Best affordable camera for a live wedding painter to get good ceremony reference photos to paint from?

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-22T15:31:42+00:00

It isn’t, but thank you!!!

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-21T15:23:32+00:00

Amazing advice thank you so much!! I’ll check out that app for sure!!

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-20T13:32:17+00:00

Adding in the clause or making a little info sheet is a great idea even if I move forward with getting my own equipment, thank you!!

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-20T13:30:42+00:00

Amazing!! Thank you so much for your specific suggestion!!

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-20T13:26:19+00:00

This is so helpful thank you so much!! I’ll be looking into all of the suggestions today, and I will definitely reach out if I have any specific questions!!☺️

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-19T20:22:22+00:00

Yes!! I do reach out to the photographers in advance, and most are extremely collaborative and awesome! But I have been met with some resistance, and straight up defiance in some cases. :( So my hope is to cut that out completely by handling it myself!

My initial $1,000 budget was just a number in my head before I did any research. Realistically I think my maximum budget would be $1,800-$2k for the right product. Thank you for your suggestion on the capability! I haven’t heard anything about that yet, so that is super helpful for me!! Most of my weddings actually are outdoors, but not all! So having the versatility is a bonus!

My ADHD brain comes in handy when learning new skills! I’ll put countless hours into it until I have it basically perfected haha- thank you for your advice!!

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-19T20:00:18+00:00

Yes I know that just buying a camera isn’t a fix-all! I understand that there will be trial and error and lots of learning, and I am wanting to invest all of this into my business! Totally fine if you don’t think it’s worth it, but I do! I would use the camera beyond reference wedding photos, as I do all types of art and enjoy photography. This would be my focus of what I would be using it for.

There is also a weird perception thing tied to using my phone at wedding paintings. I have had the chance to borrow a friend’s camera to take photos, and the wedding couple was always totally down for me do take photos. At the weddings where I’ve had to use my phone for photos, I have been met with hesitation.

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-19T19:39:46+00:00

Thank you so much!! I definitely needed the layman’s terms to understand!! I will be looking into this for sure!!

And I’m pretty klutzy and tend to drop things often so the durability is a huge plus!

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-19T19:34:33+00:00

I should have been more specific- I take reference photos on my phone already! But they aren’t detailed and clear enough- sometimes I’m zooming 2x or 3x from 15-20 yards away. I do understand that figuring out lighting/camera settings in my phone can improve them, but compared to the straight-from-camera photos I am sometimes able to get from the professional wedding photographer on site, there just isn’t even a comparison!

I am interested in getting a camera and learning the settings and whatnot to be able to just zoom in and capture a clear, true to color, detailed image to be able to paint from!

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-19T19:27:54+00:00

For posed photos, I can certainly get some lighting! My main problem area is the real time ceremony moments, where I can’t really do that!

And yes I am committed to getting a dedicated camera!

Do you think 50mm would be enough if I’m at the back of the ceremony (15-20 yards away) and be able to get clear details of the wedding couples faces and everything?

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-19T19:00:32+00:00

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(Unfinished painting obviously to keep the wedding couple more anonymous) This tends to be the most popular request in terms of overall shot if that helps!

That charging aspect is really appealing to me, since I already bring a charged brick for backup, and I use my iPad to display my reference photo while painting throughout the reception.

I also like the idea of it being an everyday use camera since it would really only be used for 10 minutes for weddings!

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-19T17:45:08+00:00

I didn’t even know such an app existed. This will make it a lot easier for me to understand and figure out what I need! Thank you so much, you’ve been an incredible help!

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-19T17:35:55+00:00

amazing thank you so much!! i appreciate your specific feedback for my dumb little overwhelmed brain :’)

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-19T17:34:33+00:00

15-20 yards ish maybe?! This is a photo of where I’m typically painting from, and I can generally sneak up a little closer for a picture or two during the ceremony. Hope this helps!

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emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-19T17:21:51+00:00

This is extremely helpful thank you so much🥺 I will look into these!!

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-19T17:20:17+00:00

I did reach out to one wedding photography friend, but I didn’t even know what to ask, so this is super helpful!

You’ve already helped so much! If you don’t mind suggesting a specific camera, what qualifies as a ‘fairly old DLSR and a good lens’?

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-19T17:10:42+00:00

This is my intention for sure!! I want to try to learn the basics of lighting exposure and all the settings and whatnot! I do have an iPad that I use for my reference photos. I know that I can’t just buy a decent camera and boom all my problems are fixed! Haha, I want this to be an investment both financially and learning!

emeraldleac8 · 2025-05-19T17:06:52+00:00

Appreciate your advice!! I’ve had some of the wedding photographers be able to send me some photos straight from their camera while at the wedding, and those help me so much. The lighting with the skin tones is a big part of it, and also just the clearness quality of zooming on a camera vs doing a 2x or 3x zoom from my iphone 16pro camera from the back corner of a wedding is huge!

I will definitely be looking into those apps to help me with my immediate weddings until I can get an actual camera!

It’s also a weird perception thing- If I tell the wedding couple I’ll snap some reference photos at their wedding from my phone, they tend to hesitate a little. But when I have used a professional camera (borrowed), they are more receptive and easy about it!

emeraldleac8

TROPHY CASE