These are my favorite camera lenses for wedding filmmaking, the ones I bring with me to every single wedding I film.

I’m sure some of you are thinking, Matt, you shoot Sony, what if I don’t? Good news: none of my favorite lenses are exclusively Sony. Whether you shoot Panasonic, Canon, Nikon, Blackmagic, basically anything, you’ll be able to use an adapter or buy a very similar lens in a different mount.

Let’s start wide and go tight. Everything here is linked in one place if you want to skip ahead.

Sigma 24mm f/1.4

My favorite wide angle for wedding filmmaking by far.

It’s wide, which makes it perfect on a gimbal, but it isn’t too wide. There’s very little distortion at the edges, which keeps the people in your shot looking like people.

Look at the size of it. Quite compact, and it still shoots at f/1.4, so it lets in a ton of light, which is perfect for darker wedding receptions.

There’s more good news. Because it’s so wide it doesn’t have a super shallow depth of field, so when I film wedding exits on a gimbal, even wide open at f/1.4, it’s still easy to keep things in focus.

I use the Nikon mount version so I have full manual control of the aperture with an adapter. But if you want autofocus, Sigma now offers this lens for all the major full frame manufacturers, so whether you’re on a Canon 1DX II, a Nikon DSLR or a Panasonic S1, there’s a native mount option. Otherwise there are adapters for basically everything else and you can manual focus like me.

At around $850 there’s really no excuse not to have this in your bag. It’s on Amazon and at B&H in every mount.

Contax Zeiss Planar 50mm f/1.4

Now let’s zoom in a bit, to my favorite lens, and the one that’s on my camera for the majority of the wedding day. This focal length is so versatile. Great for wider shots, great for tighter shots. I absolutely love it.

You should also be aware that by me even telling you about this lens, I may be driving up its price.

My favorite lens, basically ever, is this little guy. “Are you serious, Matt? This little baby lens is your favorite? Is it even full frame? You could hide ten of these behind your beard.”

Yes, it’s full frame even at that size. It’s also f/1.4.

Let’s get crazier. This is made for the Contax lens mount, which you might not have heard of, because it started way back in 1975. Yes, this lens may be from the 70s. What an antique.

Why should you care about the Contax mount? Because you can adapt it to virtually any modern DSLR or mirrorless camera. Slap it on anything full frame. 50mm f/1.4, lightweight, adapts to everything. It has hard focus stops too, so you know you’re at infinity because you hit it.

And we haven’t even talked about the image quality, which is the real reason I’m gushing here. First of all, this thing flares beautifully. Modern lenses have so many coatings on them to minimize flare that companies are now making uncoated lenses to bring flares back. Why do that when you can buy one of these?

Image quality is more than flares though. This lens has the two buzzwords you’ll see all over forum posts about old glass: character, and an organic look. What that means is it isn’t as digitally sharp as a modern lens. It has a more traditional filmic look. To be clear, that does not mean soft, this lens is quite sharp. But skin tones look better. Out of focus things look prettier. The video you record with it has more personality.

Look, now I’m just throwing buzzwords at you. It’s hard to convey the feeling of using this lens. You really have to try it.

So try it, because here’s the shocker. I paid $300 for my favorite lens ever, and you may be able to get one cheaper.

Remember, it’s old, so you have to buy it used, and the best place I’ve found is eBay. $300 is about the sweet spot. You may find one for $250 or less, but read the listing and make sure it says the lens works and has no haze or fungus growing inside it. I thought I found one for a steal at $200 once, and it turned out to be broken. You get what you pay for. On the other side, you’ll see these going for upwards of $500, and I wouldn’t buy that either. Those are perfectly good copies, but I don’t think you’ll see a difference between a $300 one and a $500 one. I’ve been very happy with mine.

I should mention this because I know somebody will ask. No, this lens from 1975 does not have autofocus.

Contax Zeiss Planar 85mm f/1.4

Ever tighter. My favorite 85mm, which is perfect for close up dancing shots at a reception. Can you guess what it is?

Of course it’s the Contax Zeiss Planar 85mm f/1.4. Same benefits as the 50mm in image quality and in adapting to virtually any modern camera. But it is definitely heavier. Look at that glass. It’s a chunky boy, and I’m so happy to have it in my bag.

And the price? You may be thinking, well, 50mm is a common focal length so of course that one’s cheap, but 85mm with this much glass has to be crazy expensive, right? Go to eBay again. You’ll find it for about $100 more than the 50mm. Roughly $400 and this puppy could be yours.

Same warnings: be wary of ones much cheaper, be wary of ones costing significantly more. And sorry, again, no autofocus.

Sony Zeiss 135mm f/1.8

Last but not least, as tight as I go on a wedding day. The Sony Zeiss 135mm f/1.8 in A-mount. My wife Rachel is on this lens for the majority of the wedding day and it’s easily her favorite.

It is so dang good for close ups of a couple. First thing you should know: this is easily the sharpest lens I have ever used. So sharp you don’t even need to punch in to check focus, because you can see the focus line that clearly on the camera.

Thankfully, because it’s paired with that shallow f/1.8 aperture, it’s still extremely flattering for filming people, especially brides up close. Just be aware that wide open you may get somebody’s eyelash in focus and not their pupil. It’s that shallow.

Look at the size of it too. Not small by any means, but compare it to a 70-200mm f/2.8 and it isn’t bad at all.

Here’s the catch. Because it’s a Sony A-mount lens made for older Sony DSLRs, you’ll need an official Sony adapter to use it on an E-mount body. That’s around $200, and no, you don’t get autofocus. This baby is purely manual.

The price is interesting though. Many of them sell used for $900 to $1,000. Add the adapter and you’re at about $1,200, which is not cheap, but is still significantly less than Sony’s newest E-mount 135mm at over $2,000.

So here’s my recommendation. If you don’t mind manual focus and you can find one used at a good price, I think it’s a great buy. I wouldn’t have put it in this video otherwise. But if you don’t shoot Sony, or you want autofocus, buy the Sigma 135mm f/1.8 instead, which is pretty comparable. At around $1,400 the Sigma is slightly more expensive, but you can get it in any of the major mounts, you get autofocus for video, and you don’t have to go completely broke buying it. It’s also at B&H.

The Whole List

Everything above, in one link: my favorite lenses.

I also host a monthly wedding film review livestream where I review films submitted by people like you. If you’d like to know when the next one is, sign up here and I’ll email you when I go live. And if you want to get faster at the edit, my wedding film editing course is here.

Prices here are from January 2020. The Contax glass in particular is bought used, so what you’ll pay today depends entirely on what is listed this week.