What you must know before choosing a camera and lens for portrait photography:
Most modern professional portrait photographers prefer cameras that are lightweight, flexible, and robust. In short, mirrorless cameras. Regarding lenses, the 50mm and 85mm lenses are hard to beat when it comes to taking portraits.
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How to choose the right camera?
When starting in any style of photography, there’s that question: Which camera do I use? And now, with the advent of mirrorless cameras, you might ask: Which one is better, mirrorless or DSLR? The short answer is both will achieve great-looking portraits.
But then you might ask: Then which camera do I pick? Mirrorless or DSLR?
Well, it depends on your style, budget, the result you want to accomplish, and the camera features you are looking for. Also, you must have in mind the set of lenses you will use, although it is not that important.
Mirrorless x DSLRs: What’s the difference?
Mirrorless cameras are small and lightweight, especially in the micro four-thirds format, which has allowed them to create a very portable camera that uses an electronic viewfinder instead of the more traditional optical one. That is both an advantage and a disadvantage, some people prefer a true-to-life optical viewfinder.
Although mirrorless cameras are new to the game, they have taken it by storm with amazing new features that will only come later for DSLRs. Some will have a complete line of specific lenses to use with the mirrorless system that you can’t in your DSLR.
But don’t go around thinking that DSLRs have less quality than mirrorless. DSLRs are still the top tear tool that will take equal if not better images than some Mirrorless systems. As it uses a set of mirrors and prisms inside its body, it ends up taking up a lot of space and, therefore, making the camera huge.
So, it all narrows down to what you want and what you can with the resources available to you, but I will help you choose.
Portrait photography aims at capturing the personality, character, and emotions. It can either be candid or artistic. Portrait photography requires more than just the ability to understand your camera settings, lighting, and composition.
You must also possess the ability to connect with your subjects and capture their unique qualities. So, it is a difficult but rewarding genre of photography.
Click Below to read a comprehensive guide to learning and mastering the art of portrait photography.
What camera should I buy?
Beginner mirrorless camera
The perfect camera if you are starting and want to grab a lightweight but powerful camera. This camera is a 25.1MP APS-C CMOS sensor, which means it has a smaller frame, but that in no way is a con to this one as it has dual pixel CMOS AF and Eye Detect, which, as seen previously, is very important when wanting to shoot fast, or even self-portraits. However it has limitations on lens variety, as it’s not compatible with the mainline of lenses by canon mounts such as the EF and RF.
Intermediate/pro mirrorless camera
This was the first mirrorless camera canon released that was compatible with their incredible RF mount lenses. This camera features a 30.3MP Full-frame CMOS sensor. Full frame format will allow you more room when taking pictures, as it has a larger size sensor. Different from M50 that has a cropped sensor. This camera might be great as an advanced portrait gear, for its only limitations are on the videography side of it.
Pro mirrorless camera
This camera is arguably the best camera for portrait photography. Its 45MP full-frame sensor, 1053 points of focus, and canons AI eye tracking. That will allow you to take sharp, in-focus pictures with little to no mistakes. This camera features an RF mount that allows the glass closer to the camera sensor, creating sharper and extremely vivid images. The only downside to this camera is the price point, starting at USD 3.500.
Beginner DSLR
If you are starting and want a reliable camera that will take quality pictures without burning a hole in your pocket: This is the camera for you. This is the DSLR equivalent of the M50.
Intermediate DSLR
This is a powerful 30MP full-frame camera with great continuous shooting capabilities (up to 7 frames) and dual card slots. I have included this camera on the intermediate level, but high-end professionals also use this. The only problem with it is that it has an older DIGIC 6+ image processor. But it is still an all-around great camera.
Professional DSLR
If you want a really powerful, bulky camera with everything you want, this is the camera for you. Mainly used for sports photography, you might be surprised with what this bad boy can do in portrait photography. It has up to 20 fps continuous shooting mode, which, in some cases, will allow you not to miss the perfect pose, expression, and angle while shooting a portrait. You will be able to capture subjects continuously changing their poses, such as babies and pets.
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Which type of lenses are suitable for portrait photography?
When choosing the correct lenses for your portrait photography, you need to think about the correct focal length to use and what type of glass will take sharper images. So what lens, and what focal length is the correct one?
You will need only two lenses for portrait photography: 50mm and 85mm. The 50mm is the focal length that best realistically represents the human facial features. 15mm, 35mm will create a distortion, narrowing the face of your subject. There are some exceptions for using a wide-angle lens, such as fashion and surrealistic pictures. This is a must-have in your kit.
Another common doubt is: prime or zoom lenses?
What is the difference between the two? For example, zoom lenses vary in focal length (70-200), while prime lenses have a fixed focal length.
When taking portraits, you will want the creamiest and sharpest image possible. As prime lenses have fewer moving parts within their body, they will usually produce clearer and sharper images, making them the best choice when shooting portraits.
Another important advantage of prime lenses is that they tend to have a broader aperture (like f/1.4 and f/1.2). This will create a very contrasty image with the background completely obliterated, also known as the bokeh effect. Some will use a 103mm macro to enhance that effect even more.
What other equipment do you use for portrait photography?
Some good to have but not extremely necessary is a tripod. This tool will only be necessary if you are required to take fixed shots of different people. Such as school photos, company photos, and more. Again, it’s not a priority when taking portraits.
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