The Best Sony Camera for Wedding Photography in 2023

Choosing camera for wedding photography

Wedding photography is a quite specialised field that requires the right equipment to capture the memories of one of the most important days of a couple’s life. Fun fact is – there is no one feature that you can say it’s the feature that every wedding photography camera should have – ot all comes down to preference and the personal approach of photographer. Sony offers a range of cameras suitable for wedding photography, each with its own set of strengths and weaknesses. In this video I’m giving you my personal thoughts, based on experience of shooting weddings with the Sony A7IV, A7RV, A9II, A1 to help you choose the best camera for your wedding photography needs.

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Sony A7IV – the perfect all around camera for wedding photography

Starting with the Sony A7IV, this camera offers a 33 megapixel sensor, which in my opinion is a sweet spot for wedding photography. It does offer amazing improvement over A7III bringing real-time tracking autofocus, has great ISO performance, and quite impressive video features if you’re into shooting hybrid photo-video, including 4K, 10bit recording with eye-af tracking autofocus. However, the A7IV is not necessarily the best choice for silent shooting, as it will produce banding and have a noticeable rolling shutter effect. Additionally, it only shoots up to 10 fps with compressed RAW and around 7 fps with uncompressed RAW. If you’re looking for all-in-one camera that will not hurt your wallet – A7IV is the way to go. I’m personally shooting all of my wedding work with dual Sony A7IV system.

You can buy Sony A7IV HERE (affiliate link, thanks for support)

Make sure to check out my full playlist of videos about shooting weddings with Sony A7IV:

Sony A7RV – 61 megapixel beast camera

Next, we have the Sony A7RIV and A7RV. The R line is Sony’s resolution line, offering higher resolution cameras. Both are equipped with 61 megapixel sensor, while the newer A7RV has additional 26 megapixels option with a medium size RAW. Both cameras offer real-time tracking AF, but A7RV taking it even further with all new AI subject recognition, very impressive video specs and amazing high resolution screen that both tilt and flip. But just like A7IV this camera is not suitable for silent shooting and have a limit of 6 fps with uncompressed RAW. A7RV is overall a better camera then A7IV in all aspects, but you have to realise that shooting 61 megapixel camera might mean more retouching, as all the details are even more visible, which might not be the most perfect for shooting weddings, and also shooting high volume of photos at each wedding means that you’ll need bigger memory cards, hard drives, archives etc. So in my opinion you really have to decide first if you need that many pixels for your wedding photography. If you mix your weddings with commercial work, product photography or beauty shots – you’ll definitely want this camera. If you’re shooting only weddings you might need to decide wether you want to pay almost double the price of Sony A7IV for AI autofocus, better screen, evf and couple other features.

You can buy Sony A7RV here

Here you can watch my videos about Sony A7RV camera:

Sony A9II – silent monster

The Sony A9II is a bit older but is still a great option for wedding photography. It offers 24 megapixels, excellent autofocus (in my opinion slightly better then A7IV and not as advanced as Sony A7RV AI AF), and can shoot at a blazing fast speed of 20 fps. But the most important feature of the A9II is that it can shoot silently, making it a game changer for photographers who want to be invisible during the ceremony. The only downside of this camera is that it does not have any advanced video features. So if you want something that can do both – photo and video, this camera is not for you. Also since it’s slightly older then other cameras here, we have older menu and we might be getting a version III of this camera maybe in 2023 or 2024 (there’s only vague rumours so far). But if the silent shooting is your primary need and you don’t need video features – this camera will serve you well. And if you can find it second hand… yeah, that could be a winner.

You can buy Sony A9 here

Sony A1 – overkill or perfection?

Sony A1 is the one camera that can do it all. And it’s true. There’s truly no compromises in this camera, other then the fact that it’s 2 years old. It has a lot of megapixels – 50mp in full RAW, 21mp in medium RAW, amazing video features – filming up to 8k30 and 4k120 and it can shoot in silent mode without banding or rolling shutter up to 30 frames per second in burst. I’ve shot multiple weddings with this camera and it’s unreal, blazing fast and outstanding camera. The viewfinder is magnificent – huge and very clear. The only downside I’d say is price and the screen (not as good as newer Sony A7RV). But if you’re looking for a camera for both photo and video, that can shoot silent and has a lot of megapixels, look no further, as this is the one.

You can buy Sony A1 here

Ask yourself these questions if you’re shopping for wedding photography camera

In conclusion, when choosing the best camera for wedding photography, it’s important to consider your needs, preferences, and budget. The Sony A7IV is a great value for the price, while the Sony A9II offers excellent performance and the ability to shoot silently. The Sony A7RV is excellent choice for photographers who need extra resolution or just want the newest features and A1 is gonna give you all of that, but comes with a higher price tag.

So simple recap and questions that I think you need to ask yourself when shopping for wedding photography camera in 2023:

• if you don’t necessary need megapixels, and/or prefer less megapixels:
  *the choice is between A7IV and A9II. A7IV if you need a video. A9 if you need silent shooting
  
• if you need megapixels, you love the details, or you shoot some product photography / commercial photography too:
  *the choice is between A7RV and A1. A7RV will give you most of the new features, even slightly more then A1, except silent shooting, if you need that – A1 is your go-to
  
• if you need silent shooting:
  *the choice is between A9II and A1, with A1 offering also video features, while A9II being absolute beast for photos only.
  
• the last but not least – if you don’t know what you actually need:
  *get A7IV is your on a budget, get A7RV if you don’t care about cost. Both cameras will do great as hybrid all arounders for photo and video.