Alessandra Meniconzi: Inside Swiss customs

Swiss photographer Alessandra Meniconzi's work centres on the ancient heritage, customs, spirituality and daily life of indigenous people, whose traditional cultures are at risk of vanishing. To capture such intimate imagery, she often finds herself in testing situations where the available light can be limited.

A recent shoot in the Appenzell region of Switzerland, for example, involved an early morning study of the procession of the cattle up to alpine pastures. And the dawn light proved a good test for the Canon EOS 80D. "It's a very good camera," she says. "The quality of the image it produces is comparable to a professional camera, and it's not too heavy."

Producing impressively sharp, colour-rich files, the EOS 80D has seamlessly fitted into Alessandra's kit bag and has helped her create the portraits and landscapes that she's become known for. Another thing she loves about it is the touchscreen – it provides the option to explore creative shooting angles that would be otherwise impossible.

"The touchscreen is lovely; very responsive and fast," she says. "It's the first time I've used a touchscreen on a camera. When you're pressed for time, it makes life very easy."

And then there's the 22.3mm x 14.9mm CMOS cropped sensor – with EOS integrated cleaning system to ensure crisp, dust-free results every time. "The files are very, very good," she explains. "I took a picture of ladies at a religious festival, during which the women wear clothes with fine lace and embroidery. When I saw the file on the computer, I was amazed. Not only is there great detail and an impressive dynamic range, but I feel the colours are more vibrant. For that file, I just used curves and levels – I didn't add any saturation."

The cropped sensor not only delivers stunning images in a range of lighting conditions, it also gives Alessandra extra reach when she wants it. "I have a full-frame camera and a 300mm lens," she says, "and sometimes when I need a little more reach, I use the 80D and it becomes a 480mm lens. For me, it makes my lens more powerful. It can be especially useful when shooting wildlife when the full frame and the 300mm simply isn't enough."

It helped that Alessandra was using the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens – a workhorse telephoto zoom that uses a clever trick of employing its virtually circular aperture diaphragm to give out-of-focus areas a softer, more uniform feel, thereby helping foreground objects stand out.

Ultimately, it's hard to overstate just how surprising Alessandra found working with the 80D for the first time. "With other cameras I have to change the settings, but with this one I just left them as they were," she says. "The quality of the images can be compared to those produced by a professional camera. They are very good."

To find out more about the Canon EOS 80D, visit the product page.