It’s Not About the Camera: Improve Photo Quality with Better Lighting

“If I just had a better camera, I could take better photos.” How often have you heard someone say something like this? While it is nice to have the latest and greatest photo gear, if you are relying on expensive cameras to make your photography better, you might be in for a surprise. In the video below, Miguel Quiles proves to us that it’s not all about the camera:

For the experiment, Quiles took a Canon 7D outfitted it with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens and put it side by side with a much more pricey Canon 5D Mark III with a 85mm f/1.2 lens. The point was to show that with proper lighting, there is not a huge difference in image quality.

studio lighting diagram

Lighting Setup

portrait lighting

With the lighting setup, camera position, and model location staying the same for both cameras, here is a side by side comparison of the results:

lighting-more-important-than camera

Can you tell which camera took which portrait?

So, there you have it! While there are certainly variations in the photos, the quality is fairly similar.

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One response to “It’s Not About the Camera: Improve Photo Quality with Better Lighting”

  1. Hillel B says:

    Audio is terrible! Can’t hear the narration for the sound track!

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