Equipment – Canon Vs. Nikon – What Do the Best Wedding Photographers Use?

The age old debate among photographers is the battle between Canon and Nikon gear. Both have lineups that match up against the other in performance, price, and quality, starting from their entry level consumer camera matchup, the Canon Rebel Xsi vs. the Nikon D40, continuing with their prosumer matchup of the Canon 50D vs. the Nikon D90, and leading all the way up to the top-level professional camera matchups, like the Canon 5D Mark II vs. the Nikon D700 or the Canon 1D Mark III vs. the Nikon D3x.

What brand of equipment, Canon, Nikon, or other, are all of the top wedding photographers using? For the definition of top wedding photographers, we’ve turned to the heavily debated and less-than-objective list created by Popphoto.com. Although this is not the most accurate, every photographer on the list is quite reputable, quite successful, and would have no reason to use anything but the best equipment for their professional style and needs.

We researched the photographers from the Top 10 wedding photographers of 2007 and the Top 10 wedding photographers of 2008 by Popphoto.com. We were not able to use the Top 10 wedding photographers of 2009, as the list is not yet available. As you’ll read, we were not able to find information for every photographer on the list, and some of the sources are not direct (and therefore not the most reliable). However, with the information provided, there is enough evidence to reach a reasonable conclusion.

The scoring is quite simple and less-than-scientific. If there is a reasonable source on the web that states that the photographer shoots with a certain camera, that camera brand gets a point. If the photographer shoots with multiple brands, that point is divided and the fraction is awarded to each brand.

Photographer:	Jose Villa
Gear:	Canon 1v and Contax
Source:	Site
Point:	Canon +1
Photographer:	Ben Chrisman
Gear:	Canon 5d
Source:	Site
Point:	Canon +1
Photographer:	Jim Garner
Gear:	?
Source:	?
Point:	None
Photographer:	Karen Wise
Gear:	Contax & Mamiya
Source:	Site
Point:	Contax+1, Mamiya +1
Photographer:	Elizabeth Messina
Gear:	?
Source:	?
Point:	None
Photographer:	Cliff Mautner
Gear:	Nikon D3
Source:	Site
Point:	Nikon +1
Photographer:	Curt Littlecott
Gear:	?
Source:	?
Point:	None
Photographer:	Gene Higa
Gear:	Canon 5d
Source:	Site
Point:	Canon +1
Photographer:	Jessica Claire
Gear:	Canon
Source:	Site
Point:	Canon +1
Photographer:	Lacour
Gear:	Canon 1d, 5d
Source:	Site
Point:	Canon +1
Photographer:	Denis Reggie
Gear:	Canon
Source:	Site
Point:	Canon +1
Photographer:	Jess Ascough
Gear:	Canon 1d
Source:	Site
Point:	Canon +1
Photographer:	Joe Bussink
Gear:	Switched from Nikon to Canon
Source:	Site
Point:	Canon +1
Photographer:	Bambi Cantrell
Gear:	Canon
Source:	Site
Point:	Canon +1
Photographer:	Alisha and Brook Todd
Gear:	Canon
Source:	Site
Point:	Canon +1
Photographer:	Christian Oth
Gear:	?
Source:	?
Point:	None
Photographer:	Stephen and Jennifer Bebb
Gear:	Canon
Source:	Site
Point:	Canon+1
Photographer:	Jerry Ghionis
Gear:	Canon 5d Mark II
Source:	Site
Point:	Canon +1
Photographer:	David Beckstead
Gear:	Nikon D1x
Source:	The Best of Digital Wedding Photography by Bill Hunter
Point:	Nikon +1
Photographer:	Kevin Kubota
Gear:	Nikon
Source:	Site
Point:	Nikon +1

The clear choice for the top wedding photographers of 2007 and 2008 is Canon. Scientific? No Accurate? No Interesting? Slightly… Hope you enjoyed the read.

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