Gear

Through these blog posts I've been trying to keep a distance between writing about gear-related topics and the process of taking photos. The two topics are obviously related but it's easy for this hobby to start being more about the gear than the final image.

Still, as with most hobbies there is a certain delight in having and using the right tools for the job. This post contains a list and summary of all the gear I'm using, past and present.

Current Gear

Cameras

• Nikon D850

• Nikon D7200

• Fujifilm X-T30 ii

Lenses

• Nikon 20mm f/1.8

• Tamron 35mm f/1.4

• Nikon 50mm f/1.8

• Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8

• Nikon 300mm f/4

• Nikon 500mm f/5.6

Filters

• LEE Filter Holder

• LEE 105mm Polariser

• LEE Medium Graduated Filters

• LEE Little Stopper

Tripod

• Manfrotto Go! 190

Nikon D850

The D850 is my first professional standard camera, something I've worked towards for a long time. Since reintroducing myself back into the world of photography in 2018, the focus has always been to set myself up with equipment fit to shoot images which are good enough to print, post and be proud of publicly. At the time I'd just picked up a Nikon D7200, which was performing brilliantly, so didn't need anything more from a camera. However, just like good ingredients make a simple dish better at a foundation level, so good lenses do the same to cameras. Buying full frame lenses back in 2018 meant I could still use them on the D7200 but have tack-sharp images with lightning-quick focusing speeds from the lens. And when the time was right, make the switch to full frame.

All of this meant that by the time I received the D850, I was ready to shoot. Coupled with good quality lenses, the user experience D850 is nothing short of outstanding. It's 45MP resolution is however, punishing. I found that I had to improve my technique rapidly, being more careful when hand holding and paying more attention to shutter speeds. The ability to crop to such extremes is a luxury, but one which requires discipline.

A great example of the capability of the D850 is how I achieved the composition for my 2023 Christmas card of a robin. From afar this is was a pleasing composition - something I was fairly happy with. However, for card design I have to be realistic on how large the image will be when the viewer sees it - printed at this scale the Robin will be tiny and won't be the focus of the card once text is added. The second image is an improvement, but still isn't quite drawing the eye. The third image fills the frame - a bold composition but with wildlife photography often the birds frame themselves when they are this beautiful. The D850 allowed a pixel-perfect crop all the way here, with the final product looking excellent.

Original frame, same edit

2/3 framing, same edit

Final composition

The D850 excels at sport and landscape photography in this way, offering excellent post-shoot composition adjustments with exceptional noise management. In landscape settings it always delivers, with a clear rear LCD screen, all the bracketing and timer options one could need and clarity which rivals medium format. It's probably the last great all-round SLR. The inevitable march towards mirrorless technology is generally a positive notion, something to be embraced, but the ability to take this camera out for a while day of shooting with only a half-charged battery and get the results it is capable of is very special.

Nikon D7200

The D7200 was my first camera purchase in returning to photography in 2018. A 24MP crop-sensor body in a reasonably compact form factor was everything I needed to take excellent quality photos and even allowed me to start shooting wildlife effectively when paired with the right lens. I still use the D7200 and treat it as a little brother to the D850, still capable of the same fantastic image quality, but in a smaller, lighter body and a little more restrictive in getting the perfect foreground in landscape compositions. It takes the same battery as the D850 and makes for a great all-purpose backup camera, especially if I want stand-out images without the need to carry a large camera.

Fujifilm X-T30 ii

I bought the Fujifilm almost exactly a year after the D850. I've written about this in my blog post about starting Fujifilm, where I spoke about shooting the D850 all year for family occasions and days out where it was wholly unnecessary. Big, heavy, outrageously good, the D850 is sometimes just too much, and ends up being too serious, leading to fewer final images. (Not to mention the additional hard drive space once I get home!)

The Fujifilm is the remedy to this, being so much lighter it's almost easy to forget you're carrying it yet sharp enough that at first glance I have to remind myself which camera some images were taken on. In many cases if it weren't for the obvious film simulation modes I'm in love with, I'd have genuine difficulty in distinguishing them from the D7200 or indeed the D850. But this is the Fujifilm's strongest suit - producing images with amazing colour reproduction with film simulation or without it right there in the camera. I've taken to only shoot in JPEG with the Fujifilm, and it's truly a joy to shoot. The addition of such warm, creamy colours and textures make it something I use more than any other camera at the time of writing.