Any photography heads in the place?
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I love my 5dmk3, mainly for its low light abilities, but I've shot some amazing images from my 7d and 5d classic as well. For image quality, what is most important is the quality of light and to a lesser degree the lens and then the body. If I were you I would try to budget for a flash too. I have done some amazing stuff with my 5d classic which came out in 2005. The body mainly dictates how well it will do in bad light and how fast the autofocus will be for the most part. Here's a couple samples of mine from each body. These are all taken with good lighting just to show you how little of a difference the body makes. When looking at low light shots, it's impossible to truly get a good gauge on what the conditions were anyways.
5d mk1 (natural light, 40mm lens)
5d mk3
(the light on this car is natural and a little diffused and you can already see a small amount of image quality degradation even when taken with the nicest camera body I own)
(flash w/ umbrellas, 85mm 1.8 lens iirc)
7d
(Both taken w/ flash + bounce card, 70-200mm lens iirc)
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I love my 5dmk3, mainly for its low light abilities, but I've shot some amazing images from my 7d and 5d classic as well. For image quality, what is most important is the quality of light and to a lesser degree the lens and then the body. If I were you I would try to budget for a flash too. I have done some amazing stuff with my 5d classic which came out in 2005. The body mainly dictates how well it will do in bad light and how fast the autofocus will be for the most part. Here's a couple samples of mine from each body. These are all taken with good lighting just to show you how little of a difference the body makes. When looking at low light shots, it's impossible to truly get a good gauge on what the conditions were anyways.
5d mk1
5d mk3
7d
The 7D definitely has less noise in lower light settings. The 5d classic is still very good though.
I forgot to add that the 7d pics were taken with a flash with a bounce card attached. A flash when properly used will make a huuuge difference in the image quality of your photos.
At minimum you'll want a 2.8 lens as far as speed goes. The lower the number the more light the lens will let in. However shooting at the lower number you will sacrifice the amount of depth that is in focus as well as some sharpness. For portraits I would shoot somewhere between 5.6-8 to maximize depth and sharpness
If I were doing strictly portraits I would go with a 5d classic off craigslist, Canon 85mm 1.8 lens, 430 exii speedlight, and an extra large betterbouncecard. The camera body would be more of a personal choice but I would aim for the other stuff I listed specifically.
The bigger the bounce card the better since it will mimic a larger light as well as soften the flash more. You don't want to blow out the subject with direct light because without some shadow the image will not have a 3d effect. The flash is used to give your camera more light to work with and to "lighten" up the shadows, not to get rid of them altogether. The bounce card will throw some light forward and if you can bounce a little off the ceiling you can control the shadows a bit, such as putting them a little below the eyebrows, nose and chin. If shadows are too dark it will make for a bad picture though.
http://www.abetterbouncecard.com/
If I were doing strictly portraits I would go with a 5d classic off craigslist, Canon 85mm 1.8 lens, 430 exii speedlight, and an extra large betterbouncecard. The camera body would be more of a personal choice but I would aim for the other stuff I listed specifically.
The bigger the bounce card the better since it will mimic a larger light as well as soften the flash more. You don't want to blow out the subject with direct light because without some shadow the image will not have a 3d effect. The flash is used to give your camera more light to work with and to "lighten" up the shadows, not to get rid of them altogether. The bounce card will throw some light forward and if you can bounce a little off the ceiling you can control the shadows a bit, such as putting them a little below the eyebrows, nose and chin. If shadows are too dark it will make for a bad picture though.
http://www.abetterbouncecard.com/
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Good lookin out.
You can get the flash and lens off craigslist too. Glass doesn't go bad. If you're doing portraits, you'll want to stand as far away from the model as possible. The perspective is more desirable and it makes them look thinner. 85mm tends to be the minimum most portrait photographers like to shoot at.
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WaveCapsByOscorp™
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any LA based photographers?
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I've done it all, studio, group, wedding, product, event, car and nature but never really specialized in anything particular. I always pick up hobbies, get really deep into them, never truly master them and then drop interest eventually. I always get to a level of skill and equipment that I'm happy at and then move onto something else. I dab in all of my former hobbies occasionally so that I don't ever totally lose my abilities at them though. That's why I think it's worth spending money on good equipment. Buy once, cry once is the motto.
I know I mentioned a 5d classic since you said it would be mainly portraits but you might want to consider a used 7d because once you have a camera, people will always be hitting you up for photos and you never know what kind of situation you might end up in. I recommend these two bodies because I know they worked well for me. I'm not familiar with the Canon's newer releases.