Equipment I'm using

Equipment alone doesn't define a photographer's work but they sure do enable what can be done!

My first priorities are typically portability and ruggedness because:

Travelling light as possible means getting to more difficult, and potentially interesting places and
Being able to handle tough conditions such as sea spray, sand and other camera unfriendly things means can get right in amongst where it's happening.

A modern camera design then adds a whole bunch of software based smarts that really extend not only what you can do into whole new spheres but can even lessen your dependence on traditional gear (such as not needing a tripod even in low light) meaning you can travel even lighter and faster if you need to and still have what you need to "get the shot".

If I needed to I could carry just 1 compact camera body, 1 zoom lens and a couple of slim lightweight filters and could likely cover 80% of the shots I would typically want to do and be happy with that!

It's when you're chasing the last 20% of shots that the gear list quickly mushrooms!

That's when you add a drone (and all the supporting gear such as screen, extra batteries, controller) and 1-2 other lenses and of course a tripod and more filters to really round out the "grab bag" so you can cover a huge range of scenarios and still be luggable in a single (large) backpack.

For a truly sophisticated setup you would add another whole camera system or 3 to dive deep into more specialised shot types but you sure won't be able to carry all this over your shoulder now and need to work out of some base, vehicle or vessel by this point and take what you need from the pool of gear for the day (or night!)

To add even further to your burden a modern photographer would engage in social media in multiple formats beyond traditional stills and prints with such as 360 video both ground and aerial, underwater, vlogs and street view style tours and photospheres along with robust back-end computing power, colour calibrated monitor, high quality printer and secure storage to manage it all and then you're "not in Kansas anymore" from the simple beginnings of a camera over your shoulder and just walking around!

But I'm getting ahead of myself..

"Photography" is huge all encompassing term and the explosion of new imaging technology in all it's forms, and the ability to engage with viewers and customers alike has also exploded so you must carefully pick through all the options, and as you also evolve personally to focus on where best to put your budget and energy on a step by step basis.

As of this writing in August 2020 I've just moved up substantially from my initial DSLR gear, a Nikon D3400 and 18-300mm lens with some filters.

The Nikon was a true and reliable workhorse and the lens was incredibly versatile and portable covering a huge range of scenarios and I would highly recommend a combination like this to do a lot of work on a very reasonable budget.

Of course other brands have their equivalents so I'm only saying "Nikon" simply because I was used to Nikons from back in the film days but it could have easily been some other brand DSLR as long as it offered the main fundamental controls you need such as Manual mode, Shutter and Aperture priority and some sort of Programmed mode which is incredibly handy to have along with other controls such as Exposure Compensation which rounds out the grab bag of essentials.

Of course any equipment you care to name will have its limitations and compromises, it only matters if the limitations are preventing you from doing what you want.

For me it took a good couple of years before I really "hit the wall" with the Nikon and was starting to become a little frustrated at results that were just not quite good enough, understandable given the hardware limitations, but as a photographer I had reached a point where I wanted more ability and less restrictions to grow into and also to fit in with my preferred shooting style and environment.

Enter the Olympus OM-D EM-1 Mark III. (July 2020)

For me this is a revelation of a camera in software smarts (way too long to list here) and frees me up immediately to cater for such as clear shooting in unstable platforms and situations, handle variable lighting conditions and so much more and is specifically ruggedised for both body and lens to take it where I wanted to go and handle it.. all the things the Nikon wasn't but this is a whole other price point so the comparison isn't fair but it is where I next needed to be and especially to grow.

Below is a timeline of gear acquired and main gear in use for that year. Any superseded gear is kept as backup and supporting tasks. I tend to not get rid of anything unless it's dead!

I've colour coded new gear in blue for a given year to better see the changes.

If this short discussion and gear list has been of interest or any help then that's good!

2022:

Timelapse: Enlaps Tikee 3 Pro

Olympus Handheld #1: OM-D EM-1 Mark III (20 Mp MFT)

Olympus Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Pro 7-14mm F2.8

Olympus Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Pro 12-100mm F4.0

Olympus Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko 75-300mm F4.8-F6.7

Olympus Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko 100-400mm F5.0-F6.3

Olympus Handheld #2: Olympus TG-6 "Tough" (submersible, crushproof, dustproof..) (12 Mp)

Fujifilm Handheld #3: Fujifilm GFX 100S (100Mp medium format)

Fujifilm Lens: Fujifilm GF 32-64mm F4.0

Fujifilm Lens: Fujifilm GF 100-200mm F5.6

Fujifilm Lens: Fujifilm GF1.4X Teleconvertor

Drone #1: Autel Evo II Pro

Drone #2: DJI Mavic Air 2

Drone #3: SwellPro Splashdrone 4

Drone #4: DJI M30T

Drone controller screen (Autel, SwellPro, Fifish): Tripltek Pro 8GB

Drone controller screen (Air 2): DJI Smart Controller

Underwater ROV: Fifish V6

Action Camera #1 - (Video, Stills): Insta360 One R (Twin Edition, Aerial Edition)

Action Camera #2 - (Video, Stills): Osmo Action 2

360 Camera #1- (Stills): Ricoh Theta Z1

360 Camera #2 - (Google Street view): Pilot One EE

360 Camera #3 - (Stills, Underwater): Insta360 One X 2

Always on Bike-Cam - Innov K5

Always on Ski-Cam - Innov K3

Camera Filters: Kase (CPL, ND various)

Camera Filters: NISI 100mm square filters and holder (PL, ND various)

Drone Filters: PolarPro (CPL, ND various)

Drone Filters: Freewell (CPL, ND various)

Tripods (all Sirui): Black tabletop, Red tabletop, Travel Carbon Fibre, Waterproof Aluminium

Panoramic Head: Sirui PB-10

Bag/Backpack: Lowepro Slingshot Edge 250, Lowepro Pro Trekker BP 550, Tenba 32L Axis

Camera straps: Lucky straps (I highly recommended this brand to last you a lifetime!)

Software: Pano2vr, Capture One, LRTimelapse, Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, PTGui

Office computer and image storage: Windows 10 PC, Synology NAS DS1621+

Field computer and image storage: iPad Mini, Gnarbox 1TB, Sandisk 2TB SSD

2021: A significant investment in a wide range of equipment to enable a move into several areas of photography and video, especially for capturing all there is to see in wild and remote places!

Timelapse: Enlaps Tikee 3 Pro

Handheld #1: Olympus OM-D EM-1 Mark III (20 Mp MFT)

Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Pro 7-14mm F2.8

Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Pro 12-100mm F4.0

Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko 75-300mm F4.8-F6.7

Handheld #2: Olympus TG-6 "Tough" (submersible, crushproof, dustproof..) (12 Mp)

Handheld #3: Fujifilm GFX 100S (100Mp medium format)

Lens: Fujifilm GF 32-64mm F4.0

Drone #1: Autel Evo II Pro

Drone #2: Mavic Air 2

Drone #3: SwellPro Splashdrone 4

Drone controller screen (Autel, SwellPro, Fifish): Tripltek Pro 8GB

Drone controller screen (Air 2): DJI Smart Controller

Underwater ROV: Fifish V6

Action Camera #1 - (Video, Stills): Insta360 One R (Twin Edition, Aerial Edition)

360 Camera #1- (Stills): Ricoh Theta Z1

360 Camera #2 - (Google Street view): Pilot One EE

Bike-Cam - Innov K5

Ski-Cam - Innov K3

Camera Filters: Kase (CPL, ND various)

Camera Filters: NISI 100mm square filters and holder (PL, ND various)

Drone Filters: PolarPro (CPL, ND various)

Drone Filters: Freewell (CPL, ND various)

Tripods (all Sirui): Black tabletop, Red tabletop, Travel Carbon Fibre, Waterproof Aluminium

Panoramic Head: Sirui PB-10

Bag/Backpack: Lowepro Slingshot Edge 250, Lowepro Pro Trekker BP 550, Tenba 32L Axis

Camera straps: Lucky straps (I highly recommended this brand to last you a lifetime!)

Software: Pano2vr, Capture One, LRTimelapse, Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, PTGui

Office computer and image storage: Windows 10 PC, Synology NAS DS1621+,

Field computer and image storage: iPad Mini, Gnarbox 1TB, Sandisk 2TB SSD

2020:

Camera: Olympus OM-D EM-1 Mark III

Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Pro 7-14mm F2.8

Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Pro 12-100mm F4.0

Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko 75-300mm F4.8-F6.7

Drone: Autel Evo II Pro

Drone: Mavic Pro 1

Camera Filters: Kase (CPL, ND various)

Drone Filters: PolarPro (CPL, ND various)

Tripods: This Sirui and This Sirui

Bag/Backpack: Lowepro, This Tenba

Drone screen: iPad Mini

Camera strap: Lucky straps (I highly recommended this brand to last you a lifetime!)

Equipment I'm using

Equipment alone doesn't define a photographer's work but they sure do enable what can be done!

​

My first priorities are typically portability and ruggedness because:

Travelling light as possible means getting to more difficult, and potentially interesting places and

Being able to handle tough conditions such as sea spray, sand and other camera unfriendly things means can get right in amongst where it's happening.

​

​

If I needed to I could carry just 1 compact camera body, 1 zoom lens and a couple of slim lightweight filters and could likely cover 80% of the shots I would typically want to do and be happy with that!

​

It's when you're chasing the last 20% of shots that the gear list quickly mushrooms!

​

That's when you add a drone (and all the supporting gear such as screen, extra batteries, controller) and 1-2 other lenses and of course a tripod and more filters to really round out the "grab bag" so you can cover a huge range of scenarios and still be luggable in a single (large) backpack.

​

​

​

But I'm getting ahead of myself..

​

​

As of this writing in August 2020 I've just moved up substantially from my initial DSLR gear, a Nikon D3400 and 18-300mm lens with some filters.

​

The Nikon was a true and reliable workhorse and the lens was incredibly versatile and portable covering a huge range of scenarios and I would highly recommend a combination like this to do a lot of work on a very reasonable budget.

​

​

Of course any equipment you care to name will have its limitations and compromises, it only matters if the limitations are preventing you from doing what you want.

​

​

Enter the Olympus OM-D EM-1 Mark III. (July 2020)

​

​

Below is a timeline of gear acquired and main gear in use for that year. Any superseded gear is kept as backup and supporting tasks. I tend to not get rid of anything unless it's dead!

​

I've colour coded new gear in blue for a given year to better see the changes.

​

If this short discussion and gear list has been of interest or any help then that's good!

​

​

2022:

Timelapse: Enlaps Tikee 3 Pro

Olympus Handheld #1: OM-D EM-1 Mark III (20 Mp MFT)

Olympus Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Pro 7-14mm F2.8

Olympus Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Pro 12-100mm F4.0

Olympus Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko 75-300mm F4.8-F6.7

Olympus Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko 100-400mm F5.0-F6.3

Olympus Handheld #2: Olympus TG-6 "Tough" (submersible, crushproof, dustproof..) (12 Mp)

Fujifilm Handheld #3: Fujifilm GFX 100S (100Mp medium format)

Fujifilm Lens: Fujifilm GF 32-64mm F4.0

Fujifilm Lens: Fujifilm GF 100-200mm F5.6

Fujifilm Lens: Fujifilm GF1.4X Teleconvertor

Drone #1: Autel Evo II Pro

Drone #2: DJI Mavic Air 2

Drone #3: SwellPro Splashdrone 4

Drone #4: DJI M30T

Drone controller screen (Autel, SwellPro, Fifish): Tripltek Pro 8GB

Drone controller screen (Air 2): DJI Smart Controller

Underwater ROV: Fifish V6

Action Camera #1 - (Video, Stills): Insta360 One R (Twin Edition, Aerial Edition)

Action Camera #2 - (Video, Stills): Osmo Action 2

360 Camera #1- (Stills): Ricoh Theta Z1

360 Camera #2 - (Google Street view): Pilot One EE

360 Camera #3 - (Stills, Underwater): Insta360 One X 2

Always on Bike-Cam - Innov K5

Always on Ski-Cam - Innov K3

Camera Filters: Kase (CPL, ND various)

Camera Filters: NISI 100mm square filters and holder (PL, ND various)

Drone Filters: PolarPro (CPL, ND various)

Drone Filters: Freewell (CPL, ND various)

Tripods (all Sirui): Black tabletop, Red tabletop, Travel Carbon Fibre, Waterproof Aluminium

Panoramic Head: Sirui PB-10

Bag/Backpack: Lowepro Slingshot Edge 250, Lowepro Pro Trekker BP 550, Tenba 32L Axis

Camera straps: Lucky straps (I highly recommended this brand to last you a lifetime!)

Software: Pano2vr, Capture One, LRTimelapse, Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, PTGui

Office computer and image storage: Windows 10 PC, Synology NAS DS1621+

Field computer and image storage: iPad Mini, Gnarbox 1TB, Sandisk 2TB SSD

​

2021: A significant investment in a wide range of equipment to enable a move into several areas of photography and video, especially for capturing all there is to see in wild and remote places!

Timelapse: Enlaps Tikee 3 Pro

Handheld #1: Olympus OM-D EM-1 Mark III (20 Mp MFT)

Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Pro 7-14mm F2.8

Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Pro 12-100mm F4.0