Who doesn’t like talking about gear?! Most beginners are and most professionals just don’t care anymore as long as it gets the job done. I’m still in the middle and I get a lot of questions so here’s a list of what I use and a few notes on how I use it and what I like/don’t like.

Full updated list: http://amzn.to/2h2nwtl

Body
 

  • Canon 6D mark I : Full Frame
    • This is my main camera. It has great low light / high ISO performance and great image quality. It’s the cheapest FF body that Canon offers and even after the 6D mark II release in 2017, I do not intend on upgrading to the II due to limitations in dynamic range of the newer sensor.
  • Canon 7D mark II: Crop
    • I use this primarily only with my Sigma 150-600. The crop body functions as a 1.6x teleconverter without decreasing image quality from a traditional teleconverter and is superior to cropping a full frame image from my 6D in post. I chose this over other crop body options for the 10 FPS burst which is magical in the world of wildlife photography.
  • Canon 60D : Crop
    • This is now more of a B camera / secondary camera which I use for timelapse photography. I do not use this regularly. The limitations in megapixels and poor high ISO performance makes this less valuable as a photography camera but I can still get decent 4K timelapses from setting up an intervalometer on this camera.

Lenses
    

         

Here’s how I use each of these lenses:

  • Sigma 150-600 f/5-6.3: Wildlife, Moon, Sports (in good lighting) w/ 7DmII
  • Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 IS G2: Portraits, Wildlife, Wedding/Events
  • Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L II: Primary lens for 6D. Wedding/Events
  • Tamron 35 f/1.8: “50mm” w/ 7DmII. Wide fast prime w/ 6D.
  • Canon 16-35 f/4 L IS: Landscapes – w/ 6D
  • Rokinon 24 f/1.4: Astrophotography – w/ 6D

 

  • Backup / Retiring : Canon 70-200 f/4: Portraits, Wildlife. Primary lens w/ 60D for long distance timelapse
  • Backup / Retiring: Canon 50 f/1.8: Paired with extension tubes for a decent low budget macro lens
  • Tokina 11-16 f/2.8: Useful as a wide on crop sensor cameras – 60D. Could be used on a full frame as a fish eye at 11 and wide at 16 but very soft in the corners at 11. All my wide options are now shot on the Canon 6D with the 16-35 f/4

Secondary B Cameras

  • Canon G16: The G16 is my go to travel camera. It’s light, portable, shoots RAW with decent image quality for the sensor size and the image stabilization can offer decent video recording. It’s semi-pocketable depending on how comfortable you want to be.
  • GoPro 4 Silver: …because why not really… I’ve used it as a travel camera for beach days, mounted it as a POV camera on my 6D during shoots for unique BTS photos and used it for a few underwater photos. Shooting in ProRes is nothing compared to RAW but it’s definitely good enough for sharing online and friends and family.

Flash

      

         

Accessories

   

Paired the gorilla pod with a ballhead and quick release

   

  • Extension tubes paired with a 50mm f/1.8 make a very cheap super macro alternative
  • ND 1000 filter for long exposures during mid day

Studio Gear
   

Video

Paired together for easier quick release setup

Audio
   

   

 

Retired Gear

 

  • I had to retire my Canon t3i due to water damage but it was definitely a good camera. I loved the crop mode in video and it was probably the best value camera. Most of the Rebel lineup have always been very good beginner first DSLR cameras.
  • The 70-300 was my favorite lens until I upgraded to the 70-200 f/4 L. The L glass at 200 was sharper than 300 on this one so there was no reason to hold on to it. As my first telephoto lens though I had no problems and the Nikon equivalent is 55-250 which covers the middle range better but shorter on the longer end.
  • My favorite lens at the time had to be the 8mm fisheye. The adapter I had earlier was just too soft and the threads on the t3i are plastic so I was worried about stripping out the filter threads. The 8mm fisheye was fully manual but because it was fisheye, I set it to infinity and was usually tack sharp stopped down to f/4.
  • I replaced the Canon 28 f/1.8 which was my go to wide AF lens for the 16-35 f/4. I replaced it due to the flaring and soft edges/corners even though I end up losing close to 2 stops of light in the process. The IS o f the f/4 has made it an acceptable replacement option for my use. See my comparison between the 28 f/1.8 and 16-35 f/4

Updated Amazon Camera Gear List: http://amzn.to/2h2nwtl