8 Best Canon Lenses for Wedding Photography in 2024

Choosing the right Canon lenses for wedding photography is key to capturing those unforgettable moments. With so many options available, it can be tough to know where to start. Our guide to the 8 best Canon lenses for wedding photography is here to help, offering a range of choices to suit any style and situation.

Our top pick, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM, stands out for its versatility and image quality. It’s a great choice for capturing both the intimacy and grandeur of weddings. Plus, there are seven other lenses on our list, ensuring you find the perfect match for your photography needs.

What Is the Best Canon Lenses for Wedding Photography?

Selecting the best Canon lenses for wedding photography involves considering low-light performance, versatility, and image quality. We’ve picked lenses that will help you get those never-to-be-repeated moments, without sacrificing sharpness or beautiful bokeh. These lenses are chosen for their ability to enhance the storytelling of any wedding day.

Our Favorite Canon Lenses for Wedding Photography

Let’s take a closer look at our favorite Canon lenses. We’ve picked both DSLR EF lenses and mirrorless R-mount ones. From capturing intimate portraits to wide venue shots, these lenses provide plenty of options to enhance your photography bag.

The Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM lens is a top choice for wedding photography. Its wide f/2.8 aperture is perfect for low light and creating beautiful bokeh, making it stand out for capturing intimate moments and detailed portraits. The 70-200mm focal length range offers flexibility. Importantly, it allows you to get close-up photos at the ceremony, without crowding the couple or being too conspicuous. 

Autofocus is quick and reliable, which is crucial in weddings where actions happen fast. It also has selectable focus limiting, so it won’t hunt over the whole range if you don’t want it to. The lens’s image stabilization helps in low light, reducing camera shake and saving shots that might otherwise be lost to blur. Its sharpness across the frame ensures that every detail, from the lace on the dress to the tears of joy, is captured with clarity.

This is a heavy lens, which you will feel when you’re carrying it all day. But it’s a sacrifice worth making, for the quality it brings. The bokeh from this lens is almost legendary. And that is perfect for the wedding photographer. Its optical performance and reliability in various settings, from dimly lit churches to sunny outdoor venues, make it a very useful tool in any wedding photographer’s bag.

The Canon RF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS USM lens is a great choice for the Canon mirrorless photographer. Its constant f/2.8 aperture lets in plenty of light, making it easier to shoot in low light. This is key for capturing sharp images in dimly lit venues. The lens also creates beautiful bokeh, helping photographers isolate subjects from distracting backgrounds.

With a range of 70-200mm, photographers can easily switch from capturing intimate moments to wider views without changing lenses. This flexibility is crucial in the fast-paced environment of a wedding. The lens’s autofocus is quick and accurate, with selectable limits to speed things up even more. Its image stabilization is a big advantage, allowing for sharper images in challenging light. This has different modes, to take account of panning or completely stationary camera positions.

Weighing around 1070g, it is pretty heavy. But it delivers quality that makes it more than worthwhile. This lens is very useful for those who need high-quality images across a variety of conditions, from indoor ceremonies to outdoor receptions.

The Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens is a solid pick for wedding photographers. In fact, it’s one of Canon’s all-time favorites for pros in almost any genre! Its f/2.8 aperture across the zoom range is great for low light and creating soft backgrounds. This makes it easier to capture sharp, standout images in various settings, from dimly lit churches to bright outdoor venues. The lens’s zoom range from wide to short telephoto is perfect for quickly switching between capturing the whole scene and focusing on intimate details.

Autofocus is both quick and precise, a must for catching those once-in-a-lifetime moments. Although it lacks image stabilization, the wide aperture helps keep photos sharp in lower light. Weighing about 805g, it’s relatively easy to handle, allowing photographers to move freely and shoot comfortably for hours.

This lens is very useful for wedding photography, offering flexibility, high image quality, and reliable performance. Its build and optical design ensure it can handle the demands of professional use, making it a good option for those looking to capture beautiful wedding stories. If you pair it with the 70-200mm f2.8 you have the perfect combination. Ideally, two camera bodies and those two lenses will cover pretty much every wedding eventuality.

The Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM lens is a versatile tool for wedding photographers. It’s another favorite with the professional world. Its wide range of focal lengths, from 24mm to 105mm, allows for capturing everything from broad venue shots to intimate portraits without the need to switch lenses. This flexibility is crucial in the fast-paced environment of a wedding. The constant f/4 aperture, while not as wide as some alternatives, still provides enough light for most situations and creates pleasing background blur at longer focal lengths. In fact, the bokeh is beautiful, even though the f/4 is relatively slow.

Equipped with image stabilization, this lens helps photographers shoot in low light, reducing the risk of blur from camera shake. This is especially useful during indoor ceremonies or receptions where lighting can be unpredictable. The lens’s autofocus is quick and reliable, ensuring that fleeting moments are captured with clarity.

Weighing in at 795 grams, it’s relatively lightweight for its range, making it easier for photographers to carry and use throughout a long wedding day. Its build quality and weather sealing offer peace of mind when shooting in various conditions. I’ve used this at every wedding shoot I’ve done in the last five years, and it never fails to impress. It is a very useful addition to any wedding photographer’s kit..

The Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM lens is a standout choice for wedding photographers. We have already looked at the EF equivalent. This lens brings all those qualities and more to the mirrorless world. Its f/2.8 aperture across the zoom range is key for capturing sharp images in low light and creating beautiful bokeh, which helps in isolating the subject from the background. This versatility is crucial in the fast-paced environment of weddings, allowing photographers to quickly adapt from wide shots of the venue to close-up portraits without changing lenses.

Equipped with image stabilization, this lens aids in shooting in dimly lit conditions, reducing the risk of blur from camera shake. This feature is especially useful during indoor ceremonies or receptions where lighting can be unpredictable. The lens’s autofocus is quick and reliable, ensuring that fleeting moments are not missed. Weighing around 900 grams, it’s manageable for photographers to carry and use throughout a long wedding day, making it a very useful tool in capturing the essence of the celebration.

The Canon RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens is a versatile choice for wedding photographers. It’s also the RF version of the very popular EF 24-105mm. Its wide range of focal lengths, from 24mm for sweeping venue shots to 105mm for intimate portraits, allows for creative flexibility without the need to switch lenses. This is especially useful in the fast-paced environment of a wedding. The constant f/4 aperture, while not as wide as some alternatives, still provides sufficient light for most situations and contributes to creating a pleasing background blur at longer focal lengths.

Equipped with image stabilization, this lens aids in shooting in dimly lit conditions, reducing the risk of blur from camera shake. This feature is invaluable during indoor ceremonies or receptions where lighting can be unpredictable. The lens’s autofocus is quick and reliable, ensuring that fleeting moments are captured with clarity. Weighing around 700 grams, it’s manageable for photographers to carry and use throughout a long wedding day. It’s a very useful tool in capturing the magic of the day.

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM is a fantastic value fast prime lens. Its f/1.8 aperture excels in low light, allowing for beautifully blurred backgrounds that make subjects stand out. This lens is particularly useful for capturing intimate moments and detailed portraits, where its sharpness and bokeh shine.

You won’t find a cheaper way of getting hold of such a fast lens. It’s a great choice for its optical quality and affordability. It’s lightweight and compact, making it easy for photographers to carry throughout a long wedding day. The autofocus, while not the fastest, is accurate in well-lit conditions, ensuring key moments are not missed.

There’s no IS, but at 50mm, there’s not many occasions where you’ll need it. The lens’s performance in most wedding scenarios, from dimly lit ceremonies to vibrant receptions, makes it a valuable tool in a photographer’s bag. Its simplicity and effectiveness in creating stunning images make it a popular choice for capturing the essence of a wedding.

The Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM is a prime lens that has become a favorite among wedding photographers for its affordability and performance. Its f/1.8 aperture is perfect for creating a shallow depth of field, highlighting subjects against a softly blurred background. This feature is especially valuable in wedding photography, where capturing the emotion of intimate moments is key. The lens’s lightweight design makes it easy to handle, allowing photographers to move freely and capture candid shots without fatigue.

Despite its plastic construction, the RF 50mm f/1.8 STM feels sturdy and is a practical choice for photographers who prioritize mobility and simplicity. Its optical performance is impressive, delivering sharp images with minimal chromatic aberration. The stepping motor (STM) autofocus system is quick and mostly accurate, though it may produce some noise, which is a minor drawback for video recording.

Many of Canon’s RF lenses take tried-and-tested EF lenses and improve on them. In this case, Canon takes advantage of the flexibility offered by a mirrorless system. This lens has a single control ring, like the manual focus ring on an EF lens. But in this case, it is switchable. So it can be your MF ring or a programmable control ring. That’s a really nice feature. This is a great lens to have in the kit bag ready to help with capturing the big day.

Conclusion: The Best Canon Lenses for Wedding Photography

Choosing the right Canon lenses for wedding photography is key to capturing those unforgettable moments. We think we’ve given you a comprehensive guide to the top picks. Each of them offers unique advantages for different aspects of wedding photography. From lenses that excel in low light to those that offer versatile zoom ranges, photographers have a variety of options to ensure they can capture every detail of the special day.

Our top choice, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM, stands out for its exceptional versatility and image quality. It’s the go-to lens for capturing both the intimacy and grandeur of weddings. Alongside this top pick, seven other lenses offer a range of focal lengths and features, ensuring photographers can find the perfect lens for their style and the demands of wedding photography.