I recently purchased three new Nikons to replace my current camera bodies. Although I believe talented wedding photographers can often create stunning images with simple photographic equipment, I’m committed to always using the best tools available for my wedding photography clients.

With that in mind, I’ve purchased two of Nikon’s flagship cameras for photojournalists–the Nikon D4. I’ve also purchased Nikon’s flagship camera for commercial photographers–the Nikon D800. As of this writing, one of the many things that the Nikon D4 offers is the best low light performance available—from any manufacturer. This kind of performance is particularly important when I’m photographing a wedding day in dark hotel rooms, churches, reception halls, or outside at night. I purchased two of the D4 bodies since I simultaneously carry two cameras at weddings, switching between each depending on the need of the moment. In addition to the two D4 bodies, I also bring my D800 . This third camera serves as a backup in the unlikely event both of my D4 bodies fail. The Nikon D800 also provides me with the largest file sizes available from any SLR manufacturer (36 megapixels). Those large file sizes are extremely important in my commercial product photography work and for certain kinds of wedding portraiture.

After this recent purchase, I realized that many clients probably don’t realize the quality and expense of the equipment that I bring to bear on their wedding day. As an example, for these three camera bodies alone, I could have purchased any one of the following new automobiles:

Although I admit that these cars aren’t luxury brands, they certainly represent a larger investment than you might expect to see from most wedding photographers. In addition to the expense of these camera bodies, there are also additional expenses related to lenses, flashes, memory cards, straps, and the wide range of other equipment that I’m carrying on a typical wedding day. And since I can’t stop there, beyond the wedding day, there’s also the expense of my 12-core water-cooled computer, dual 30” monitors, 20 terabytes of storage, and my extensive collection of Profoto lighting equipment. As Dr. Hammond of Jurassic Park fame famously said, I’ve “spared no expense” when it comes to the equipment I use to photograph and process weddings. I’d like to think that this investment translates into the best possible photographs for my clients. I hope you see that in my work.