I’ve often been asked “What equipment do you use?” Which often leads to “Should I get one?” Or “What is best to invest in if I want to pursue photography more?”
These are really big questions for me. I often pose some counter-questions because I feel that it’s difficult to answer the second and third pieces without knowing more about someone’s personal style of photography and understanding what they are trying to accomplish. But knowing my equipment fairly well at this point, it’s easy for me to share a bit about what I use, so I thought I would start by covering this off.
For simplicity and ease of understanding I pulled together some images of my gear to accompany this post. I’m really pleased with the collection that I have at this time, but I’m also constantly longing for more pieces to add to the collection. My wish list grows and grows!
Off the top, I need to carry my gear. I swear by my Shootsac that I only acquired about a year ago thanks to a good friend (thanks Krista!). My Shootsac is what I use for shooting. It keeps my key lenses right at my side the entire time I shoot… and it’s cute with interchangeable covers too – great for coordinating with various outfits!
For traveling, I have my Lowepro Pro Roller 100. This mini suitcase holds everything from my cameras, to my lenses, to my laptop, and even my Shootsac will fit in there if I try hard enough. It’s a bit of a tight squeeze once it’s all in there, but it works. One of the things I love about this bag is that it offers a feature where you can zip out of the suitcase and just carry it as a backpack. There are also plenty of other neat-o features in this bag, but I haven’t fully taken advantage of them yet. Best of all, it rolls onto an airplane easily and fits perfectly in the overhead bins.
I also just want to give a quick mention to my Kelly Moore Bag (no photo here) that I just purchased. I love these gorgeous purses/camera totes for carrying my camera around daily without it being obvious. I finally picked up one of these hotties in February and I’m absolutely loving it!
I have 3 babies! One is 4 years old and responds to the name Lucas, the other 2 are my 5D Mark II’s. I’m thrilled to have 2 of these, so that in the case I should ever (knock on wood) have problems with one of them, I can always resort to the other without compromising the quality of my client’s images. Backups are SOOO important. I also have one of my previous cameras, the Canon 20D hiding out at home. This is the camera that I built my business with and I think it’s for that reason that I can’t seem to let it go. I haven’t used it in well over a year, but it has a special place in my heart 🙂
My lens collection…
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM – A fabulous lens for capturing moments from afar! I can’t imagine shooting a wedding without this lens!
Canon 50mm f/1.4 – This is my least expensive lens & definitely a favorite! I’d guess that I use this lens for about 50 % of my shots on location. It’s my go-to lens for sure and eventually I’d like to upgrade it to the 50mm f/1.2L.
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM – This wide angle lens is great for capturing those wide shots when you don’t have a lot of room to work with. I adore what this lens does to dynamic skies and landscapes.
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM – There was a time a couple of years ago when this was my go-to lens. I love the range, but often feel a bit limited by the higher f value. I tend to prefer the lower f values… it’s just a personal preference. Eventually, I anticipate selling this lens (anyone interested haha!) as I would love to get the 24-70mm f/2.8L USM.
Pocket Wizards…. I have a love/hate relationship with my Pocket Wizards. I adore them when they work, but I often find them to be a bit unpredictable and have recently been looking at moving to the RadioPopper system. Either system allows for more creativity after dark or in low light situations without depending on an on camera flash. The effects of off-camera flash can create such stunning images and I look forward to working with this more and more… so fun!
Let there be light… I try not to use much flash as I don’t always find this lighting to be the most flattering, but there are certainly occasions where flash is required and can make an image incredible. Typically these are creative lighting situations where the flash adds a new mood to the image. I typically take 3 flashes with me on a wedding day.
2 x Canon Speedlite 580 EX II – I place one on my camera and one off camera on a stand. My on camera flash normally sports a Gary Fong Cloud Diffuser (see photo top right) to diffuse the flash light more evenly/naturally.
1 x Canon Speedlite 430 EX II- I typically only use this flash as a backup, but occasionally use it off-camera as well. (no photo)
I’m sure most people might think I’m crazy for lugging this system around, but I always am sure to pack up my Opus portable strobe and slave lighting kit with umbrellas when I head out on a wedding shoot. I just like being prepared for anything. If we run into circumstances that are not expected and are forced to shoot everything in a dark room, I will always feel confident knowing I can make it work if I have a few different lighting options available to me.
The nuts and bolts. Lots of memory and batteries, and I always have my camera manuals in my bag… just incase I run into an issue that I’m not able to troubleshoot on my own.
My Manfrotto 190 XB Tripod with the Manfrotto 222 Joystick Ball Head. I seldom use this tripod now that I shoot with the Canon 5D Mark II. I find that the light sensitivity with this camera is so much better then the camera I formally used that camera shake issues have been reduced significantly by just pushing up the ISO in my camera. By doing so, I can maintain a reasonable shutter speed. However, I still bring the tripod with me for those situations where I would like to open the shutter for a lengthy period while keeping my subject focused, or in the rare occurrence that I decide to shoot a little video.
My 3 in 1 reflector. It’s great to have options with reflecting the light back into the subject, but I still find that 90% of the time I resort to my silver reflector. I normally pull my reflector out on the very sunny days to either block, or enhance the light falling onto my subject. My Assistant will hold the reflector and angle the light accordingly.
One last very important thing that I absolutely must bring along… WATER & SNACKS. Starvation during a wedding day makes me super cranky!
Note: Although these items treat me very well, I’m still constantly overcome by the need, or perhaps it’s want for new items. With this industry changing and advancing so quickly, there are always new items I am hoping to add to my collection. My wish list right now includes the RadioPopper PX Trasmitter/Receiver System, the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Lens, Canon EF 24-20 f/2.8 USM Lens, Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 Lens, a video light (which I’m hoping to purchase very soon!), and my absolute dream would be to own a Canon 1DS MarkIV D-SLR Camera Body… hey, a girl can dream 🙂
