I am sharing what’s in my bag here. Students and followers who want to pick up photography but have no clues in what gears they should have, can consider that as a reference. Please note that different photographers may have their own choices on the gears. My view is more to have gears that suit your need.
CAMERA
SONY A7/A7R/A7II
Yes, I am owning all these 3 cameras. Instead of introducing them to use individually, I bundle them together. Roughly speaking, I think mirrorless camera (DSLM) are really handy in terms of the following few things
– Smaller body size
– Digital view finder giving you a real time preview of the final image
SONY has done a great job on these cameras. The dynamic range of the sensor is really good. Most of the time you don’t have to take multiple pictures in order to create a HDR. It is using the E-mount lens which means it also compatible with my smaller camera SONY NEX-3N.
SONY NEX-3N
I owned this for a few years. it is very small and with a stylish design. Of course, I am not using this for professional shooting. But I am using this to do snapshot on things and have them imported to my Mac for design project. Sometimes you just want to add some daily objects in your poster but you don’t want to pay for stock image. This camera will save you lots of money.
LENS
I am currently using the lens below, my review coming soon, 🙂
- SONY SEL1018 E 10-18MM F4
- SONY SEL1635Z CARL ZEISS VARIO-TESSAR T* FE 16-35MM F4 ZA OSS
- SONY SEL2470Z CARL ZEISS VARIO-TESSAR T* FE 24-70MM F4 ZA OSS
- SONY SEL70200G FE 70-200MM F4 G OSS
- SONY SELF5518Z SONNAR T* FE 55MM F1.8 ZA
- SONY SEL30M35 E 30MM F3.5 MACRO
- SONY SEL90M28G FE 90 MM F2.8 MACRO G OSS
LIGHTING
There is a saying that a good photographer should know how to create the light that ultimately create the images. The below are lighting equipment that I love.
SONY HVL-60M
Since I am with SONY, so it makes perfect sense for me to own a SONY flash. It just works with the camera like charm. This one has a GN 60, which gives me enough power for most of the outdoor shooting scenarios.
SONY HVL-43M
Another flash with a smaller GN. I use this together with SONY HVL-60M some time to create a bit complex lighting. And I also use this instead of the SONY HVL-60M some time as it is lighter.
PHOTTIX ODIN TRIGGER/RECEIVER
I know there are other brands producing this type of wireless trigger/receiver, and there are different models too. I am satisfied with this one as they give me control about the power/zoom for multiple flash in the trigger. So I don’t have to walk back and forth to set each flash manually during shooting. They also support TTL so are quite handy indeed.
AUDIO
I mainly focus on photography but I do videography sometimes too. People often pay attention on the lens, lighting etc when they do photography and videography, but audio is also something that is very important. Audio is another dimension in videography and below are the microphones I have in my bag.
RODE VIDEOMIC GO
Apart from the friendly price tag, this mic is lightweight, simple. It draws power from the 3.5mm audio input jack on the camera and doesn’t require any battery. You can literally plug and “go” with this mic. This is a unidirectional mic so it works well if you are capturing people talking in front of the camera. The Rycote Lyre suspension system effectively reduce the noise caused by camera body shake, it comes with the mic for free. If you are looking for a simple solution for audio quality in DSLR videography, this is your choice.
SONY ECM W1M BLUETOOTH MICROPHONE
As you know from above, I am a big fan of the SONY mirrorless system. So getting an external mic that works well with SONY makes more sense. This SONY bluetooth condenser mic works really well with your SONY A7 series camera, just mount that on to the SONY new MI hot shoes and off you go. No external audio cable is required. The whole thing is very light, and is mainly for me to capture voice when the model is far away from the camera.
SOFTWARES
Software plays a very important part in the workflow. I saw some students just spending tones of money on gears, but negating the software sides. Nowadays, with the advance of technology, post processing part should be treated as important as the pre processing part. Check out these list of digital tools that I am actively using
ADOBE CREATIVE CLOUD
Adobe Creative Cloud is not only photoshop, it is a bundle of softwares developed by Adobe. Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, Premier Pro are just some of them. They also include more mobile apps these days so to allow a mobile workflow. I personally love these softwares, I cannot finish my work without them. This is a must have.
JPEG MINI
I have heard this tool a few years ago but have only started using it since 2015. That’s when my iCloud photo library is getting out of space. My original intention is to have this software to reduce the size of my JPEG with no scarification in quality. It turns out working pretty well. Now I am using that to reduce the photo file size to my client and the images on my site. You may think that nowadays harddisk is cheap, so you don’t bother doing this. But consider if you have a smaller website, faster browsing speed will give your audience a better experience. And your will stand out in google ranking as well. That’s part of the SEO.
GOOGLE NIK COLLECTION
I am not really using this frequently, but I find that handy sometimes. With bunch of one click effect and also precise control point that helps you to create accurate mask, it is indeed professional grade image editing softwares. You can also apply multiple effects on a picture like layers in photoshop.