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I haven't read the other posts in this thread yet, so someone may have already said what I'm going to say.
Since you do portraits, you have the freedom and control to take your time and groom the details of your photos in most cases. You will rarely need a high burst rate, or a super high dynamic range censor with the highest ISO range, or a lot of auto focus points (honestly you don't even need auto-focus in many cases for portraits). You don't need 30 megapixels, you don't need the biggest LCD screen with touch, or WIFI and GPS, and you don't need a camera with a full frame censor. You also wont be changing your camera settings frequently during a shoot, so quickly being able to access and change camera settings is even a luxury that a portrait photographer can live without. To be a good photographer, you need to think about the best lighting, the best editing, the best posing and styling, you need to understand colors and compositional harmony. You basically need to know how to make someone look good and how to create a pleasing image, both of which have nothing to do with the features of the latest and greatest professional cameras that supposedly make everything else obsolete. To be a successful professional photographer, you need to be successful at marketing, taking care of your customers, and be a responsible business owner. None of that has to do with what camera you use either.
The only time that it really matters is when you simply want a nice camera, or if a particular job requires a certain resolution of image. Chances are you wont be doing any billboard campaigns right away though, so you wont need a camera capable of that kind of job until that day comes. In the meantime, your Rebel is easily capable of creating beautiful portraits if the photographer using it is knowledgeable about doing so, and you will be a successful professional if you can focus on marketing and running a business and not get distracted by questions like "what camera makes me professional".
I've been shooting now for 8 years. I shoot with an old 12 megapixel Canon 5D Classic (Mark I) that I bought used and a fairly cheap Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 lens that I also bought used. I too do outdoor/natural light portraits and occasionally studio portraits. This is a camera that sells now for around $400 and is considered outdated and obsolete by many professionals and hobbyists and a lens that costs only about $300 used, but I have had no problems getting jobs and keeping clients, having my images published in many publications including the Wall Street Journal, and have won multiple awards, all with this old camera of mine. The point I'm making is not to get stuck in the mindset that you need the newest most updated camera to be better or to be professional when you already have a perfectly capable Rebel, because that is a cycle that will never end as new technology comes out and is only a distraction from creating good photos and running a successful business.
Since you do portraits, you have the freedom and control to take your time and groom the details of your photos in most cases. You will rarely need a high burst rate, or a super high dynamic range censor with the highest ISO range, or a lot of auto focus points (honestly you don't even need auto-focus in many cases for portraits). You don't need 30 megapixels, you don't need the biggest LCD screen with touch, or WIFI and GPS, and you don't need a camera with a full frame censor. You also wont be changing your camera settings frequently during a shoot, so quickly being able to access and change camera settings is even a luxury that a portrait photographer can live without. To be a good photographer, you need to think about the best lighting, the best editing, the best posing and styling, you need to understand colors and compositional harmony. You basically need to know how to make someone look good and how to create a pleasing image, both of which have nothing to do with the features of the latest and greatest professional cameras that supposedly make everything else obsolete. To be a successful professional photographer, you need to be successful at marketing, taking care of your customers, and be a responsible business owner. None of that has to do with what camera you use either.
The only time that it really matters is when you simply want a nice camera, or if a particular job requires a certain resolution of image. Chances are you wont be doing any billboard campaigns right away though, so you wont need a camera capable of that kind of job until that day comes. In the meantime, your Rebel is easily capable of creating beautiful portraits if the photographer using it is knowledgeable about doing so, and you will be a successful professional if you can focus on marketing and running a business and not get distracted by questions like "what camera makes me professional".
I've been shooting now for 8 years. I shoot with an old 12 megapixel Canon 5D Classic (Mark I) that I bought used and a fairly cheap Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 lens that I also bought used. I too do outdoor/natural light portraits and occasionally studio portraits. This is a camera that sells now for around $400 and is considered outdated and obsolete by many professionals and hobbyists and a lens that costs only about $300 used, but I have had no problems getting jobs and keeping clients, having my images published in many publications including the Wall Street Journal, and have won multiple awards, all with this old camera of mine. The point I'm making is not to get stuck in the mindset that you need the newest most updated camera to be better or to be professional when you already have a perfectly capable Rebel, because that is a cycle that will never end as new technology comes out and is only a distraction from creating good photos and running a successful business.
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