Photography Equipment

Occasionally people ask me what equipment I use in my photographic adventures. I'm not quite sure why this is relevant as it is sort of like asking what kind of canvas and brushes did Georgia O'Keeffe use to paint her paintings, or what types of pots and pans Wolfgang Puck uses in his kitchen. It is not that I'm implying equal talent, of course, but rather to illustrate the point that frequently it matters less what equipment you use, but more that you know how to best use it. Another way to look at this is to use the best equipment you can afford, so as to avoid the temptation to blame the equipment for your own failure to use it. I strongly believe in the right tool for the right job model of equipping oneself. If you're trying to take pictures of fast-paced soccer game action 200ft away, you'll be much better off with a fast 200mm+ telephoto zoom on a digital SLR rather than a point-and-shoot. On the flipside, that same digital SLR with its battery grip and 8" long lens is hardly what I would call subtle, and it will make a horrible bulge in your finely tailored tuxedo as you sit down at the casino table with your martini - shaken, not stirred, naturally. At any rate, here's that equipment list for those who care:

In Active Use

Canon EOS 7D digital camera, often with BG-E7 battery grip

This is my current workhorse camera. It represents a good blend between cost and features. I use the battery grip often, not for the extra battery life but rather because I like the secondary controls for portrait orientation shots. The only exception to this is when I shoot with the tripod, in which case I remove the battery grip in favor of using a Really Right Stuff L-plate for maximum stability.

Canon EF-S 17-55MM f/2.8 IS USM zoom lens

A great walkabout lens. I got it to replace the 17-85mm as this one is optically superior and faster with f/2.8 throughout the range. The only bummer is the shorter reach, but I have not found that to be a huge limitation in practice.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM ultra-wide zoom lens

Great for those times when the 17-85mm at the wide end just isn't wide enough.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM telephoto zoom lens

This is simply the best lens money can buy. Absolutely marvellous piece of equipment, although at 3.5lbs it is quite literally a pain in the neck to carry around.

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM telephoto zoom lens

My newest lens. I decided to get this when I realized that the 70-200mm even with a 2X teleconverter can't quite reach out and touch some subjects like airplanes. It suffers from the same bulk problem as the 70-200mm, but I guess that can't be helped.

Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM lens

This is my new favorite tiny lens for those times when you want light weigth and subtlety even with an DSLR. It is also great for low-light situations, unless you're concerned about DOF.

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens

This is a great little lens, perfect for those times when you want light weigth and subtlety even with an DSLR. It is also great for low-light situations, unless you're concerned about DOF.

Canon Extender EF 2x II teleconverter

Great for doubling up the 70-200mm or the 100-400mm, though obviously with a 2-stop loss of light in the process. What's worse, the 20D won't AF with the 100-400mm in this configuration, so this doesn't work for fast-moving scenes like airshows.

Canon SpeedLite 580EX flash

I use this flash whenever I want better quality flash photography than with the 20D's pop-up flash. Which is to say pretty much always. For one, the 20D's pop-up flash can't clear the barrel of some of the lenses especially up close, plus there's no way to bounce it off ceilings or walls, or soften it with things like OmniBounce. Of course, the 580EX also has more controls than the Space Shuttle, always an important factor for control freak geeks like me. These days I most often use the flash on a stand of its own and triggering it into a 30" silver umbrella with a pair of PocketWizards.

PocketWizard Plus II transceivers (3)

These are extremely handy devices for remotely triggering either flashes or cameras as far as 1600ft (~500m) away. They give you the flexibility and freedom to place your flash(es) where you need them as opposed to how far your cable can reach.

Sekonic L-358 Flash Master light meter

This is a compact multi-purpose light meter, and with the radio transmitter module it can trigger the PocketWizard remotes to meter flash exposures as well.

Feisol CT-3401N tripod with Really Right Stuff BH-40 LR II ballhead

Cheap and lightweight carbon fiber tripod, yet a high quality product. You can leave out the center column to save some weight in case you want to travel light. The RRS ballhead on the other hand is ridiculously expensive and heavy, thus restoring the universe to a perfect balance.

B+W circular polarizers

Nothing much to say here except I only wish these weren't so damn expensive.

Cokin P system holder with Hi-Tech ND and GND filters

I used to have the Cokin A system which proved inadequate when I 'graduated' to lenses with larger front elements, hence necessitating the move to the larger P system. This is a very handy modular system that I expect to continue using for quite some time. The Hi-Tech filters are a reasonable compromise between cost and quality. I regularly carry the 1- and 2-stop NDs and 1- and 2-stop GNDs (soft & hard edges), plus a 10-stop ND for those occasions when you need to really cut out light (for example, silky smooth waterfalls, rivers, streams, and so on). I can achieve just about any desired results by stacking some combination of them.

ThinkTank Photo Sling O Matic 20 shoulder bag

This is a great shoulder bag that slings forward from either shoulder. It fits the 7D camera with or without the battery grip, the 70-200mm or the 100-400mm, two smaller lenses (typically 17-55mm and 10-22mm), and the 580EX flash plus lots of assorted doodads like remote cord, GPS logger and so on. It even has space for a laptop if I ever get around to buying one. I bought this bag for bopping around the town, and I intentionally picked one of the smaller ones to avoid the temptation of loading it ridiculously full with gear. Frankly with all of the gear I listed above, it is already getting to be pretty heavy. Since it is relatively compact, it feels like a cinderblock.

Garmin eTrek Vista HCx GPS data logger

This GPS unit replaced my previous data logger (Sony GPS-C1) after its untimely demise. It is stupid simple to use and runs on 2 common AA batteries (always a good thing in my book). It does a lot more than I really need, which is mostly just logging the location every so often.

[Semi-]Retired

Canon EOS 20D digital camera with BG-E2 battery grip

This is my current workhorse camera. It represents a good blend between cost and features. I use the battery grip much of the time, not for the extra battery life but rather because I like the secondary controls for portrait orientation shots. The only exception to this is when I shoot with the tripod, in which case I remove the battery grip in favor of using a Really Right Stuff L-plate for maximum stability.

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM macro lens

This is a great macro lens, perfect for those times when you need to get up close and personal with a bug or flower. In a pinch it makes a pretty decent portrait lens, although you can quickly run out of room in your 'studio'.
[UPDATE: I no longer use this lens actively as I found that I don't really take that many macro shots. When I do, I'm more likely to just slap on the Canon 500D macro adapter.]

Tamrac Expedition 5 backpack

Mother of all backpacks. It used to fit all of my gear until I got the 100-400mm. I can still carry everything by strapping some of the items from the many Tamrac MAS tabs on it. One of these days I will hire a sherpa to carry it for me. More often than not I carry a subset of my gear (see above about "right tool for the right job") in any of the half-dozen older camera bags of various sizes and shapes.

Canon EF-S 17-85MM f/4-5.6 IS USM zoom lens

A great walkabout lens. The IS makes up for some of that. I have now retired this lens in favor of the faster 17-55mm f/2.8 lens.

Canon EOS 300D digital camera

My previous workhorse camera. I had hoped it would last longer, but it proved too slow as a practical replacement for the S40 in terms of startup time, not the focusing or cycle time. Even with the hacked firmware it still lacks some of the manual controls that the 20D offers, like AF mode selection in all shooting modes.

Canon PowerShot S40 digital camera

This is an amazing little digital point & shoot, one of the best of its time with full manual control over most features. My specimen has more frequent traveler miles and has visited more countries than most average adults. It has been 80ft below and 35,000ft above sea level. Over five years and 20,000 shots later it is still going strong, despite unprecedent level of abuse (including lens-first drop onto concrete walkway from 4ft - that did require a trip to Canon Service though). It is now relegated to the unglamorous role of kids' camera.

Canon PowerShot S10 digital camera

My first personally purchased digital point-and-shoot. Typical of the first generation of compact digicams it is slow, poorly designed and a battery hog to boot. It does have special sentimental value because I used a prototype of this camera on our honeymoon.

Canon EOS 650 film camera

This film camera served me faithfully for nearly a decade until I switched to digital. Its only real major shortcoming was the lack of a cable release.

Tamron 1.4x teleconverter

There's nothing particularly wrong with this teleconverter, except that 1.4 just isn't all much extra reach in exchange for the loss of 1 stop of light. Besides, it doesn't work with the L lenses nor does it work with the EF-S lenses, so basically I could only use it on the 50mm f/1.8 and 100mm f/2.8 at this point.

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM zoom lens

This is the kit lens that came with the EOS 300D. It is an OK entry level lens, but you do get what you pay for, which is a pretty much nothing. Once I started using some Cokin A filters I quickly realized why people pay extra for non-rotating front elements.

Canon EF 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II USM telephoto zoom lens

This was my 2nd lens purchase for the 300D. Like the 18-55mm, it is also cheap & flimsy. Obviously there's no IS at this price level either, which makes it pretty much useless for anything but really bright days.

Canon SpeedLite 380EX flash

This flash actually dates all the way back to the time when I got my hands on a prototype Canon PowerShot Pro90, one of the first digital point-and-shoots to feature a hotshoe mount. It worked fine with the Pro90 as well as the EOS 650 and EOS 300D, but I grew frustrated with not being able to rotate the flash head in order to bounce it off ceilings in portrait orientation. The other problem is that as flashes go, this one is pretty much as dumb as a post and cannot be controlled in any way remotely.

Joby GorillaPod SLR-ZOOM tripod with Really Right Stuff BH-25 Pro ballhead

Highly flexible travel tripod that can wrap around things like trees, posts, etc. I got this mostly for hiking use, and it does a pretty decent job of it. The company's web site shows it holding up a 70-200mm but I'm not so sure it is all that useful for that purpose. As with any of these types of tripods, it suffers from some creep no matter how much you twist it around stuff. It can also double up as super-low macro platform.

Bogen/Manfrotto 3405 tripod

I got this tripod as a birthday gift from my wife. It is pretty decent & sturdy tripod, though it has a built-in quick-release head so there's no choice for a ball-head.

Bogen/Manfrotto 676B monopod

I got this monopod to shoot my kids' soccer practices. It's an OK monopod, but I just don't need it very often these days. On an occasion, it doubles up as a walking stick on hikes. This is actually my 2nd copy as the first one is now at the bottom of Lake Merced in San Francisco.

ThinkTank Photo Urban Disguise 35 shoulder bag

This is a great shoulder bag that can be converted to a backpack with an add-on strap. It fits the 20D camera with or without the battery grip, the 70-200mm or 100-400mm, two smaller lenses (typically 17-55mm and 10-22mm), and the 580EX flash plus lots of assorted doodads like remote cord, GPS logger and so on. It even has space for a laptop if I ever get around to buying one. I bought this bag for bopping around the town, and I intentionally picked one of the smaller ones to avoid the temptation of loading it ridiculously full with gear. Frankly with all of the gear I listed above, it is already getting to be pretty heavy. Since it is relatively compact, it feels like a cinderblock.

CompactDrive PD70X

This is a robust albeit somewhat bulky portable storage device (PSD) for use on extended vacation trips. I bought mine with a 40GB hard drive but eventually upgraded it to a 100GB hard drive. The good things about this unit is that it is built like a tank, copies very fast, and runs on 4xAA batteries. It will even double up as a CF card reader and a battery charger as needed. I no longer use this, as it is pretty bulky and in the meantime solutions like iPad (64GB+) have evolved to a point where they represent a viable secondary storage option.

Sony GPS-C1 data logger

This is my choice for logging GPS coordinates while photographing, especially on hikes and landscape photography in general.
[UPDATE: I no longer use this data logger, as it is now sadly at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea about one mile off the coast of Ambergris Caye in Belize.]

Canon CanoScan 8400F

This is a flatbed scanner I use to scan old film photos or negatives. It is a bit big and bulky, but otherwise works great.