HOORAY, after probably 20-odd years of shooting exclusively on Canon products (EOS 600 & EOS 3 film cameras) and over eight years shooting digitally as a professional photographer (using my Canon EOS 5D) I have finally just managed to secure membership of the world-wide Canon Professional Services club.
My camera bag includes the original and impressive EOS 5D MK1 (an incredible workhorse that has served me well for over 8 years of shooting) and had a bag full of L-series lenses (including two of their top premier lenses – the 17mm Tilt & Shift lens specifically for shooting architecture & the 85mm f1.2L which is quite sensational for portraiture and capturing children in low light). I have recently added a second EOS 5D to my arsenal by upgrading the the 5D MK2 which offers double the resolution, double the detail and double the clarity on my imagery over what the 5D MK1 was capable of producing.
It is commonly preached ”buy what you NEED, not what you WANT”… whilst I’d love to shoot on an 80 mega-pixel medium format system, with full 16-bit capture, no anti-aliasing filter like all 35mm DSLR’s have (which naturally softens images), the truth is that the industry at large simply doesn’t demand that level of image quality anymore when the imagery off an old 5D MK1 is still sensational enough to satisfy most clients requirements and is acceptable for any international photo library submission.
My 5D MK2 comfortably outperforms what I need it to do, currently shooting for and managing an exclusive members-only international image stock library. My Canon gear is reliable, performs beautifully and gets the job done! Now I wonder if I can get Canon to send me a nice T-Shirt and a peaked cap…?
