While every professional photographer will roll their eyes at you if you say something like, “you’re camera takes great photos,” there is some truth to it. Part of being a professional is using professional equipment. Peek into my camera bag to see the newborn photography equipment I use for every shoot.
Canon R5 Mirrorless camera body
I’ve owned this body for about three years now and its amazing. My favorite feature and the main reason I bought it is the autofocus that finds your subjects’ eyes. This is so important when working with fast moving toddlers, but now I fully rely on it for shooting all people, and not having to toggle my focal point like I used to do with my older camera body. This body and my favorite lens are my most important pieces of newborn photography equipment.
Canon 5D Mark IV
This is my old camera body and my back up. Each time I buy a new camera body, I keep my previous one as a back up. Luckily, I’ve never actually had to use it (in 10+ years, I’m due for a disaster at this point), but I always bring a back up body, back up batteries and cards, and two lenses with me to shoots.
Canon 50mm 1.2L
This is my go to lens for almost every shoot. Its a flattering length for portraits, and basically mimics what you see with your eye. I’m able to open the aperture very wide if I want and the quality is amazing. With a prime lens you’re forced to move your body rather than zoom in and out with your lens, and I prefer that. The majority of my work is shot with this lens.
Canon 35mm 1.4L
My second love is my wide angle lens. This is great for in home sessions, or when I’m working with a baby and want to sit very close to engage with them but not just get close ups. This lens allows me to incorporate more of the scenery into the shot.
Canon EF – RF adapter
When I made the switch to mirrorless, instead of buying all new lenses (the Canon mirrorless cameras have RF mounts for lenses, the traditional SLRs have EF mounts), I bought this adapter for $125. Highly recommend!
Neewer Carbon Fiber Tripod
I don’t use this a ton in my professional work, but I love this tripod. Its small and light weight, so its easy to pack in a suitcase. I use it with a phone adapter to get behind the scenes video when I remember, for self portraits with my family, and many moons ago I used it for my astrophotography work.
Not long ago I used studio lighting, but since moving into my gorgeous studio, I haven’t needed to because of the giant windows! So really, this is all the newborn photography equipment I use! This and my souped up Macbook Pro, which I replace every 4-5 years and basically just upgrade to the highest/fastest of everything available.
Questions about newborn photography equipment
If you have any questions about my newborn photography equipment, please send me a message! I love geeking out about gear 🙂
