I spent a huge part of my youth in Texas and in the Lone Star State they have a saying that has stuck with me my entire life. “Dance with the one who brought you.”

It’s odd to me that this is a saying from Texas because didn’t Texas outlaw dancing in the 80’s simply to piss off Kevin Bacon? That may have been Indiana or Iowa or some other fly over state where Chris Penn would have been considered cool.

Anyway...This saying was no doubt created in order to limit emotional damage caused by adolescent dance-induced jilting, but for me it has become a lifelong mantra. A mantra that has served me well as an early adopter of apple computers, a shareholder of Netflix since 2003 and as a lifelong Cubs fan. I still can’t believe they won the world series! Yup I have danced with the ones who brought me for my entire adult life. Until today.

Today I jilted my love of 15 years for the belle of the ball. My love’s name was Canon and she and I made beautiful pictures together. Not to mention hundreds of thousands of dollars for the last decade and a half. But along came Sony with the a7iii and not only did it catch my eye...it stole my heart. So, in this blog I’m going to outline some of the reasons why I put my baby in the corner and started getting footloose with Sony. Because nobody puts baby in the corner...not without a good reason at least.

For me the game changer was Sony’s eye auto focus. As a smash cake photographer asking my clients to sit still is not an option. My little clients are usually overstimulated, hopped up on sugar and bounce around my set like cake covered spider monkeys. So you can imagine how hard it is to get tack sharp focus on their eyes. When I was using Canon I had to use the autofocus points and move the little red dot around the frame with the joystick on the back of the camera body.

My goal was to compose a frame where one of the AF points would cover the baby's eye, then use my thumb to select that AF point. Yes, I could have used the mode where the camera would try to select the right AF point for me, but it never got it right. So I would chase the baby around to compose my shot and then twitch my thumb like a crazed hitchhiker until the correct AF point was selected and by then the baby had moved. It was an absolute nightmare.

NOW I simply push and hold the eye auto focus button on the back of my Sony and the autofocus will highlight the baby's eye and track it as the baby moves. I can hold down the eye autofocus button and move my camera around and the AF point stays on the baby's eyes. It’s an absolute godsend for us smash cake photographers. When I was shooting with my Canon without eye autofocus my sessions took longer and I threw out a ton of photos because they simply weren’t in focus. For my smash cake sessions Sony’s eye autofocus just makes good business sense. Who doesn’t like spending less time to create more images and make more money?

The second feature that made the Sony A7ii a must-have for me was the electronic viewfinder. Unlike a traditional DSLR viewfinders the Sony viewfinder is like a smaller version of the screen found on the back of any DSLR if it were in liveview. Basically it displays what the image is going to look like if you were to use the current camera settings. If you change the settings you change what the image looks like in the electronic viewfinder. So what you see in the Sony’s viewfinder is what you are going to get when you push the button. So when I'm shooting a natural light smash cake session all I have to do is make sure the image looks good in the viewfinder and push the button. Say goodbye to chimping and taking test shots.

The real fun happens when you combine both the eye auto focus and the electronic viewfinder. It makes chasing around a hopped-up frosting-covered baby super easy. So easy it almost feels like cheating. For that reason when a new photographer asks me which camera I recommend for beginners I always suggest the Sony a7iii. This camera provides real time feedback that will help any new photographer not only learn photography but it will also help you create professional quality images while you learn.

So I still feel like I owe my Canon 5D Mark III an apology for not dancing with it when it was the one that brought me. I fed my family for the last decade with the images we created together and for that I will always be grateful. But the truth is, when I started shooting smash cake sessions my needs changed and the 5Diii couldn’t dance to the new music. Simply put...we grew apart.

So thanks for reading you guys. I hope this helps anyone looking to buy their first camera or anyone thinking of switching to a Sony. The a7iii has been a game changer for my smash cake work and I’m telling anyone who’ll listen. Anytime you can put the technical side of photography in the back seat and just concentrate on having fun with your client your images will improve. More importantly: so will your passion and love for the job.

Today I’m going to leave you guys with some homework. I want you to visit your local camera store and rent a Sony a7ii for the weekend. Then grab cake and a baby and go shoot some smash cake images. I’m telling you once you see how easy photography can be…you won’t want to go back!

Don’t have a local camera rental shop? Go visit my friends at lensrental.com. Using this link helps support this blog and saves you money.

Alright you guys...thanks again for reading and I will catch y’all in the next one. Don’t forget to leave us a note about your favorite lenses to rent below.

- Daniel

Switching to the Sony a7iii