Photography Gear

Primary camera: Nikon Z6III – full-frame mirrorless

Secondary camera: Nikon D7500 – APS-C DSLR

Lenses:

• Nikkor Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR – my primary “walking around” lens. I love its versatility, and it’s great not having to change lenses often. As with any zoom lens, and particularly these “superzooms”, there is a tradeoff for the convenience of having one lens cover such a tremendous range of focal lengths. The maximum aperture is not very fast, and the lens isn’t as sharp as dedicated primes would be. But it’s a high-quality lens for its type, and I find it to be excellent for what I need it to do.

• Nikkor Z 17-28mm f/2.8 – general wide-angle – This is a great companion to the 28-400mm (above). With just these two lenses in my bag, I can cover essentially every range I need unless I’m going after small birds and need to bring out the huge 200-500mm for extra reach, or I’m shooting the night sky and want a very fast, very wide angle lens.

• Nikkor AF-S DX 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 G ED VR - all-around lens usually on the secondary camera, Though for the vast majority of my photo shoots I carry only one camera, there are times when I use the big 500mm lens on the Z6III for shooting birds, and keep this lens on the D7500 so I can switch easily to a landscape shot.

• Nikkor AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8G – 35mm prime – This lens is probably underused, because I become lazy and dependent on the 28-400mm so much of the time. But there are some situations where a prime is useful, and this is one of the standard lenses for a “normal” FOV.

• Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8 –50mm prime – old style lens requires a focusing motor in the camera body to auto-focus, so it’s manual focus only on the Z6III, but it’s incredibly sharp. As with the 35mm prime, I don’t use this one very often, but I am always pleased with the results when I do.

• Nikkor AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR – long & heavy, used mainly for birds and wildlife, usually with a monopod to support the weight.

• Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 – ultra wide-angle lens (a Samyang lens rebranded), for astrophotography and extreme wide-angle effects.

• Nikkor AF 75-300mm 4.5-5.6 – another old lens with push-pull zoom and no internal auto-focus, but again, incredibly sharp. I used this one quite a lot before switching to the mirrorless system.

Filters: Kase magnetic filters – I like these because they’re quick and easy to put on and take off, and they’re excellent quality filters, with minimal optical problems (such as vignetting) even when multiple filters are stacked.

• CPL (circular polarizer)

• ND8 (3-stop neutral density)

• ND64 (6-stop)

• ND1000 (10-stop)

Tripods & monopods:

• K&F 68" Carbon Fiber tripod with ball head – this is the tripod I use for almost everything. It’s lightweight and easy to bring along on a hike, but sturdy enough for most situations. It isn’t as tall as some tripods, but it suites my needs very nicely.

• Manfrotto 190X aluminum tripod with 3-way head – an absolute tank, very sturdy, and also very heavy. It rarely gets used anymore because it’s rather a pain to lug around.

• Oben ACM-1400 aluminum monopod with ball head – I prefer a monopod instead of a tripod for birds and wildlife when using the massive 500mm lens. A monopod takes the weight off my arms and stabilizes the camera, with great freedom of movement.

Camera bags & backpacks:

• Lowepro Flipside BP 400 AW III – this has been my main photography backpack for many years. It’s tough & durable, spacious, and opens at the back, so when I take it off and put it on wet grass or muddy ground, the part that goes against my back stays off the ground.

• Lowepro Adventura Go BP 150 – the big Lowepro backpack is sometimes more than I need, especially for a morning hike near home, so I use this one for shorter jaunts when I need to carry less.

Drones & action cameras:

• DJI Mini 2 drone – I have only begun to experiment with this drone, and still have some learning to do. Some of the places I go, drones are not permitted (e.g. drones are forbidden in all National Parks) so I haven’t yet had reason to work with it much. But I’m getting there.

• DJI Osmo Action 3 action camera – I have started using this to capture video on hikes, and also mounting it as a dash cam.