Obama’s official portrait was taken with a Canon 5D Mark II. Trump’s with a Canon 1Ds Mark III, which is even older
Jan 21, 2017
Udi Tirosh
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
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Here is an argument that may shut the race for new gear. President’s Trump’s official portrait was taken with a Canon 1Ds Mark III. Now, it’s a great camera, but it’s also almost a decade into the market. It was announced in august, 2007. President Obama’s portrait, on the other hand, was taken with a Canon 5D Mark II. (Obama was also the first president to have his portrait taken with a digital camera – and we owe that to Pete Souza). Obama’s second portrait, by the way, was taken with a 5D mark III (Announced March, 2012)
Here is the interesting thing though, the 5D mark II was announced on Sep, 2008, it’s actually a year newer than the 1Ds Mk III that was used to photograph president Trump.
While there may be some debates on the artistic choices of the photographer, it does not look like the camera has failed to perform its job.
Just for fun, here is a comparison of the three portraits EXIF
| Portrait | Obama (2009) | Obama (2013) | Trump (2017) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camera | Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Canon EOS 5D Mark III | Canon 1Ds Mark III |
| Lens | ?? | EF85mm f/1.2L USM | EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM |
| Focal length | 105mm | 85mm | 145mm |
| ISO | 100 | 200 | 640 |
| shutter speed | 1/125 | 1/125 | 1/320 |
| aperture | f/10 | f/7.1 | f/8 |
| Flash | Flash not fired, compulsory flash mode | Flash not fired, compulsory flash mode | Not fired |
| Software | Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh | Adobe Photoshop CS5 Macintosh | Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6.5.1 (Macintosh) |
(political comments will be deleted)
[via reddit, photos via whitehouse.gov]
Udi Tirosh
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
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53 responses to “Obama’s official portrait was taken with a Canon 5D Mark II. Trump’s with a Canon 1Ds Mark III, which is even older”
640iso?
My technical guess is he used constant lights
and ?
145mm to make him look thinner? :3
actually longer lenses make you look fatter
Try shot with an ultra wide angle then.
it’s not the length of the lens it’s the distance between camera and subject ;)
Oh, actually I also made a mistake. Sorry :)
not a big deal :D
Why would it fail ? 1DsIII has got better pixels than the newest Sony 42MP A99II .. better S/N, better Colours, better Tones .. for skin it’s much easier.
At 1/320 F8 you get by far sharpest pictures for portraits..
Till now, unless you go to MF you won’t get better than a Canon for a decade.
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-bqnVqHV/0/X3/i-bqnVqHV-X3.jpg
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-vf84sr2/0/X3/i-vf84sr2-X3.jpg
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-T7292FV/0/X3/i-T7292FV-X3.jpg
For a decade some blogs are obsessed by dynamic which is just meaningless in a studio with controlled lights. In such case, by far => better pixels is more useful to get better pictures (post processing won’t help that much).
“…which is just meaningless in a studio with controlled lights.”
and yet the photographer still shot at ISO640 for some stupid reason.
It may not be stupid if he used constant lights…
Maybe, but given his shutter speed, he could at least drop to ISO400, if not ISO200.
And he had room since it was shot at 1/320 Second.
And yet the photo isn’t sharp. It looks like mashed potato.
So what. I mean, my older 1D Mark II still does the job.
Still have two of them, although got a 1D3 I use a little more regularly.
The only two things I miss are Auto ISO and AF adjustments.
So? I’ve sold a number of pictures I took with my Samsung S5.
I don’t care of it was a Rebel… cameras do not take portraits, photographers do.
Amen!
Nah, I’m pretty sure the camera has a big part in it…
not all sensors are born the same: I remember of many photographers keeping to use Nikon D2X for its great skin tones when new model were already available…
Absolutely with you BUT: who lights someone from below?! Either the photographer was really unpleased to be taking Trump’s photo (with him on this point… :)) and decided to light him badly or Trump just got an amateur who was willing.
This article looked at first like it might be interesting but does not say anything other than tell us the age of the cameras. Am I missing something?
Just because you work as a professional photographer in Washington doesn’t mean you get paid well enough to upgrade your equipment regularly?
So?
The 1dsIII a great camera.
The lenses and settings are interesting.
I’m by no means a harsh critic regularly however, what was done with the Trump portrait, from composition to compromising ISO for a higher than necessary shutter speed, is bewildering to me.
Exactly my thoughts when I saw that.
They had to compensate for all the ??? ?
The WB was all over the place ?
Another article I saw said it was noisy and the focus too shallow. Then they criticized the photo… ?
I wish these tech companies (I consider DIYP a “tech website”) would stop posting politically-RELATED posts. Nobody cares that the Trump photo was taken with an older camera. Nobody is gonna think, “Wait! Since it’s an older camera, that must mean something!!!!” NO! It does not!
/rant over
Photography of a sitting president is important to the industry. The official portrait is going to be one of the most widely printed and viewed photos in the world (it goes in all of the government offices and will be reprinted in news publications and history books).
From a photography standpoint, it’s important.
A camera is but the tool the skill of the photographer is what matters.
The focus is off. It seems sharp on his bushy eyebrows and his bangs, but the eyes are a little soft. Instead of f/8 perhaps if it was f/11 the focus miss wouldn’t be so obvious. Better yet, the focus should have been about and inch further and the eyes would have been sharp regardless of the aperture.
I wonder who the photographer is that took the photograph. I’ve heard he hasn’t hired an official photographer and may not hire one. If so, he’ll be the first president since John Kennedy not to a photographer on staff.
Is it me, or the photo looks rather amateurish? :/
I afraid you are not mistaken
I am not saying it’s totally bad. But if a kid in photography class would take a photo like this – he would barely get a passing grade.
I’m not saying it’s very bad photo but I would expect for the first photo of the president of united states I would expect a bit more impressive photo :/
I’m not professional photographer just hobbyist but I see some errors were made during the shot. I think trump is a bit too close. And I hate he cut his shoulder on the left side.
why the left shoulder is cut off like that?! it doesn’t look good :/
Ive done numerous portraits with my tailboard camera from the 1870s Is it time to upgrade…
I stand by my 5D Mark II, It’s reliable and such a tank, it’s been dropped, submerged, and buried in snow and keeps on ticking!
Considering that Pete Souza was also the photographer for Ronald Reagan before being the one for Obama, and since he know how to keep well the archive, if I was Donald Trump, I would ask Pete to stay as the official photographer! To be continued…
Souza already said that he would not accept the position. I can’t say I blame him. He had to keep the same schedule as the POTUS in two administrations. That’s got to be hard on your personal life.
Anyone notice the camel toe just below his chin…. :-P
Wow, doesn’t the Depth of Field look rather shallow for f/8?!
Look at the flag pin on his suit..
That’s the effect of the focal length and how close you are to the subject. Looks about right for 145mm
I fail to see what relevance the age of a camera has to taking a good portrait. Check the portraiture of Henri Cartier-Bresson on a 35 mm film Leica using only a 50 mm lens seventy years ago. It seems the young are obsessed with having the latest technology for no other reason than it is the latest.
And anyone gives two craps about any of this? Man..slow news day.
think I read he’s very particular about where he;s photographed from, preferring straight on. Looks like photographer was trying to push him to the side slightly. He’s also slightly turtle-heading as he’s concerned about the swaggly chin(s), which is making him appeared hunched somewhat.
The uplighting (to take care of his chin(s)) isn’t great either, I think (politics aside) it makes him appear somewhat sinister. I’ve seen much better portraits of him when he was a layman
and it doesn’t matter a damn about the camera