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My Wedding blog

Welcome to my wedding blog! As an Orlando wedding videographer, I do my best to provide as many articles and other pieces of information to help you navigate through wedding planning. Check out the weddings and other events I've filmed, along with various tips and advice I have.

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wedding videography gear - cameras, lenses, audio recorders, and support gear

I filmed my first wedding in 2010 with two Canon XHA1 camcorders, a set of Sony wireless mics, and a bunch of DIY support gear my roommate at the time helped me build. It’s incredible how far technology has come since then. Not only has wedding videography equipment gotten more advanced with drones and electronic gimbals, for example, it’s gotten smaller and cheaper. The barrier to entry for wedding videography is much lower than it used to be.

When I shoot weddings my prime objective is to tell a compelling story through the use of highly cinematic visuals. My wedding videography equipment is lightweight with quick setup so I can focus on the important things happening throughout the day. The last thing you want is to fight with your wedding gear. It should essentially stay out of your way. Here is my current wedding videography equipment in 2023:

CAMERAS

Sony A7SIII is my current primary camera. It has every feature you could need as a wedding videographer. 4K resolution up to 120 frames per second in 10bit 422 color gives you an astounding image. The dynamic range gives you great detail in the shadows and highlights, especially when shooting S-Log. The ISO performance is excellent allowing for noise-free low light shooting. There’s also great image stability options and world class Autofocus.
Sony A7IV is what I use for my B and C cams. It’s a very similar camera to the A7SIII, but much better for stills, which comes in handy when I’m doing any sort of photography. The only real drawback to this camera is 4K at 60 frames per second has a 1.5x crop requiring you to switch to a wider lens to compensate. However, this can come in handy if you want extra reach on your lenses.
DJI Mavic 2 Pro is my drone of choice. It has a Hasselblad camera with a large 1″ sensor and allows me to achieve stunning landscape and venue shots from a high altitude. It’s also super stable in high wind conditions.

LENSES

Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 GM: establishing shots, ceremony wide/medium shot
Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II, main lens, versatile and used all day
Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II: ceremony bride/groom closeup, toasts
Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN: getting ready, golden hour portraits
Sony 135mm f/1.8: golden hour portraits, toasts

AUDIO EQUIPMENT

Zoom F6: this recorder is a 6 XLR input compact beast! The 32 bit float bit depth allows for extreme audio levels without distortion or noise. This is ideal during the reception when the volume goes from super loud dance music to softly spoken toasts and speeches.
Tascam DR-10L: a tiny audio recorder that I use during the ceremony and as backup for speeches. These dual record so you have a safety track at a lower volume in case the primary track clips. The units are placed in the jacket pocket of the groom and either the jacket pocket or the top of neckline on the back of the officiant. I also have a white one that I put in a white URSA thigh strap on the bride or on a white suit.
Sanken COS-11D: this lav mic is far superior to the stock lav mic that comes with the Tascam DR-10L. It’s crisper sounding and has more sensitivity. I use Bubblebee wind protectors on them for outside ceremonies and first looks. I have two black ones and a white one. The white one is generally used to mic my brides.
Roland R-05: this is my go-to audio recorder for both connecting to the DJ’s mixer via RCA cables, as well as for recording acoustic soloists and ensembles with the built-in stereo microphone. There’s a newer model, the R-07, but it’s still a great unit and I have two of them.
Sony ICD-TX650: this ultra slim mic is perfect for attaching to the handheld mic during reception toasts. I use it as a backup for when the DJ’s mic invariably loses signal or emits static.
Sennheiser EW 135P G4: Occasionally a DJ will have a wired mic that doesn’t reach to where I’d ideally like the toast givers to stand. Or the sound person’s mic is having interference or other issues. This handheld wireless mic system is the perfect solution. I plug it into an Art SPLITcom Pro and take one feed to my Zoom F6 and the other back to the sound person’s console so they can route the audio to their monitor speakers.

LIGHTS

CAME-TV Q-55S Boltzen 55w Bi-Color LED’s are the lights I use for illuminating the dance floor for entrances, first dances, and speeches. They come with built-in fresnels for focusing the lights between spot (speeches, cake cutting, grand exit) and flood (dancing, bouquet/garter toss). Built-in barn doors allow me to shape the light and control spill. They are also bi-color, so it allows me to quickly alter color temperature without messing with gels. The best part is they run off of two Sony L-Series batteries, which is a much more portable solution than lights that run off of giant V-mount batteries.

SUPPORT GEAR

Manfrotto 500 Fluid Head and 190X Tripod: I have three of these fantastic tripods. They’re light, they collapse to a small size, they extend over 6′, have a top loading plate system, ball mount, and telescoping column. This tripod ticks all the boxes a pro needs.
Manfrotto XPRO Monopod: I primarily shoot on tripods, but occasionally I grab this monopod for certain shots when necessary. It’s great for high tilted down angles and moving around quickly.
Zhiyun Weebill-S: this is the best gimbal for wedding videography, in my opinion. It’s super compact and lightweight, very cheap, the axes lock for storing/transport, and it’s fully programmable. It’s a great piece of kit for trucking/following shots and orbitals around subjects. It also has a vortex mode, which spins it 360 degrees horizontally. The batteries are also removable, unlike the offerings from DJI, which require you to charge the whole handle. That said, I only have one set of batteries as they last multiple weddings before needing to be charged again.
Edelkrone SliderONE Pro: This motorized slider is my secret weapon. Sliders aren’t as popular nowadays as wedding videographers attempt to recreate classic slider shots with gimbals. However, to get precision detail shots of the rings, accessories, and reception details, you can’t beat this thing. It’s controlled via the accompanying phone app.
Ulanzi Falcam F38 QR System: I absolutely love these quick release plates. I have them on all my tripods, slider, monopod, gimbal, and pants belt. They lock solidly in place with no wiggle. The plates are low profile and contain little stoppers so my camera bodies don’t shift on them.

COMPUTER & SOFTWARE

With the ever-changing landscape of filmmaking gear, this list will be constantly revisited and updated as my wedding videography equipment gets refreshed. With this set of wedding gear you’ll be golden for any wedding or event.

~Patrick

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