Gear to Capture Stunning Wedding Videos

New cameras come out every year, but any DSLR made since the Canon 7D released in 2009 or the Canon 5D Mark II from 2008 can capture amazing cinematic video when paired with the right lenses.

Invest the most in your lenses

Cameras come and go, but your lenses will be capturing incredible footage for years to come.  Spend money on the fastest (widest aperture) lenses you can afford. You won't regret it, and every good lens you purchase will benefit your projects in different ways.

Some great lenses for video:

Fast Standard lens
50mm f/1.4 made by Canon or Nikon.
* Great for isolating your subjects against a beautifully soft and blurry background.
* The most cost-effective way to capture tons of light.  Critically for anything indoors after sundown when you can't use lights.

Telephoto Zoom
70-200mm f/2.8
Perfect for keeping a more comfortable distance from your subjects when filming weddings.  Use a tripod when using this lens to keep your shots stable.

Wide Zoom
16-35mm f/2.8
An excellent wide-angle zoom to capture landscapes, or to pair with a GlideCam.

85mm f/1.8

Use Neutral Density filters during daylight hours

Video cameras are capturing much more light by shooting at a slow shutter speed (1/50th of a second, or 1/125 of a second for slow-motion), you can only get the exposure right by stopping down on your lens.  The problem with stopping down to f/8, f/11, or lower is that the image looks less cinematic and more like video coming from a consumer camcorder.  The more you can shoot between f/2.8 and f/5.6, the better.  Your shots will look more cinematic with beautifully blurred backgrounds.