Well, I have finally taken the plunge and I have sold my 24-70 zoom lens that used to be my “go to” lens for photographing weddings. After spending nearly 6 months with the ZEISS Batis 40 CF f2 lens I found I just wasn’t using it and as part of my whole ethos of only keeping kit that I actually use it was time for it to go.
What this does mean is that 99% of what I do now is on prime lenses and this does make you work slightly differently. At weddings I work with 2 cameras; a Sony A7R3 and a Sony A7R2 with a different prime lens on each. For the last wedding I photographed I used a mix of 4 different lenses :
Each of these was used for different shots at different times.
ZEISS Batis 25
I used this lens for just over 25% of the photos during the day. This included all the formal group photos as well as lot of the more candid shots.
ZEISS Batis 40
This lens surprised me with its versatility and quite how long it stayed on the camera for. When I looked at the total number of photos from this wedding well over half of them had been taken with the ZEISS Batis 40. I used it for everything from the detail shots, portraits, candids… it just seems to be one of those lenses that can be used for pretty much everything.
ZEISS Batis 85
Because of the room layout for this wedding (and also using the ZEISS Batis 40 so much !) I only used the ZEISS Batis 85 for a few shots during the speeches and then switched to the ZEISS Batis 135.
ZEISS Batis 135
This is the lens that I used most during the speeches; sometimes the layout of the room means that you are just that bit further away; it does also mean that people aren’t necessarily aware that you are photographing them and you can get some interesting expressions on peoples faces !
Regrets ?
So, do I have any regrets about switching to prime lenses ? Well, the only regret I have is not doing it years ago. It changes the way that you work and adds a consistency to your images. It has made me think about the type of shots I’m after before I start which means not only do I shoot less but I feel more relaxed at the time because it has all been planned and thought through. The combination of the ZEISS Batis prime lenses and the Sony A7 series of cameras for me is one that feels just right and works really well 🙂