THE FILMMAKER
Chris Pavey
EAST MIDLANDS, ENGLAND
I regularly bore people talking kit. I love it. So much so, that my accountant once literally laughed at me during an end of year catch up when he looked at my yearly spend. Jokes on him though; he looked terrible in that Zoom call, and my combination of a completely needless three-point lighting setup and £8,000 camera/lens combo made me look glorious.
Over the years, I’ve landed on a setup that I’m really happy with for weddings and it’ll shock no one that it’s built around a Sony FX3. I do love cameras with larger sensors and in-built NDs, but the weight and lack of IBIS don’t make up for the slightly improved picture quality.
I’ve also always loved taking a mixed media approach. I shoot Super 8 film and use a 90s Hi8 camcorder alongside my digital cameras. It started as a bit of an experiment and quickly became one of the most requested parts of what I offer. Alongside an obvious ‘home video’ charm, there’s something about that footage that digital just can’t replicate, no matter how many filters you throw at it.
A-CAM
SONY FX3
The FX3 is my main camera for most of the day. It shares the same sensor as the A7S III, so the image quality is identical, but the cinema body gives me a few extras that make life easier — plus the built-in fan means I never have to worry about overheating which is great for destination weddings. I shoot handheld, so I pair this with a shoulder strap to make life easy. The in-built IBIS is great, but I also love how it writes gyro data alongside the clip, so you can use software like Gyroflow in the edit to smooth out shots. The low-light performance is absurd with the dual ISO probably being this cameras most valuable feature for weddings.
B-CAM
SONY A7SIII
The A7S III spends a lot of its time on a tripod covering ceremonies and speeches, but it’s also used to capture timelapses or ‘postcards’. With the same sensor as the FX3, matching the two in the edit is effortless — the colour science is identical, which saves me a lot of time in the grade.
POV / CREATIVE
SONY ZV-EV10 II
This tiny camera earns its place in the bag for creative angles. It’s small enough to mount pretty much anywhere — on a shelf during preparations, tucked into a corner during speeches, handed to someone who fancies having a go. Paired with the 7Artisans 7.5mm fisheye, it captures these wide, slightly distorted perspectives that add something completely different to the edit. Not every film needs it, but when it works, it really works.
LENSES
SONY 28-70 f2
Put me down on the ever increasing list of ex-prime snobs who insisted cinematic shooting needed to be on primes. To some extent, I still believe that. On commercial shots, when I have time to reflect and be considered, I will select the prime that serves a narrative purpose. However, weddings and thinking time don’t tend to coexist. This lens is a beauty. Yes, it’s a bit heavy and is a weekly reminder of how pathetic my aging body/strength is, but it makes up for that in its versatility. I’ve 100% increased how much I capture because of this thing, and at f2 it’s plenty fast enough to create the kind of images I’m after.
I pair this lens with a NISI Jet-Mag pro system. Being able to snap filters on and off in seconds means I’m not fumbling around with threaded rings when the light changes. My setup is the 1-5 stop VND for most of the day, a ProMist to take the digital edge off the image and a 16-stop ND that I can throw on when the sun is really going for it. The goal is always to stick with the 180-degree shutter rule, as I’m a nerd who likes to follow rules.
SONY 35mm F/1.4 GM
This lives on my B cam for most of the day, and I really like the focal point for the shutter drag timelapse postcards that I setup.
SONY 20mm F/1.8 G
This again usually lives on a tripod or mounted somewhere static, capturing wide establishing shots of rooms, venues, and spaces. The 20mm perspective gives a real sense of place that tighter lenses just can’t. It also gets some use during the dance floor when I want to get close and make the room feel bigger than it is.
SONY 70-200 F/2.8 G MASTER
Used mainly for speeches, as a couple reaction camera. A fairly expensive lens for that use only, but I wanted all my lenses to be G Masters for colour accuracy, and as aforementioned give my accountant a reason to mock me and my life decisions.
7ARTISANS 7.5mm F/2
It’s cheap, it’s tiny, and I love the images it produces. It adds real character to a film – used sparingly as a creative tool, it’s brilliant.
AUDIO
SENNHEISER MKE 200
ON CAMERA MIC
This sits on top of the FX3 and captures ambient audio throughout the day. Ambient audio is becoming increasingly important in my edits, it’s the stuff that makes a film feel like you’re actually there and helps add personality.
HOLLYLAND LARK MAX 2
My main wireless mic system for ceremonies and speeches. These are tiny, they clip straight on, and the float 32 audio is genuinely impressive. I like how discreet they are — most guests don’t even notice them, which is exactly what I want. One downside is that you can’t lock them unless you have the receiver plugged in to your camera.
SONY TX650
Because I think it’s now illegal to film weddings without having at least 5 of these. They do have the edge on the Holyland’s for being able to be locked, and will likely be found by future historians still on and recording thousands of years in the future.
ZOOM H1
Always used for room ambience for ceremonies — I once forgot to do this and had to deliver a church edit using the grooms mic during the hymns. He has never forgiven me.
ZOOM F3
This only comes out when there’s an audio desk feed available. The 32-bit again is great. Ceremony/speeches audio through a PA system sounds infinitely better through this than through a lav mic picking up room reflections.
CAMCORDER
SAMSUNG VP-W95D HI8
vintage HI-8 camcorder
This is probably my favourite piece of kit, which says a lot given that it cost me about £25 on eBay. I first used one about 5 years ago on a commercial shoot that had a separate DoP. He loved it and struggled to put it down. There’s something about stripping away all of the technical considerations and just pointing and shooting that takes me back to when I first fell in love with making videos.
It’s a late-90s Hi8 camcorder, and the footage it produces has that unmistakable home video quality which I offer as a free add-on. I’m very keen to always have a purpose for this footage though, as opposed to using it as a gimmick. For me, it’s the instant home-video look paired with a guest being behind the lens that means the footage has an instant familiarity and personality to it.
SUPER 8
CANON 514XL-S
This is offered as an add-on and it’s not for everyone — there’s a cost to film and processing, and you’re at the mercy of whatever the light decides to do on the day. But when it lands, it properly lands. This footage can add an enormous amount of character to a film and I love it when couples add it on.
DRONE
dji mavic 4 pro
Drone footage is included as standard at every UK wedding, weather and venue permitting. The Hasselblad camera produces stunning aerial footage, and the obstacle sensors mean I’m far less likely to end up fishing a drone out of a lake*
I try to keep drone usage tasteful. A couple of establishing shots of the venue and grounds, maybe something during couple portraits if the setting calls for it. I’m not trying to turn every wedding into a BBC nature documentary.
*there’s still a good chance that might happen though
ACTION CAMERAS
INSTA360 X3
I’m increasingly getting attracted to rigging cameras to fun and interesting places to increase the immersion of my work. This is a proper niche bit of kit though, and is usually used for very obvious reasons — like at a destination wedding where a groom fancies bombing in to a pool.
DJI ACTION 4
Similar job to the Insta360 but for standard wide-angle footage. It’s tiny, it’s weatherproof, and I’ll mount it to whatever random place works — recent highlights include the window of a train and the window of a classic MG. Basically windows, then it seems.
accessories
ATOMOS SHINOBI II
I’ll echo what every other filmmaker says about monitors — once you start using one, you can’t go back. Being able to compose, check focus, and monitor exposure on a proper 5-inch display makes a genuine difference. I load my LUT on and then ensure the colour temp and exposure looks right, saving me time in the grade.
APPLE AIRTAGS
Ironically these are placed on my cheapest bit of kit – my camcorders, because they’re a fucking nightmare to find right at the point where I want to go home.
