Thursday 19 January 2012

What's in my bag?

Every now and then people ask what equipment I am using so I have decided empty out my kit bag a do a series of blogposts on the gear that is in there. And NO, the bag on the left isn't mine.

Firstly I will start by saying that my kit is probably pretty empty compared to some other photographers.
In my opinion having every lens that is on the market doesn't make you a better photographer (necessarily). Of course, if you are a portrait photographer you are not going to spend $1,000's on a fisheye lens. Likewise, if you are a landscape photographer - you will not sink all your hard earned into a specific portrait lens.
So whilst (at present) my kit is modest, it works for me in what I want to do - landscapes. I say "at present" because my interest will no doubt change down the track. Mainly because I have a my first child on the way and the kit will probably see an introduction of a more portrait based lens. Fingers crossed.
If you follow my work you would hear me talk about my camera quite often. I'm a Canon boy. But don't hold that against me! My first camera was a Canon. A Canon 20D. It served me well and I still have it.
But nowadays (and for a few years now) I use a Canon 5D mark 2, which I guess - if you use Canon and you are interested in photography and you are wanting to take your photographic options to the next level then................you should upgrade to one of these.
Don't get me wrong - just because you have a great camera doesn't mean that you will have great photo's. Right? Weeeeeellllllll...........(in my opinion) This bad boy does a pretty good job at improving your photography straight away. I still remember the first shot I took with this rig (as a reasonable novice) below. I was in awe of what I was looking at on the screen. Such good contrast and colour and this was shot with a very cheap lens.
First RAW frame of my Canon 5D mark 2 © Josh Pitt
  As a landscape photographer for one - it has a full frame sensor, enabling you to fit more in your shot. What does that mean you ask? Well maybe not all of you. But for the ones that did - have a look at this article. Learn something new? Great!

Earlier I mentioned taking your photographic options to the next level. Next level. Next level. Next level. It's two of those buzz words that gets thrown around a lot these days in photographic circles and sometimes I think maybe a little too much. But for lack of a better term I will use it today because I guess it is appropriate to what I am saying. Which brings me to my second major reason I love the Canon 5D mark 2 . It has 21.1 megapixels to play with. This enables the photographer to have the ability to produce reasonably large print sizes. Particularly important if you are looking to sell your work! Believe me I know by experience. Having worked for over 6 years in fine art photographic sales and everyone want BIG prints, but sometimes BIG never seems to BIIIIG enough. But this camera will allow you to service the majority of client print size needs. And do it well.

Understandably not everyone has a budget for a semi-pro/pro camera, thats cool. The most important thing is to find the right camera for you and a lot of the time your budget dictates what you get. With that said, I would urge you to get a DSLR (digital single lens reflect) camera of some description. I guarantee it will open up the world of photography to you. And of course try out some of the manual settings. 

Find the right camera for you here, at cheaper than normal prices.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. Keep an eye out for more of my kit shortly.
Catchya
Josh :)

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