Confessions of an equipment junkie
I admit it. I am an equipment junkie. I want all of the best photo equipment and lenses no matter how much they cost and I love showing my equipment off. In particular I love hearing now that’s a camera, as people walk by.
You know that you are the same, so it’s best to admit it now and get it over with! Therefore, with that spirit in mind I will discuss the gear that I currently use.
Camera:
Canon 5D Mark II – I really like this camera and have already discussed it at great length on this blog.
Lenses:
Canon 70-200 4L IS – This is my walk around lens and the lens I most commonly use for shots of my kids. I bought it over the 2.8 because it is much lighter and the IS is better.
Canon MP-E 65 – This is the lens I use for the majority of my insect shots.
Canon 180L Macro – I use this less often than my MP-E 65, but it is my main lens for larger insects and flowers.
Canon 16-35 2.8L II – This is the main lens I use for real estate and for landscape shots while traveling.
Canon 50mm 1.4 – I rarely use this lens, but it does come in handy for low light situations.
Canon 100-400 4.5-5.6L – This is my zoo and wildlife lens.
Lighting:
Canon 580EX – This is the first flash I bought and I still prefer it in some ways to the 580EX II, which sometimes has difficulties with the Pocketwizards.
Canon 580EX II – It’s nice to control the flash from the camera, but otherwise it is no big upgrade.
Canon MT-24EX – This is the flash I use for most of my macro shots.
Pocketwizard MultiMAX – I love the added versatility over the Pocketwizard Plus II, but I rarely use multiple lights in my shots these days.
Other:
Really Right Stuff L Bracket – IMHO their L brackets are the best.
Gitzo 1348 tripod – The tripod is a bit big, but is extremely sturdy. It is great for real estate and for around town, but not so great for traveling.
Markins M20 head – Great head for less price than the Really Right Stuff head.
Gitzo GM-5561 monopod – Expensive but amazingly small and strong for a monopod. I almost always have this on me.
Really Right Stuff Tilt head – Works great when tracking birds or other things.
Kirk Macro Rail – I shoot most of my macro shots handheld so I now use this mainly for panorama shots – to adjust the nodal point of the lens. It’s not a bad macro rail but I would probably buy the Really Right Stuff one if I had to do it over again.
Lumiquest 80/20 system – I almost always have this on my flash.
Wimberley macro brackets – When I am using a flash with my 180L, these are always on. I also use them for drop shots.
In my next post I will cover the gear I hope to get.
Related posts:
- Moving to Medium Format – Selling all Canon Equipment After much thought and deliberation, I have decided to move to medium format and sell all of my Canon equipment. The truth is I need to improve my range as a photographer and moving to medium format is the best way to do that. I also have the desire to...
Tags: camera, equipment, lens, photography
Dude – that’s a ton of gear! I assume you don’t use it all at once, but what kind of camera bag do you use?
I use the ThinkTankPhoto Airport Accelerator to transport my equipment, then a Slingshot bag in the field.