DIVE INTO JAMES’ KIT BAG
1 Canon EOS R5
New price: £4,299 MPB price*: £4,049 (condition: Like New) This powerhouse of a camera gives me all I need to shoot perfect portraits. Its in-body image stabilisation means that any lens I mount is rock-steady, whether it’s a modern RF lens or a vintage manual-focus optic. It even boasts a Portrait Relighting facility that enables you to modify the direction of light sources, and re-expose your images in-camera!
2 Canon RF 85mm f/1.2L USM
New price: £2,869 MPB price*: £2,029 (Excellent) This is simply the best portrait lens I’ve ever used. The lack of lens-based stabilisation made it ungainly to use on the Canon EOS R (my previous camera), but it works like an absolute dream with the IBIS of the EOS R5. With its f/1.2 aperture, this is an absolute bokeh machine, and even shooting wideopen it renders images so sharp that you could cut yourself on them.
3 Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 IS STM
New price: £219 MPB price*: £179 (Like New) Canon’s newest nifty fifty is an absolute must-have for any kit bag, but especially so for a portrait photographer. Perfect for half-length or torso people pics (though not headshots, due to the distortion), this is Canon’s cheapest and most compact RF lens – a mirrorless equivalent of the trusty EF 50mm f/1.8. And it’s a pristine performer even wide open.
4 Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM
New price: £529 MPB price*: £469 (Like New) A brilliant double-duty lens, this is one of the true gems of the RF mount lineup. The 35mm focal length is perfect for full-length portraits, as well as for environmental portraiture, where you capture the scene around your subject. It’s also ideal for generalpurpose shooting. While the 1:2 macro function isn’t life-size, it provides you the ability to shoot intricate close-ups.
5 Canon EF 135mm f/2.8 SoftFocus
New price: N/A MPB price*: £154 (Excellent) Another niche lens, the 135mm f/2.8 offers wonderful compression of perspective – which is very flattering for portraits. However, this lens has a trick up its sleeve: a soft-focus effect. At the max it can be a bit much but, used with consideration, it can add a subtle softness that smooths out skin pores, as well as a gentle glow reminiscent of Hollywood headshots.
6 Rotolight Neo II
New price: £199 MPB price*: £169 (Like New) This has replaced the flashguns I always used to travel with, as constant LEDs are so much more versatile. Between the fantastic ISO performance of the EOS R5, and the f/0.95 and f/1.2 apertures of my fast glass, I really only need a kiss of supplemental light – and the Neo II enables me to change the colour temperature as well as the brightness.