CAMERA GEAR I’LL BE USING IN 2025

Wowzers! well done Sony, you’ve finally done it! Released a lens (the Sony 28-70 GM) that actually excites me, and makes it a joy to pick up one of your cameras. Yes, the lens I’m talking about is that beefy fat one in the centre of the above photo.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I hate picking up my “work” cameras, I definitely don’t! But ever since moving over to Sony cameras in 2019 I have found using them a very techy, almost futuristic, and sterile experience. Sometimes even feeling like I was cheating the creative process, and relying on the kit too much.

If you take an out of focus picture with a Sony camera nowadays you most certainly can’t blame the camera.

When the rumours of a Sony 28-70 f2 lens surfaced back in early 2024 I decided it was time to re-train my eye (and my hands!) into using a zoom lens again.

After years of loving the crispy qualities of solely using prime lenses (24/35/85 primarily) I bought myself the newly released Sony 24-70GM II lens. I tried shooting it alongside my much-loved 35mm GM f1.4 lens, and for a few weddings I really enjoyed the combination of the zoom and prime, but I just felt like there was something missing. The newer 24-70mm lens is amazing. Its fast to focus, pin sharp, extremely light and portable, and never misses a beat. But it lacked character… at least for me it did.

So when the 28-70mm was released I knew it was time to trade the 24-70mm in and upgrade.

I’m not going to lie, spending over £3000 on the 28-70mm made me feel physically sick! I’ve never treated myself to the luxury of having the very best equipment. I just never wanted to fall into the trap of relying too heavily on the tools to do the job for me. I’d much prefer the challenge of trying to capture my shots with lesser quality glass, and prove that I’m actually a decent photographer. Problem is, 28mm has been my favourite focal length for a long time, and despite releasing an insane amount of lenses year after year, Sony just seem to be ignoring this classic focal length.

During 2020 I had the 28mm f2 cheap as chips plastic fantastic lens, and it was fine. Never great, never amazing just fine. It did the job, but optically I felt the end results were nowhere near good enough for my clients/couples.

I’m not going to get in-depth with technical stuff about this new lens, but all you need to know is that it is sharp throughout. From 28-70mm I see no difference between the quality of the images I get from this and the quality I get from primes at similar focal lengths. And at 28mm (where it naturally sits for me) it’s just a dream to use!

In my opinion its not a heavy or bulky lens. It’s “just right”. It balances really well on my Sony a7IV bodies.

The throw from 28-70 is perfect… not too long, not too short, again, just right.

But where this lens truly excels is in the character of the images. The fall-off in the bokeh is creamy, and for once with a Sony lens, not at all clinical. I’m finding myself looking at the images as I’m editing them, and actually feeling like they were shot on a film camera. Even the RAW files when seen for the first time don’t look digital. Now this could all be in my head, but take it from me, someone that has owned and sold pretty much every single prime lens that Sony have released, this zoom packs a punch, and MORE!


Will this be the only lens I use in 2025?

In an ideal world, YES! But I’m a professional. I could never shoot something as important as a wedding day without some form of backup close by to me. I will still have my faithful 35mm GM lens on another a7IV body (either on my harness, or in my shoulder bag).

Even for the portraits part of a wedding day I’ll still probably revert back to what I know, which is shooting at a 35mm focal length with the aqbility to open up wide to f1.4.

And when it comes to the evening, party element of the day, I’ll stick to my 24mm f2.8 Samyang lens. It weights next-to-nothing, is a pancake lens, and I can hold that high for hours on end if I need to. I don’t think I’d be able to snap away with confidence on a dancefloor with a lens as chunky as the 28-70 f2.

I could be wrong! Ask me again in a years time and I may have succeeded in just shooting the whole year with the one lens. (That would be the dream!)



The other two lenses / the nitty gritty! (prepare to be bored to tears… or really interested… there’s no inbetween here)

I consider myself to be a documentary wedding photography with the added bonus that I love taking editorial/stylish portraits in a fun and fast manner! So for me the 35mm focal length covers my documentary needs.

For weddings, 35mm has been my go-to focal length for over 10 years now and I know I could easily shoot a whole wedding on this lens alone… because I have done!

The 35mm Sony GM lens is an absolutely stunning piece of glass. It’s so fast to focus, so crystal clear, and the bokeh it produces has such a lovely character to it.

I bought my first Sony a7iv camera body in the summer of 2022 and have shot 80+ weddings with it and I honestly cannot fault it in any way! I loved it so much after my first wedding shot with it that I immediately bought another one… and then a 3rd one!

The improvements they made on the a7iii body weren’t enough to please a lot of people, but for me I thought they did a brilliant job upgrading an already amazing camera into an even better one. Both from a performance perspective AND an ergonomics point of view. The deeper grip on the a7iv makes it a much nicer camera to hold, especially as weddings can be very long days of holding our kit.

The larger AF-ON button is fantastic as I use this to select eye AF. The previous model had the tiniest AF-ON button and I was forever struggling to press it. The a7iv also has a larger joystick on the back… thank you SONY! My thumb never ever slips off this joystick, and its very responsive.

As far as improvements in performance go, the quieter shutter is a great addition… the better/faster autofocus is noticeable compared to the a7iii… and the extra megapixels on this newer model mean I never worry about quality if I have to crop into an image.

As for the 3rd Sony body, that has my Samyang 24mm lens on it… and will come out of the camera bag for evening dancefloor fun with the flash. Lightweight, tiny, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to replace if it gets knocked on the danceefloor.



What are those two other cameras?

Yashica T4 - 35mm film camera - so I can continue to believe that I will one day be a 100% hipster!

Fujifilm X100VI - the ultimate in teeny tiny backup camera, and my favourite everyday camera I’ve ever owned.



Thanks so much for taking a look at my work, and I really hope you’ve found this info on the kit I use to shoot weddings helpful in some way!


If you want to see how my kit setup plays out with my 2025 weddings please give me a follow on Instagram over at @edgodden





Islington Town Hall / The Depot, London

“As soon as I found Ed's website, I knew he was the photographer for us!

We wanted somebody easy-going, relaxed and creative, and more importantly somebody who wasn't going to force us to do group photos for hours on end.

Ed's photos of our wedding were better than I could've ever hoped for - and we got quadruple the amount promised. Ed (and second shooter Katie who was also incredible) managed to capture little moments of magic throughout our day that we would've otherwise missed.

Their ability to slot themselves into the day and take the most wonderful photos is truly unmatched. Our portraits are stunning and only took 15 minutes, meaning we didn't miss out on spending time with family and friends.

Ed and Katie really managed to encapsulate the atmosphere, emotion and joy of our wedding day and we could not be more thrilled.

Highly highly recommend Ed to anybody, especially to those who don't like photos taken and are worried about the pressure having a wedding photographer brings to the day!”

Reb + Will

Photos Ed Godden + Katie Goff

@edgodden @katiegoffphoto

Venue @depotn7weddings

Grooms suit: @beggarsrun

Flowers @ultramarineflowers

Bride’s dress @rixo

Bride’s shoes @thisiswhistles

HMU @alevmiller

Ceilidh band: The Shipsters

Audio Guestbook @atthebeep.co

Photography by Ed Godden and Katie Goff

How I shoot the dancefloor fun

Photographing the dancefloor action has always been one of my favourite parts of a wedding… and no, not because once I’ve shot that I can go home!

I genuinely love the spontaneous and action-packed images I get from this final part of a couples big day.

wedding dancefloor photos

Everything from hunting out the shot, to just coming across a random and funny moment, it really is a documentary photographers dream. Not to mention the fact most people have got so used to me being around by that point that I’m either treated like one of the family, or ignored because they know I’m just doing my job and getting on with capturing all the fun.

For the evenings my kit selection is very simple. I’ll use a two camera, two lens setup. One Sony a7iv with the 35mm GM lens attached, and the other Sony a7iv with a wideangle lens (either a 20mm if I feel the guests can handle me getting really close! Or the 24mm lens if I don’t want to go quite so wide, or quite so close).

With the 35mm GM lens I will shoot all the images wide open at f/1.4 and really capture the atmosphere of the evening by making the most of the light getting in, and just shooting with available light. On the other camera however I will attach my tiny Godox TT350 flashgun and flash away at my subjects!

I also have my 3rd camera which has my Sigma 85mm f/1.4 lens on it, and if I see an interesting scene/moment from distance I’ll quickly grab that and snap an available light shot.

My settings on the camera with the flash gun will vary depending on the effect I want to create, and also how dark or light the dancefloor is. Some venues really do a great job when it comes to lighting up the dancefloor, and some are as dark and dingy as a dodgy nightclub!


“The evening is generally the first and only time on a wedding day where I will pop the flash on my camera”


Not every wedding venue/dancefloor area is the same, but my base level for the camera settings is nearly always the same. On my cameras I have assigned different flash settings to my custom buttons. This was honestly a game-changer doing this, and I would urge any photographer that finds themself faffing around on a dark dancefloor at a wedding to do the same. On the Sony a7iv there are 3 custom setting options on the top dial, and I have mine set as follows…


CUSTOM ONE

1/30 SEC - ISO 800 - F/8 - This I like to call my cutting the cake shot option. Such a boring and simple setting, yet gets the job done.


CUSTOM TWO

1/10 SEC - ISO 1600 - F/8 - This is the my slow(ish) shutter speed setting I like to use where I know I can get visible shutter-drag images. (Blurry lines and all that jazz!)


CUSTOM THREE

1/2 SEC - ISO 800 - F/8 - It may not seem a lot slower than custom 2, but it really can produce a very different effect.



I love having these set up and pre-dialled into my camera as it means I’m not messing around on the dancefloor looking at my camera as if I’ve never held it before! The more time you spend messing around with your kit at a wedding the more amazing photos you’re going to miss.

As far as the settings on my flashgun are concerned, I keep it very simple. I nearly always use TTL and let the flashgun do the hard work! I’m getting really close, firing with direct flash (not bounced, I never bounce flash, I just don’t like the look it gives), so only need to light up the person/people that are about 3-6 feet in front of me… I don’t need strong flash power.

If after a few shots I feel the people are being lit up too much i’ll just pop the flashgun into manual mode and play about with lowering/reducing the output setting. Normally starting at around 1/32 power.


MY TOP 5 TIPS FOR SHOOTING DANCEFLOOR

1 - When shooting with direct flash get close… then… GET EVEN CLOSER!

2 - Don’t be afraid to go really slow with the shutter speed to get more creative and extended light trails.

3 - If you think you’re annoying someone by flashing away too much… you almost definitely ARE annoying them! Stop, and move on.

4 - When shooting using available light make sure you keep an eye on your shutter speed. You may be able to handhold a camera at 1/60sec, but the people in the scene may be too blurred at that speed. Unless thats the look you’re going for of course!

5 - Take breaks. Some couples book me to just stay until a few songs after the first dance. Others want me there until last orders!

If I’m shooting the dancefloor for a long period of time I always make sure I take a break so I’m not just flashing the direct flash in guests faces constantly. It also allows me to take a break after a bloody long day of working my arse off!

JUST HAVE FUN!

My final piece of advice is to just have fun! Everyone else will be. If you’re stood around looking serious, or worst still, looking grumpy, chances are your photographs are going to carry that energy too. I don’t mind admitting that by the evening time I very often have a bottle of beer in one hand, whilst wandering around with a camera in the other.

My couples get it, they want me to relax, they want me to be having fun like their guests. They’ve no doubt seen me working really hard all day, know that my day is nearly over, and want me to celebrate with them. Yes, I am lucky to have these sorts of clients, but it’s years of hard graft, and me showing the kind of work I want to shoot that has got me to this position.

Just have fun, enjoy yourself, get involved on the dancefloor instead of creeping on the outskirts of it, and you will come away with some fantastic evening shots.

Below is a gallery of some of my favourite dancefloor photos. You may even spot a few outside dancing shots… Taking the dancefloor out into the open!

As with all my camera/photography related blog posts, this is just how I shoot, and what works for me. This blog post is barely scratching the surface of a huge part of a wedding day.

If you’d like to learn about shooting the dancefloor in more depth from me, or ANY part of the wedding day, please get in touch or take a look at my 1-2-1 wedding photography training days.

Brympton House, Somerset

“From the moment we saw Ed's work, we wanted him to be our photographer, as the way he captures photos is like no other.

After speaking to Ed on our initial video call we were completely sold and booked him within the hour. In fact, we paid the deposit before even signing the contract, that is how much we wanted to save our date! Ed is so personable and passionate that we knew we had to have him capture our wedding day.

Communication throughout the wedding planning was super easy and Ed was always on hand to answer questions if we had any. We were telling all our friends and family about our amazing photographer for months and on our wedding day, they could all see why.

Ed was a total legend to have around, he put everyone at ease and was exactly the style that we were looking for. We were able to spend around 95% of the day with our guests and dancing the night away yet he still managed to take the most stunning photos that we will cherish forever. We cannot thank Ed enough for all our photos, we received SO many!! More than we could have ever imagined and on the day it didn't even feel like he was there!

If you're looking for a laid-back, chilled out, kind, funny, passionate legend who delivers stunning photos somewhere between Rolling Stone and Vogue magazine then Ed is your guy!

We hope this isn't the last time that Ed captures a special moment in our lives as we wouldn't go to anyone else.

Thank you so much, Ed. You're the best!”

- Thalia and John