Fuji X-T1 vs A7 for wedding photography

Hi All,

I am looking for some input from users on these two systems specifically for wedding photography. I have decided to switch to a mirrorless system because 95% of the time when I am shooting for fun I want something that is smaller, lighter etc. That being said I do occasional weddings (typically 2-3 per year) through word of mouth.

I need to preface this with - I did my first 6 paid weddings on a Canon 50D. I know some people will shame me for doing paid wedding with a crop. Well my clients saw the results from those weddings and fell in love with them and that has continued my business into today. I know that the 5D3 is a far superior camera but I have obviously had good results with the 50D.

This is a side gig for me - I have no intentions of growing my wedding business into a full time deal but I plan on continuing the occasional wedding. I believe that both the A7 and X-T1 would be phenomenal for my recreational shooting but since I do have paid weddings I am trying to decided on the one that will fit that need best.

Here are some quick points of particular things I like/dislike about each:

X-T1: Big lens selection, fast primes, seems that the fuji external flash is pretty good, good system support from fuji, better AF (from what I have read), likely continuing support for the future.

A7: Full Frame sensor, higher MP, zeiss lenses seem really good, I like the control layout of the A7 better, don't like that you can't set the min shutter speed with auto ISO, questionable future, I read that the sony external flash has issues.

I know people have used these to shoot weddings so please let me know what you think and perhaps somethings that aren't obvious.

well, what matters to you more, absolute image quality or ease of use?

ease of use goes to fuji easily due to the more complete native lens selection, and probably better flash support.

Sony will give better IQ, even with vintage lenses, however you give up autofocus. If you intend to stay native sony, then it can cost quite a bit more if you're looking for a powerful native system. You'll have to work with adapted alpha lenses if you want fast AF, something like the sony 70-200F4 + LA-E4 will give you better IQ AND AF than what fuji can give, but you're back to big heavy lenses.

IQ matters more for me obviously, and the wealth of adaptable vintage lens is a huge draw to me, so I picked sony, but who knows, will you be comfortable with lightweight MF lenses or the limited offerings? otherwise you risk going back to big lenses if you want fast AF and super IQ.

Fuji has a great set of straight forward AF glass. No need for a learning curve. The A7 is more of an expert tool, and if you consider yourself an expert, you can certainly make it work for weddings. There's just a learning curve if you've never shot MF and manual aperture before.

For the sensor size part of this, go to YouTube and Search "crop or crap".

Personally like like the Fiji better. To me it feels better and I like their native lens selection better (very high quality lenses as well!)

I shoot about 35 weddings a year. I use 4 bodies 2 of which are Sonys. One A7 + 55mm F1.8 and one A7R + 24mm F1.8 (which is a crop lens meaning it equates to 36mm F1.8).

I also use the Sony cameras with a whole range of Canon EF mount lenses.

FWIW why you'd want to touch auto ISO on the Sonys I don't know... It is so easy to shoot in full M with an EVF.

Thanks for the info everyone. I am not too concerned about the weight and bulk when shooting a wedding I just want to have the compact system for when I am shooting for fun (most of the time). Sounds like either system is great but for my use it seems that the A7 might be better suited.

Dorian7 wrote in post #17263043
Sounds like either system is great but for my use it seems that the A7 might be better suited.

Before using an A7 for a wedding you ought to see if you can manage with using the AF it has or MF. It is good for some things but AF with moving subjects ain't one of them.

it all depends on your shooting style
how do you focus (center AF, full AF) and how comfortable are you with manual focusing
what type of lenses are you most comfortable using, zoom or prime?

I shot 2 weddings this year and my main camera was an A7 with a Nokton 50mm 1.5, my wide-angle lens was a Ricoh GR and my 35mm was on a film camera, the M6.

After owning an X100s and X-Pro1 I was looking on getting the X-T1 and the 56mm lens but I decided on going with the A7 instead.
The Fuji cameras and lenses are great, the colors SOOC are amazing but I decided to go with Sony simply because it was full-frame meaning I could use all my legacy lenses at their respective field of view.

I played with my friends Zeiss 55 1.8, didn't mind using it with center-focusing on the A7 but the build felt cheap compared to my old Nokton 50mm

taemo wrote in post #17264909
The Fuji cameras and lenses are great, the colors SOOC are amazing but I decided to go with Sony simply because it was full-frame meaning I could use all my legacy lenses at their respective field of view.

If you wanted to you your legacy glass for their field of view then why not just get a speedbooster for the Fuji? That would give you the lenses full frame field of view with the APS-c sensor of the Fuji but you'd also gain 1-stop of light with it too.

gremlin75 wrote in post #17265424
If you wanted to you your legacy glass for their field of view then why not just get a speedbooster for the Fuji? That would give you the lenses full frame field of view with the APS-c sensor of the Fuji but you'd also gain 1-stop of light with it too.

speedboosters can get expensive, and introducing glass into the formula is just not a good idea. You can lose T-stops, and your images certainly wont be as sharp as original.

speedboosters are expensive, and you'de need one for each mount system. Dumb adapters 10-20 bucks. I have nikon, konica, canon FD, canon EF lenses..... if I were buying metabones speedboosters for each mount type, I'de be MUCH better off with a FF camera.

yup, speedbooster are at least $400 each, I use FD, AIS, OM and M lenses
as it is, it's impossible or very difficult to create a Speedbooster for M mount lenses.

I also found manual focusing much much easier on the A7 compared to a friends X-T1