I was suddenly thrown back down memory lane to my time as a portrait photographer when I got an email recently. The email was from Helena, a wonderful person and model I had worked with a few times in the past.

“Are you up for a spontane shoot?” she asked. I didn’t have to think long about it and said YES!

Heck, I wanted to find out if I still had it in me to shoot styled portraits. It took me a minute for my foggy pre-menopause brain to count the years… gosh..it had been 8 years since I was in the business of the beauty/glamour/fashion portrait niche and then shifted to Lifestyle photography.

I was excited to see Helena again. Of all the people I’ve worked with in my time as a photographer she was one of those I remembered. A kind soul, down-to-earth, professionel and fun to work with.

When we met at my house, it was like the years didn’t matter. We clicked right away and quickly decided on a plan for our shoot.

Helena’s goal was to get some new photos for her model portfolio, and I saw the opportunity to test four different cameras against one another, (yes, I’m a gear geek) while I investigated how I felt shooting portraits again.

Helena and I decided to use my garden as our shooting location as we had limited time available for our session. I had a lot of fun styling the “boheme-girl laundry scene” and loved using the garden as our backdrop.

For this portrait session I tested:

>> Canon R6 Mark ii (Mirrorless)

>> Canon EOS 5D Mark IV (DSLR)

>> Fujifilm X-E1 (Mirrorless)

>> iPhone 13

I had just gotten a new camera; the Canon R6 and this photo session was my first time shooting with it. And because I wasn’t 100% comfortable with the camera yet, I decided to also use my beloved long time friend; the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV.

And as always, I love to test other types of cameras up against the professional ones. So I picked a 10-year old Fujifilm X-E1 that I hadn’t used for 8 years and then last but not least the iPhone camera – I have iPhone 13 Plus. You can read under each image what camera it was shot with.

It’s easy to see that the iPhone images and the Fujifilm images are more grainy and low in quality. But somehow it gives that vintage feeling. I like that it’s a little less perfect. It adds a bit of charm.

I didn’t feel very comfortable shooting with the new Canon R6 but when I uploaded the photos to the computer I was pleased to see the quality and now I’m motivated to make friends with it.

As you’ll properly notice, I ended up using the Canon 5D the most and the reason for that is because I know it so well I don’t have to think when I use it. With the other cameras I had to be much more aware of what I was doing, which is not a bad thing just more time-consuming.

I will write more about my experience with the Canon R6 Mirrorless in the near future. In case you consider upgrading to this camera it might help you make your decision.

Talk soon, Christina