My Gear

My gear, my kit, whatever you wanna call it, these are the tools I currently use to take pictures. I didn't put it all here to show off (after all, this is hardly an extensive kit, nor is it top-of-the-line), but because I myself am always incredibly curious what other photographers use, be they amateur like myself or pro. I originally had a Sony DSLR but recently switched to Canon because I wanted a better lens lineup to choose from (among other reasons).

Camera Body

Lenses
Lighting & Accessories
Software
Why Did I Choose This Kit?
I put a lot of thought into what body and lenses I would get after having chosen a kit I wasn't terribly happy with the first time around. The T1i was pretty much a no brainer for my camera choice. It was right in the price range I was looking at, with image quality rivaling that of the semi-professional 50D. The 15 megapixel resolution was very appealing to me, because I enjoy having the leeway to crop more generously without losing too much image quality. I also liked the the T1i had HD video. I don't plan on doing much, if any, artistic videography with it, but I wanted to be able to capture family and friends and other memories with it. Many reviewers were very harsh on the T1i's sub-professional video performance, but I find it more than adequate for my needs. As for lenses, all the pros say carrying fast f/2.8 zooms in your bag is a must for those low-light situations, but f/2.8 zooms are quite pricey and tend to be very limited in range. In addition, while f/2.8 is fast, there are fast primes that are much faster. I knew I wanted a long-range zoom for outdoors, so I wouldn't have to deal with the constant inconvenience of changing lenses (which I did often with my Sony 18-70 and 75-300), but one which still had decent image quality and image stabilization. This lens exceeded my expectations in its performance (the image stabilization is a marvel!). In-lens image stabilization, in my experience, trumps in-body image stabilization by a landslide. You're not wasting your money when you buy image stabilized lenses. Now, I'm also into low-light photography and I wanted to breakup the 50mm f/1.7 that I had in my last kit into two fast primes. You see, 50mm on a crop sensor is just too long for me when I want that "normal" field of view. Other times, it's not enough. Another thing I hated about my nifty fifty was its lack of fast silent autofocusing. I missed many a shot thanks to this. For my normal lens I went with the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 which is a great lens for a crop sensor camera (kind of big and clunky, but I like how it looks on my camera!). For the longer lens I went with the Canon 100mm f/2. This translates into a 160mm equivalent, so it's not terribly useful indoors on people, but I use it all the time to photograph my cat from a distance. I also used it on my recent vacation to Walt Disney World at shows, parades, and even the safari ride at Animal Kingdom! I look at it as a very affordable alternative to the 70-200 f/2.8. This lens is fixed, but it's a stop faster, a LOT cheaper (though not in build and quality), and much smaller. If I ever go to full frame, this lens will work just fine there too, though it won't reach as far (the trade off is better bokeh!) I recently got into flash photography, so I bought myself Canon's most basic flash, which has bouncing capabilities. I also got myself a flash sync cord so I can experiment with the flash off the camera. This has proved to be a fun new accessory!

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Posted by Samantha at Monday, July 27, 2009

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