• Home
  • Reviews Index
  • Best Gear
  • Inspiration
  • Learn
  • Disclaimer
  • Staff/Contact Info
  • Media Kit
  • Membership
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Features

We’ve Tested the Best Cameras for Portrait Photography

Chris Gampat
No Comments
11/28/2020
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Canon EOS R5 product images 7.11-60s160

We’re streaming daily on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, and Spotify!

Fact: a modern master photographer doesn’t need the best technologies to shoot a great portrait: they need creative freedom and light. But most of us aren’t the best of the best. And until we get there, modern tech can help us. For your convenience, we’ve put together a list of the best cameras for portrait photography. Most folks refer to lenses, but we also believe there are great cameras for it too.

Table of Contents

  • How We Created This Roundup
  • Canon EOS R5
    • Sample Images
  • Sony a7r IV
    • Sample Images
  • Fujifilm GFX 50R
    • Sample Images

How We Created This Roundup

We’ve reviewed tons of cameras and lenses. No one is making an awful product these days, so this roundup of the best cameras for portrait photography is based on a few things. First off, the biggest one is autofocus. Face detection and eye detection have become paramount in portraiture. Gone are the days when you manually select a focus point, shoot, the model shifts, and the process is repeated. These cameras all have satisfactory face and eye autofocus tracking. Then there’s image quality. What’s most important to us is color depth. This means that you’ll be able to tweak colors in a portrait to get the most out of your raw files. That’s important given today’s portrait trends. And lastly, we’re putting an emphasis on flash systems. Go into any photo studio, and they’ve probably got Profoto gear. With that said, Profoto AirTTL integration is mandatory. And each of these systems has worked with Profoto to get that done through radio triggers.

Beyond all this, the photographer behind the camera is crucial. Having creative ideas, mood boards, and solid communication are beneficial. So let’s dive into our thoughts on the best cameras for portrait photography!

Canon EOS R5

In our review, we state:

“Face and eye detection is top notch. I’d even dare to say that Canon is better at low light than Sony is. I’ve been saying this for over a year and I know that others agree with me on this. Not only is it faster, but it’s usually more accurate.”

Sample Images

Buy Now: Around $3,899

Pro Tip: Fujifilm’s cameras are incredibly unique. They have film simulations built right into them, so their image quality is unlike anything else. But Canon and Sony embrace a more traditional approach. For those cameras, a good starting point is using Presets. Once you’ve got an idea of where you want to go with your photos, you can modify based on that inkling.

Sony a7r IV

In our review, we state:

“Throughout our time with the Sony A7R IV, tracking focus acquisition was consistently accurate and quick in good lighting. Sony’s Face & Eye AF tech continues to be the most responsive on the market and feels almost intuitive on the A7R IV. Unless you’re shooting with manual glass, the focus and recompose days are a thing of the past when shooting with the A7R IV. The real-time tracking functionality will also make short work of fast-moving subjects, allowing you to nail focus with much less effort.”

Sample Images

Buy Now: Around $3,499

Fujifilm GFX 50R

In our review, we state:

“For stagnant subjects, the Fujifilm GFX 50R has great autofocus even in low light. Where the problems occur is how they interact with faces and moving subjects. In addition to this, focusing on subjects with strong backlighting is also pretty difficult. The latter is a statement that applies to the entire industry with a few options, mainly Sony, being better. The Fujifilm GFX 50R, like many other options, has eye detection and can prioritize one eye over another. But tracking those subjects through the frame won’t work so well if they’re moving. But if you ask your subject to stay mostly still, you can mitigate the problem.”

Sample Images

Buy Now: Around $4,499

autofocus best cameras best cameras for portrait best cameras for portrait photography canon fujifilm Fujifilm GFX 50R image quality presets sony
Shares
Written by

Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
Previous Post

Bring It with You Everywhere! The Best 28mm Lenses We’ve Tested

Next Post

We’ve Tested the Best 85mm Lenses for Every Camera System

The Phoblographer © 2023 ——Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
  • Home
  • Our Staff
  • Editorial Policies
  • Media Kit
  • Membership
  • App Debug