As Dave duChemin said in a recent blog post:
If we spent more time analyzing our photographs as we did analyzing gear, we’d make much better photographs no matter what that gear is.
How true.
That being said, this photography gear page remains one of the most visited pages on Station Studios.
Digital Single-Lens Cameras
My main DSLR body remains a Nikon D7000. There is a lot to like about this camera, in particular the two user-configurable modes.
For lenses, you will find one of the following on the D7000:
- Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6G DX ED VR II
- Nikon AF-S Nikkor 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G DX ED
- Nikon AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX
- Sigma 17-50mm F2.8 EX DC (OS) wide-angle zoom
Robin still uses a Nikon D40x from 2007. The D40x is a relatively small camera which Robin likes and the jpegs straight of the D40X remain in my opinion the nicest of the three Nikons we’ve owned. Robin also uses a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6G DX ED VR II on the D40X.
Flash Equipment
I’ve recently been more and more interested in expanding my photography skills from using only available light to using flash technology. To that end, I purchased a Nikon Speedlight SB-700 flash unit and a set of Pocket Wizard MiniTT1/FlexTT5 wireless trigger systems. I’ll likely add a second flash very soon to complete my Strobist kit.
Bags and straps
To carry all of this equipment all around, I’m using two camera bags for different purposes:
- a Think Tank Photo Retrospective 30 shoulder bag for studio work;
- a LowePro Photo Sport 200 AW backpack for more active sporting activities like hiking and cycling. The Photo Sport 200 AW is the best photo backpack I’ve owned so far.
We’ve both replaced the standard Nikon neck strap with Black Rapid straps. There are a great alternative to traditional camera straps.
Point and Shoot Digital Cameras
We’ve owned a number of smaller digital cameras over the years including a number of Canon SD series cameras. In 2013, I bought a serious new point-and-shoot, a Sony DSC RX-100 and it’s been a great camera for cycling and hiking.
Digital Darkroom
I continue to use Adobe’s Lightroom as my main digital photo editing tool; I’m up to version 6.5. I also purchased the ON1 software suite, including Perfect Effects, for further processing outisde of Lightroom. I also added the Nik suite of photo editing software when Google made it free in March 2016. I’ve also made good use of a number of Jeffrey Friedl‘s Lightroom plugins, including Geoencoding Support and PhotoSafe
In 2014, I bought a new computer (a Dell XPS) specifically for my digital darkroom. For the display, I purchased a Eizo FlexScan SX2262W color-corrected monitor and Eizo’s EasyPIX monitor calibration system. In early 2016, I added a Wacom Intuos Pro Small Digital Tablet for more precise editing.
