Camera Equipment – New Camera
Camera Equipment
Having the right equipment is vital for a photographer, and the camera or cameras you use can make a big difference to your capabilities as a professional image-maker. Light Touch Photography has been using mostly Canon 7D cameras for the last several years. These are professional-grade cameras, but with cropped-frame sensors, meaning that any lens we attach to the camera is effectively a longer-distance lens than it ‘says on the tin’. While this can be very useful at times, enabling us to get closer to the action when photographing from a distance, it can also limit our capacity for getting close-up images or wide group shots.
We are pleased to announce that we have now acquired our first full-frame camera, a Canon 5D Mark III. This camera has, for some years, been the camera of choice for wedding and portrait photographers and photo-journalists.
Not only does the new camera allow us to take great portrait images, and photograph a larger group or wider landscape than a cropped-frame camera; it also gives an even shallower ‘depth-of-field’ so we have even more control over the look of the background to the photos. With its dual-memory slots, the 5D creates a backup copy of every photo to a second memory card, thereby decreasing the chances of losing images due to a memory card fault. Finally, it gives us the chance to take better images in low light conditions with a lot less digital noise – during the first dance at a wedding, for instance, or a sunset, with even better colour definition.
The addition of the 5D Mark III to our equipment list, on top of the existing two 7Ds and 550D, means that, for the first time, we can both carry two Canon cameras to any event. This gives us a quality back-up that can take most of the Canon lenses in our kit, should one camera unexpectedly fail for any reason.
We have also recently acquired a new flash unit. A ‘clone’ of the Canon flagship flash unit, it has all the same capabilities and power, including the ability to modify its power output to suit the lighting conditions. This a major upgrade to Karen’s equipment, as Rick already had a top of the range Canon flash unit.
Also in our equipment bags is a Panasonic Lumix G7, one of the new type of digital cameras – a professional mirrorless camera. Lighter and more compact than a standard DSLR, but much more adjustable than a standard compact, it is also capable of taking 4K video, and can even capture the action after it has occurred! When in this mode, the G7 continuously records and discards 30 frames per second, so that when you press the shutter release, it stores the action for half a second before and after the shutter is pressed. The photographer can then choose the best images from those frames to keep. This makes it a great camera for action shots, but it is also good for street photography, as the silent action means that no-one will know when you are taking a picture.
We want to be able to provide the very best for our clients. That’s why we’re always looking for ways to improve our photography through new equipment and continuous learning.