I began my photography journey several years ago with a Canon Rebel t5i. While this was a great camera if you are just starting out and want to learn the basics, I quickly found out it did not provide the quality I was looking for to step up my professional game. Especially when working with low light. After months of research, I decided to go with a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. This decision changed everything for me!
Here’s a few of the biggest upgrades it provided me.
- ISO
Sometimes photographing in home newborn sessions are in low light, which requires me to turn up my ISO, or if I need a fast shutter speed to capture moving children and using flash is not preferable. With my previous camera, just turning up the ISO slightly, resulted in a lot of grain. I could barely make it past 400 ISO. With the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV the ISO has a range of 100 – 32,000. I’ve taken images at 6400 with little to no grain. On a normal basis, I usually don’t go above 1000, but in a pinch if I need a high ISO, I can count on the Canon Mark IV to deliver.
2. AF Points
Probably my most favorite feature is the 61 AF points. I use spot focus all the time and having 61 AF points gives me so much freedom of where to place and compose my subjects. In addition to spot focus, there is 1 point AF, expand AF, expand AF surround, zone AF, large zone AF, and auto selection. You may customize the tracking based on your needs for your session. There are 6 different types of tracking for scenes where subjects are accelerating or decelerating. When shooting outdoor sessions with little ones this feature comes in handy!
3. Customization
The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV allows for easy customization of your buttons. Two of the biggest changes I did was the back button focus and the main dial. In the menu under settings and custom controls, you can set to how you want to focus. Cameras will come by default with half press the shutter to focus and then push all the way to capture. The back button focus allows me to focus and shoot without recomposing, saving me time and being able to capture so much faster when working moving targets.
The main dial is set to adjust your shutter speed while shooting to adapt to a change in lighting. I don’t always want to change my shutter speed so I added an additional button to hold while using the dial to change my ISO instead. Now I can quickly change my shutter or ISO without even looking. Again, a huge time saver so I don’t miss a moment.
4. Dynamic Range
Sometimes it happens that I overexpose or underexpose. If it’s an image I want to save, when shooting in RAW, I am easily able to bring back shadows and highlights. I find overexposure with Canon is easier to correct than underexposure. From my experience, a Nikon has the ultimate dynamic range with underexposure. I personally go for a perfect exposure when shooting.
My only downside to the Canon Mark IV is how big and heavy it is. Most of my sessions are kept around an hour or less, but sometimes with newborns, they can last a few hours. By the end, my arm is shaking. If you are a wedding photographer and shooting all day, you will have a strained arm for sure!
Right now on Amazon you can purchase the Canon Mark IV for $2299, which is 15% off, for the body only. I use prime lenses that I purchase separately from around $1200. This is an investment for sure. If you are transitioning from a hobbyist to professional, your camera gear matters. For me, it was the best decision I made!
Before you go check out some other blogs on family sessions and motherhood!
- https://jpixphoto.com/prenatal-yoga-cleveland/
- https://jpixphoto.com/the-spa-at-yellow-creek/
- https://jpixphoto.com/uh-cleveland-medical-center/
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