My Equipment

I thought I would take a bit out of my time to list all my equipment that I currently use and explain why I use them.  This is not a bragging page but a page to describe the equipment and how I use it.

My Camera(s)

I have my trust Canon EOS 7D 18 Mega pixel that is my workhorse, my beast as I like to call it, as I have the battery grip attached.  It nearly doubles the size of the thing but I enjoy the balance you get when it is coupled to a large lens.  I use a variety of compact flash cards with it, none too large, my biggest is a 16Gb Lexar card, I have 2 8Gb Sandisk UDMA 6 cards, a 4Gb Sandisk Extreme 4 card and a 2 Gb Sandisk Extreme 3 card.

My Back-Up SLR is the Canon EOS 400D, it is old nowadays but at 10 Mega pixels, it is still a great wee camera that I know how to use.  I have the battery grip for it too so it looks like one of its bigger brothers.

My Grips are both Canon, Expensive Yes, Worth it, Uber Yes.  I bought a Hammel from Warehouse Express many moons ago and it is rubbish, I would install 2 fully charged batteries into it, take 10 shots and the thing would turn off my camera.  The old saying that you get what you pay for is certainly true there.  I still have it though as I cannot even give it away.

Batteries, I have loads for the 400D, 1 canon and the rest after-market.  The 7D however only has canon batteries, they are worth every penny.  They last and last.

I have a Nikon Point and Shoot 10 Megapix that is always in a pocket or glove box somewhere, along with a nokia N95 Cell Phone (10Megapix), My trusty I-phone 3GS which I take a picture a day on. A 1080p AIPTEK digital video camera, and a sharp DV Cam.

My Glass,

My first lens is my trusty kit lens that came with the 400D.  It is a 18-55mm F3.5,5.6 EFS Lens.  It is the widest lens I have but to be honest I rarely use it unless I am pushed for space as it had a nasty habit of making your subjects look like ogres.

My next piece of glass moving up the range is a Sigma 28 – 70mm F2.8-4.  Now this is a great piece of glass, it is fast and pretty great for any indoor party or event.  It has a hood and filter attached and had been dropped once or twice, Sigma have a 3 year warranty on their glass and this piece has just had a new AF motor installed.

Moving up the Focal lengths, I have a great walk about lens, it is my holiday lens of choice and I bought it to go on a trip to New York and Niagara Falls.  It is the Canon 28-135 IS 3.5-5.6 lens.  It is practically the same focal length as the Sigma,  I know but the Canon is no use in a Wedding and the Sigma is no use on vacation, it is a big 72mm diameter lens and looks great on my camera. The shots are great too, but it does suffer indoors at that F5.6.

Now moving into the Telezoom area, I have a 75-300mm F3.5-5.6 lens.  Bought initially with my 400D, this lens gives some great results, showing its age now, however sometimes you need that reach and this lens will give you it, especially on a crop sensor like mine. 300 x 1.6 = 480mm effectively.  And it cost around £100, new.  Again I have a UV filter on every lens and a Circular Polariser filter for every diameter that would use one.

My next piece is my first L lens, it is the Canon 70-200 F4 L lens. This lens blows my other lenses out the water when it comes to clarity and crispness.  This is an ideal portrait lens and wedding lens and that was one of the reasons I bought it.  My basement is 20ft long so I can use a long lens in the studio and get great shots.

Moving onto my prime lenses, I got the nifty fifty, 50mm 1,8 for around £100 and it is a beautiful piece of equipment, it is a bit zoomed on my crop camera however it is pretty close to what you would get naturally with your eyes.  This lens however is amazing for portraits, close ups and getting ARTY with your work, it gives great Bokeh and never disapoints.  It is effectively an 85mm on my crop but it is simply amazing.

My next prime is the 85mm F1.4, it is just simply amazing, I cannot take a bad portrait with this lens.  It ticks every box and doesn’t make everyone look like an ogre when you get right in their faces.  It is also amazing for wedding receptions.  It is Beautiful and on my cameras, it is probably effectively a 135mm.

I was given a 2X Kenko extender as a gift when I bought a lens, and to date the only lenses I have that works with it is the Sigma and the L lens.  I have got some decent shots out of it though.

I have a cable release for both cameras, the 400D had a canon one and the 7D  has an Amazon one, for $5 versus $80 for the canon, I figured it was worth the spend.  So far it has been great.

I use a Manfrotto 190XProB tripod with a 322RC2 head.  This is an amazing combination, it can hold my rig in any angle and it is bullet proof, albeit heavy.

I have a home studio with 2 300Watt lights on soft boxes and shoot through umberellas, 2 lots of wireless triggers, backdrop stands and muslin backgrounds.  I can shoot tethered on both cameras.

I have my trusty 530EX2 speedlight with Stofen omnibounce.

I use Lightroom 3 with Adobe CS5 for my workflow.  I have a windows PC with 500Gb of storage and 2 external HDD with 1.5Tb of storage each, one a back up of the other.

I have several bags to carry all this, I have a lowepro Nova 2 AW for when I’m on holiday, a Canon Pro bag, and the lowepro Slingshot 302 AW for when I’m on a shoot .

I have probably missed loads of little gadgets and things, like lens pens, but I am sure everyone has a load of them. One suggestion I will give everyone when it comes to camera equipment, but the best you can afford, stay away from Ebay shops that have these 600mm lenses for £50.  The Canon equivalent will cost £10,000.  There is a reason for that.  Also go to a store where you can put it on your camera and get a feel for it.  I know there are less and less camera shops out there, however even Jessops will let you try before you buy.

Lastly, Camera Clubs are great, meet ups and get togethers are what made all the old great photographers great, lets not loose that closeness with people and share knowledge when we can.