Wedding photographers love their full frame cameras. We’ve interviewed a bunch of wedding photographers over the years who trust specific brands to get the job done. But more than that, we’ve even got wedding photographers here on staff at The Phoblographer. So we dove into our Reviews Index to find the best full-frame cameras for wedding photography. And overall, these are the ones you’ll really like.
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How We Chose the Best Full Frame Cameras for Wedding Photography
Here’s some insight into how we chose the best full-frame cameras for wedding photography:
- Our editorial guidelines don’t allow us to talk about products we haven’t reviewed. With that said, know that as you go through this roundup, you’ll only find cameras we’ve tested. In fact, all of these product images were also shot by our staff.
- The Canon EOS R3 is one of the best full-frame cameras for wedding photography because of how amazing the autofocus is, amongst so many other reasons.
- The Nikon Z9 is surprisingly lightweight and has improved with firmware updates. For most of us, it’s an obvious choice.
- The Sony a1 is not only one of the best full-frame cameras for wedding photography. But it’s an overall excellent camera with tons of innovation.
- All these camera systems have robust lens systems available to help you get the perfect photo.
Canon EOS R3
Pros
- Impressive autofocus performance with both action and low light
- Face recognition works phenomenally, even on birds and in dark scenes
- Reduced rolling shutter distortion and 1/180 flash sync with electronic shutter
- Excellent noise reduction at high ISOs
- Eye Control AF
- Built-in vertical grip
- Lots of great controls
- Weather-sealed
Cons
- Resolution is lower than competitors (but this is partially why low light quality is so great)
- Higher learning curve
- Hot shoe adapter recommended for weather-sealing with older flashes
- Heavier and larger than the R5 and R6
- Pricey
In our review, we said:
“The Canon R3 has a top burst speed that’s actually useful because of a great autofocus system and a faster processor to limit rolling shutter. This camera can not only shoot in the dark but print ISO 128,000 and still look good. While the R5 may make more sense for detail work, the R3 is an exceptional low-light and fast-action camera.”
Nikon Z9
Pros
- High Speed sync works to 1/8000 and possibly beyond
- The Nikon z9 genuinely feels like the first serious camera for a professional photographer along with the Canon EOS R3.
- Nikon’s absolute best autofocus
- Once you get the hang of it and set everything up the way you want, it’s an excellent camera.
- Light up buttons are the absolute best thing.
- Lots of customization options
- Fast and quiet shooting
- 3D tracking is great for animal photography.
- Auto subject detection is quite good.
- Nikon’s in-camera cropping feature is so wonderful to get more reach from your lenses.
- The world’s first camera for photographers without a physical shutter.
- I had zero camera shake issues. Anything pertaining to it would’ve been issues with using a slower shutter speed.
- Rolling shutter is considerably eliminated, and it’s only visible if you pixel peep.
- Pretty good tracking autofocus in low light!
- The vertical grip is a nice addition.
- Tons and tons of buttons that can do virtually everything
Cons
- The AF illuminator dramatically slows down the autofocus.
- I’ve surely seen better high ISO results.
- Exposure preview setting has been completely changed.
- Heavy, but that’s to be expected
- Noise reduction is very strong.
- I wish all the buttons lit up and not just a few. What about the buttons on top?
- Animal autofocus is good but not as good as Canon or Sony.
- Nikon still doesn’t have anything unique about their image quality that would make me want to buy it over Canon or Sony.
- Pushing the shadows introduces a significant amount of noise even if you’re not looking at the image at 100%
- Editing Nikon’s colors in mixed lighting is a nightmare I never want to go through again.
- At this level, the in-camera multiple exposure feature should make the files into RAWs and not JPEGs.
- 17×22 prints are a bit soft if you’re looking super close. You’ll also see grain at ISO 6400, unlike we’ve seen with a few others. But it’s acceptable.
- Pricey, but not as expensive as competitors for sure.
In our review, we said:
“The Nikon z9 is Nikon’s most innovative camera in years. It’s quite a workhorse with a fully electronic shutter, workable 3D tracking autofocus, and various autofocus scene detection features. It’s also very well weather-sealed and has incredible battery life. It trails behind Sony and Canon in some ways, but absolutely blows them out of the water in other ways. In my mind, it’s the first genuinely professional-feeling mirrorless camera that uses 35mm full-frame sensors.”
Sony a1
Pros
- Sony’s a1 shows that stacked sensors are the future.
- Detail rich images with great dynamic range
- Excellent ergonomics (the best Sony camera to date)
- The a1 features the new touchscreen menu system.
- Fantastic overall autofocus performance
- 30 frames per second with the electronic shutter with virtually no rolling shutter or banding issues
- 1/400th mechanical shutter speed with compatible TTL flashes and triggers
- Sony’s 9.44 million dot EVF is a work of art.
- Excellent build quality
- Good battery life
- 8K video
- Excellent performance with CFexpress A cards
Cons
- It has the same old 1.44 million dot LCD.
- The LCD is not fully articulating.
- Bird AF is a work in progress.
- Multi Shot mode is inconsistent.
- Autofocus suffers a little in very low light situations.
- It’s $6,499.
In our review, we said:
“The Sony a1 is a revolutionary camera. It’s capable of incredible burst rates in RAW with autofocus. It does very well with high ISOs. The ergonomics and build quality are the best yet from a Sony camera. The EVF is excellent, and the autofocus system works like a charm for the most part. It’s a stunning camera. However, all of these great things come with a huge price. It’s $6,499.”
The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear we’ve fully reviewed. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.