You’ve probably heard it before: having the same gear won’t guarantee the same photos. It's partially true, but let’s be completely honest:
Yes, we’ve seen young photographers with entry-level cameras create breathtaking images. And yes, with some well-crafted shots, you'd never guess they were taken with an iPhone. So, gear should never be an excuse for a lack of creativity.
That said, having a camera that handles ISO 12,000, eye-tracking autofocus, a lens with an f/1.2 aperture, and a flash that recharges quickly can be a significant advantage in certain types of photography.
On the flip side, choosing the latest camera with a global shutter, 120 frames per second burst mode, and an AI-dedicated processor wouldn't make sense if your style leans towards slow, documentary photography.
We understand those who want to upgrade their setup to better align with their photographic style or to help them make an artistic shift. Of course, there will always be someone who says you can achieve any style with what you already have (and we’re not pushing for overconsumption), but sometimes shooting with your dream camera can give you wings!
Plus, we love knowing what gear the photographers we follow are using. Many of you have asked us what we work with, so we’re happy to share!
Contax G2
Let’s start with “Yoan’s baby.” This 35mm film camera, equipped with a 28mm lens, is compact and relatively easy to use with its automatic shutter speed mode.
Shooting on film is expensive, but it creates a special connection to the events we capture. With limited settings, slower operation than digital, and no screen, Yoan feels more "in the moment" when photographing with film.
What we love are the surprises, the charm of imperfections, and the “happy mistakes” that we’d never get with modern mirrorless cameras.
For those unfamiliar, this camera is a viewfinder type, meaning you don’t see through the lens like with a reflex camera, but through a slightly offset window. While the framing is pretty similar between the viewfinder and the final photo, depth of field is impossible to see and must be estimated by eye. This makes it a compact, discreet camera well-suited for documentary-style shooting.
Contax G2 is pretty trendy right now, so the price is high (It's no longer produced new, of course, so it can only be found secondhand.) If you’re interested in this type of camera, let us know in the comments, and we’ll suggest some alternatives.
For film, we most often use Kodak Portra 400 (which we intentionally overexpose) for color and Tmax 400 or Tmax P3200 for black and white.
Sony A7 IV
Modern, powerful, and versatile, this camera has become a classic for wedding photographers because it’s a true all-terrain vehicle for photography.
With fast shutter speeds, comprehensive settings, and excellent ISO performance, the Sony A7 IV is more accessible than its A9 or A1 counterparts but offers incredible performance to meet the productivity demands of a wedding.
We even shoot some of our videos with this camera, which speaks to its versatility.
Contax 645
Many of the older images on our site were captured on medium format film using the Contax 645 (Olivier and Bradley featured on Style Me Pretty for example)
The soft images we shot on Fuji 400h film in the “fine art” style offered a dynamic range nearly impossible to reproduce with digital.
While we enjoyed photographing many beautiful luxury weddings on the French Riviera with this camera, we’ve since parted ways with it.
Too heavy, too slow, too bulky, and now too expensive, medium format film no longer aligns with our artistic vision or what the wedding market demands. That’s why we now prefer the much smaller and more responsive Contax G2.
Lenses
For the Contax G2, we use the classic 28mm f/2.8, which gives our work that incredible documentary look. For the Contax 645, we used the legendary 80mm f/2 Planar lens, known for its extraordinary “swirling” bokeh.
For the Sony A7 IV:
The Sony FE 35mm F1.4 GM, Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM, and Sony FE 50mm F1.2 GM. It’s hard to pick a favorite. We use them all for every wedding. The 24-70mm is, of course, very versatile and especially useful for ceremonies. We also use it a lot on the dance floor and increasingly for couple portraits. The 50mm allows us to achieve bokeh similar to what we used to produce with medium format, thanks to its f/1.2 aperture, and the 35mm gives us a wider field of view while still isolating the subject more than the 24-70mm due to its f/1.4 aperture.
One thing is certain: we try to limit the number of lenses we carry. For a long time, we used ONLY the 50mm (or its equivalent, the 80mm, on medium format), which helped us be more creative and maintain greater consistency in our images.
Flash
Once dismissed, the flash has now become an essential part of our editorial and documentary look.
The classic Godox V1 and Godox V860II, with a few extra batteries, work just fine. We mostly use them off-camera with a Godox XProII-S trigger.
The recharge times are good, and the options far exceed our needs. The hardest part is mastering the different flash techniques, which we’ll share in a new article soon (sign up for our newsletter to be notified of upcoming posts).
For the Contax G2, Yoan uses the Contax TLA200, which is as compact and simple as the camera itself. Despite having almost no settings available on this flash, there are still various ways to use it, which we’ll show you soon.
Drone
We like to add a few drone shots captured with the tiny but highly capable DJI Mavic Mini 4 Pro.
This drone met our requirements for image quality, available options, and size/weight. We find it hard to distinguish its images from those of other DJI drones, given the superb quality, but we love its reliability and the 48-megapixel image resolution!
What Else?
Of course, there are plenty of accessories, like dual battery chargers, super-fast SD cards, and many others that fill our bags and drawers. But what seems most important to us today... our goal after so many years of photography... is to do more with less!
We’ve sold a lot of gear and bought very little new. Too often, we felt our creativity was limited by having three cameras slung over our shoulders, weighing us down all day and filling our minds with doubts… “Should I use the digital with the 24-70mm in backlight, or the 50mm with a flash, or the analog in sunlight?”
Worn out by the desire to achieve “perfection” with a lot, we are now on the path to creating “authentic” work with less!
Comments