olympus, Pentax to name but a few.  Sony especially has been rising to prominence recently and their products now rival that of Canon and Nikon with a professional line of stills and video cameras as well as high quality lenses to match.

There has always been a heated rivalry between the big brands, with users tending to side with the brand they personally own or use, while others will mention the image quality, performance in low light, the realistic representation of colours etc.  All those techy metrics that can be measured in an effort to decide the best brand.  However, there is now often so little to distinguish between them overall that it just doesn’t matter anymore. 

All that matters is that the photographer you’re talking to knows how to use his particular equipment, and use it well and in a variety of situations.  This is your wedding day after all, and a photographer should be using a brand for its ease of use and performance for the job they want to do, and certainly not because they won’t be taken seriously for using a ‘lesser brand’.