The best advice I can give you concerning wedding photography equipment is this: don't worry about it! That doesn't mean you shouldn't make sure your wedding photographer has high quality equipment and knows how to use it. It just means that a specific type of camera should not be your first concern.
        Bottom line: the quality of your wedding photos depends much more on the photographer's skill, experience, and judgment than what type of camera is used.

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What are the advantages and disadvantages of larger format cameras?

        As a rule, the larger the negative, the higher the quality or "resolution." If you want the highest possible quality regardless of price, the 4 x 5 view camera is the way to go. The "4 x 5" refers to the size of the negative - four inches by five inches. In contrast, 35 mm negatives measure approximately 1 x 1.5 inches, so compared to 35 mm film, the 4 x 5 negative is 13 times larger. The higher resolution of the 4 x 5 is most noticeable with print sizes greater than 20 x 30. Otherwise, a smaller format is all you need.
         As far as disadvantages, the following general rule also applies: the larger the format, the higher the cost. Again, if you need big prints, then a larger format is worth the extra money. If not, ask your photographer what he recommends. If you don't understand the answer, keep asking questions until you do. (A note about "dumb" questions: there aren't any!)

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What about digital wedding photography?

        Digital photography has come a long way in recent years, and many photographers are now using digital equipment exclusively with excellent results. In my opinion, digital cameras are great in some situations, but not so great in others.
         If in doubt as to whether your wedding photographer is using the right equipment - again - ask lots of questions. Just remember that, even though you may have well - meaning friends with opinions on the matter, unless your friends are professional photographers, they are not experts. Hire a photographer you feel you can trust, then trust his or her ability to choose the right equipment!
         We're available to answer all your questions regarding equipment or any other aspect of our work. Call or email us today for a free consultation.

        Cameras are stationary and need to be installed before use. Main advantage of these cameras is the ability to record images on 4� x 5� negaive size, which provides unbeatable quality. Images can be enlarged up to "freeway poster" size while maintaining low visible grainess. These cameras also use superb lenses, which guarantee excellent sharpness and contrast of each photograph.

        Additional plus of this kind of photo equipment is ability to manipulate with image during the actual shot by changing angle of the negative position therefore changing the light angle coming in. If used professionaly, it will create heart-beating effects in yor photographs. 4x5 cameras also known as large format equipment are rarely used for photographing weddings because of their huge sizes, installation and reloading time, which makes them to be much less flexible then their 35mm, medium and digital wedding competitors.

        Wedding photographer needs to reload film before each shot, which limits the use of camera for only formal shots. These cameras are mainly used in commercial studio photography in static situations. Other disadvantage is obviously high cost. Using this camera on you wedding will double your wedding photography expenses.

        Another popular camera for wedding photography is the medium format camera. This format is smaller (2.25" x 2.25") than 4 x 5, but still produces a relatively large negative. Medium format cameras also have a wide variety of great lenses available. Only within the past few years has medium format begun losing ground to 35mm and digital for wedding photography, but the format is still widely used.

        The advantage of medium format is high resolution. Its 2.25" x 2.25" negative size is roughly three times larger than 35 mm negatives, and images up to 30" x 40" can be made without loss of detail. Some professionals believe that the medium format creates much sharper and clearer photographs than 35mm, even when it comes to small images. Medium format cameras use 12 or 22 exposure rolls of film. Reloading takes only a few minutes, depending on the camera model and the photographer's skills. While medium format cameras can be used for photojournalism-style wedding photography with excellent results, 35mm or digital equipment is now preferred by most wedding photographers.

        Over the past 10 years or so, 35mm cameras have become increasingly popular as a result of significant improvements in film quality. Also, these small, yet very professional cameras beat all other formats in terms of overall flexibility.

        35mm cameras are compact, fast and light, qualities that are of tremendous importance for event photography. Reloading can be done in seconds, and each roll of film holds up to 36 frames, which means that fewer shots will be missed while reloading. The lenses made for modern 35mm cameras are sharp and fast. Wedding photographers who use 35mm equipment always praise this format's high quality and unbeatable versatility.

        Although detailed prints can be made up to 20" x 30" using the sharpest 35mm film, most people never even consider ordering images this large. When you consider that most photo albums accept a maximum photograph size of 8"x10", coupled with the format's low cost and flexibility, 35mm is the obvious superior choice for the vast majority of modern wedding photography.

        Digital photography, until recently, has been viewed as weak competitor to traditional film photography. It was viewed as being "OK" for candid shots of your wedding, but for creating professional quality wedding photos, most photographers rejected the idea.

         Add to this most people were printing out their images on low quality, consumer-grade inkjet printers, and it�s not hard to see why film was still king.

        However, the technology behind digital photography grew, and is still growing at a very rapid rate. Prints made from digital images are indistinguishable from 35mm film, and today�s newest professional digital cameras equal and surpass 35mm color film in both sharpness and color reproduction.

        Another advantage of digital photography is the ability to make perfect duplicates of the raw images to save in a variety of safe places. With film, the negatives are vulnerable to dust and scratches and other physical factors. They can also be lost in the mail being sent out for developing or reprints, or the photo lab can accidentally slip them into another customer�s order. While digital images run the risk of being erased off a hard drive, duplicating the images to CD- ROM or another computer first will ensure your important images are safe and never lost. This may be obvious, but digital images never fade. While the prints made from digital images may slowly fade (at the same rate prints made from negatives fade, since they�re printed on the same silver-based photographic paper and processed in the same chemicals), unlike color film negatives, the original digital files won�t. So prints made from those files twenty years from now will look just as sharp and just as vibrant as the day the photos were taken. Color negatives will fade will time, as will black and white negatives if not properly treated and stored.

        Digital images can be almost anything you want them to be. Every image can be color or black and white. They can be sepia-toned or they can be hand-colored. Blemishes can be removed, skin tones evened, red-eye eliminated, backgrounds blurred. And all of this is from the same original image. The changes one can make in a "digital darkroom" far exceed what can be done in a traditional darkroom. The only limits are time and imagination. Digital images also have a wide variety of "output" options. You can easily post them on web pages, create a DVD slide show from them, or print them to your home printer to share with friends and family whenever you want. Digital images can be hosted on a special website for you to order additional prints from at any time, all with perfect quality.

        With film based photography, the process to getting proofs back begins with the photographer sending the film off to the lab within a few days of the event, often through the mail. The lab receives the film a few days later, develops it, makes proofs, and sends the proofs back to the photographer, sometimes hanging on to the negatives, sometimes sending them back, depending on the lab and the arrangement. A few days later the photographer receives the proofs, labels them, and then arranges a time for the client to review the proofs. Eventually the client reviews the proofs, picks out which ones he or she likes, and the order is mailed back to the lab for more prints to be made. Weeks can go by. The lab eventually sends back prints to the photographer to frame or create an album with. The whole process takes weeks.

        With digital photography, the photographer uploads the photos to his website as quickly as 24 hours after the event. The client can view the prints at any point thereafter with any computer with Internet access anywhere in the world, and even have family and friends view the online proofs as well. Orders can be placed immediately, and the prints will arrive in a matter of days, not weeks.

        Just as negative size determines picture quality in film photography, size of the sensor, or number of pixels, determines the quality in digital photography. Digital camera quality has improved dramatically, increasing from the 640 x 480 or 309 K-Pixel cameras of just a few years ago to 13 M-pixels or even more today, yielding images that are more than 40 times sharper. Professional digital cameras easily beat 35mm cameras not only in terms of their incredible flexibility, but also in image sharpness and rich color.

        Digital photographic equipment has significant advantages over film not only in image quality but also in: zero reloading time, no processing or scanning, and better shadow details. Plus, digital cameras use the same great lenses as non-digital gear.

        � Same or better quality

        � Virtually zero processing time (no lab - no scan) - saves money

        � No film negatives - zero chance of bad processing, damaged film, and so on

        � Time resistant - digital images stored on a disk drive or CD won't fade, and they can be printed over and over

        � Fast turnaround time

        � Easy sharing with friends using online galleries and email