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Our 2017 Equipment Upgrades & What They Mean for Your Session

We’re beginning 2017 with a host of upgrades to our session kits. We can nerd out pretty hard on camera equipment, so this change over has been a tantalizing trickle of new toys from Amazon. As much fun as it is for us to have new equipment to use, the real reason for these upgrades is what it brings to our capabilities during portrait sessions, weddings and other events.

I won’t bore you with technical specifics, but I’d like to share what these upgrades mean for your shoot and the images we can produce for you.

The latest Canon professional bodies let us shoot faster and more accurately.

Our camera bodies (the part of the camera lens attaches to), both primary and backup, have been upgraded to Canon’s latest professional model, the 5D Mark IV. These camera bodies have more responsive and accurate focusing systems, allowing us to capture sharper images under less certain circumstances, such as a session with a rambunctious dog, or a crazy dance at the end of a wedding.

The sensors in these cameras are also capable of reproducing color and tone better in low light conditions. The quality of light is a less important factor to successfully creating images for you than it was in previous years.

We can now continue coverage with almost half as much light.

In addition to the improved sensors in the camera bodies allowing them to perform better in low light, two new lenses have been added with an aperture of f/1.2. The “Aperture” of a lens refers to the size of the hole light is permitted to pass through before reaching the camera sensor. With a wider aperture and a more powerful camera sensor, we are now able to capture images with almost half as much light as in the past.

As with any camera system, the less light that is available to capture the image, the less overall sharpness the image will enjoy. Images captured in low light conditions will also experience more grain, and slightly higher contrast. These improvements will not bring daylight quality images out of low light conditions, or remove the need to consider lighting conditions in a general sense, but will dramatically improve our flexibility when it comes to locations and scheduling.

We can now position ourselves four times farther away.

We have increased our maximum focal length (aka zoom) from 200mm to 800mm. This means that in situations that call for it, we are able to capture a moment from four times farther away!

This is an important upgrade for events which strictly control the distance of the photographer from their subject. For example, weddings at the Naval Academy do not permit photographers to come closer than about 75 feet from the front of the chapel. During Naval Academy wedding ceremonies in previous years, we have been able to capture full-body images from our position at the back of the chapel. After this upgrade, we will be able to capture close ups from the same position.

This upgrade also matters for some candid images you may wish for us to create, but which remaining unobtrusive is crucial. A good example of this is a marriage proposal where you’d like the images of the proposal to remain a surprise.

We can now add various areal perspectives to portraits and other kinds of images.

We have also added a professional grade Drone to our equipment list, enabling us to capture high resolution images from as high as 400 feet in the air. Aerial angles can bring a fresh perspective to all kinds of different images, such as family portraits and weddings. They can also be used for stunning high resolution flyover images of businesses and establishments.

Aerial photography must be arranged in advance and will not be available for all sessions, or in all locations. For more information about creating aerial images, contact us.