NC Captured

My Gear

Here is a list of my current camera equipment and photo software.

Camera:

Nikon D90 +MB-D80 battery grip This is my first DSLR and I’m very impressed with it. Once you get comfortable with all the menus and buttons it becomes very easy to use and is extremely user friendly. Image quality is amazing and it has superb low light/high ISO image quality too. The D90 has all the advanced functions I need in a camera but it can also be switched to auto mode, so even a novice can use it like a point and shoot.

Lenses:

1. Nikon AF-S 12-24mm DX f/4. This is a great wide angle lens and most, if not all of my landscapes are shot with this lens. This lens is up for sale. I’m trying to cut down on how many times I change lenses in the field. I’m going to shoot primarily with the 16-85VR and 80-400VR for the longer shots.
2. Nikon AF 50mm f/1.8. This is a great cheap lens which most photographers own. It has good low light capabilities and very sharp optics. I don’t use it nearly as much as I should.
3. Nikkor AF-S 16-85VR. I sold my Tamron 28-75 F2/8 to buy this Nikon lens. So far I’m very impressed with it, although I do miss the Tamron’s wider aperture but the Nikon makes up for this with VR.
4. Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG macro. This lens is as sharp as it gets and focuses to closer than a foot. All my close up shots of flowers and insects are done with this lens.
5. Canon 250D close up lens. This lens screws into the end of my Sigma 105mm macro lens and lets me focus even closer to my subject. It does this without degrading the final picture.
6. Nikkor 80-400 VR. This is my newest lens (purchased Feb 2010). The image quality is incredible and it still surprises me just how easy it is to hand hold long shots in less than favorable conditions. I sold my Tamron 70-200 F2/8 (which had great image quality too) and my 75-300 AF and replaced them both with this lens.

Flash:

1. Nikon SB-600 speedlight. The SB-600 does everything I need. It has a full tilt head, wireless capabilities for off camera flash, fast recycle time and easy to use menus. I also added the Sto-Fen omni-bounce diffuser for more natural looking portraits.
2. Nikon SB-900 speedlight. Added this speedlight to my kit on December 10th 2009. It does everything that the SB-600 does and a whole lot more. Includes wireless master mode, greater power, faster recycle time etc, etc ,etc,
3. Phoenix ring flash. This is a very cheap macro ring flash unit and screws into the end of my macro lens. This is needed to add light to my subject because I’m so close to it a normal flash would be blocked by the lens and create a shadow.     
   

Camera bag:

Lowepro AW 350 slingshot. This has to be the best and most useful piece of equipment I’ve bought so far. I can carry all my camera gear in this one rucksack type bag and it can be swiveled from my back to my chest in a couple of seconds to give quick access to my camera. It can also carry a laptop too and it has a all weather protective cover which pulls out of the bottom.

Tripod:

Manfrotto 055XPROB Pro Tripod and Manfrotto 322RC2 Joystick Head. Added to my kit on December 15th 2009. Just an awesome support platform for my camera and expensive too!

Odds and Ends:

1. Nikon ML-L3 remote control. This is very handy for night photography using a tripod, when the shutter needs to be open for long periods of time and the slightest vibration from pushing the shutter release button on the camera would ruin the shot .
2. Nikon DK-21M magnifying eye-piece. I use this for macro photography. All my macro photos are taken using manual focus. This way I can gently rock back and forth to get the perfect focus needed for a sharp shot. The magnifying eye piece helps to see when the tiny objects, like a fly’s eye, are in focus.
3. Hoya super HMC UV(0) filters: I have one of these filters on all my lenses to protect the front glass element from scratches.
4. GPS GeoTag unit: I added this little gadget to my kit just before Christmas 2009. It plugs into my camera and can be mounted on the flash shoe. It adds GPS co-ordinates to my photos. The GPS data can be read by Flickr.com and give a detailed map of where I took the photo. It also came with a shutter release cable and it works better than the Nikon remote wireless shutter release.

Computer and Software:

Computer. I have a home built water cooled Intel i7 based system with 6gbs ram, 2x Nvidia gtx260 graphic cards, 5 hards drives, 26″ LCD monitor and Windows Vista x64. This was built for games and video/photo editing.

Software. I use Nikon Transfer to import my photos from the camera. Then I use Nikon’s Capture NX2 and Adobe photoshop CS4 to edit and re-size my pictures for the internet. UPDATE: I started using Adobe Lightroom 2.5 in November 2009, this program does everything I need in one place…….it imports, exports, edits, converts, uploads, catalogs and performs batch operations. Now my image work flow is much faster and more organized. which is useful seeing I took 20,000+ pictures in 2009!!!