The Equipment I Use
When I first set up this page on my equipment, it was set up more as a list of all the equipment I had. It left me feeling like I was bragging rather then explaining why I bought the equipment I did and journey along the way. So I have decided to redesign this page to show more of the journey I took to get to my current set up, maybe this helps someone else who is on a similar journey, that is my hope.
My Camera Evolution
The Sony A7mii
This was the first “professional” style camera I ever bought. I had a little money drop into my lap and I was trying to decide between buying a camera or a drone at the time. The camera won out and led me down the photography rabbit hole. I still have not bought a drone years latter because I always felt like it would distract me from getting better with my current gear, I think I’m ready to pick up a drone now though. With this camera and lens ( it came with the 28-70 kit lens ) it was a great introduction into photography, but quickly I felt like I needed to upgrade to the R series of Sony A7 cameras for the higher resolution that I would use for landscapes. Although if all you are doing is sharing your photos on social media with no ambitions to ever print your photography in larger format then this camera would do most people just fine.
The Sony A7R2
This camera body was my first big step up from my first camera, the 24MP Sony A7ii that I picked up off of Craigslist. It was a significant investment buying a new camera at the time but I was much happier with the increased resolution for my landscape photography. I used it for quite a while, even after the Sony A7R3 came out and I upgraded to that camera as well. I ended up using the Sony A7R3 for most of my landscape photography and started keeping a longer lens on my Older Sony A7R2 so I did not have to change out lens to often when I decided to change up my composition.
The Sony A7R3
This was not a huge step up from the Sony A7R2 that I was primarily using before as far as the quality of photo was concerned. It was a huge step up in usability. There are a slew of differences between the A7R2 and the A7R3, I think the two biggest ones for myself are the battery and the touch screen focus.
- The Battery – This was always the bain of all Sony Mirrorless shooters until they updated the battery system for the Sony A series. Most of us used to carry a handful of batteries, dreading the moment when we would see a low battery symbol in the middle of a shoot. I will go one step further and keep a fresh battery in my pocket so I have easy access to it when needed. With the new battery system that Sony is using for the Sony A7R3, A7iii, and A9 I don’t worry as much. I still bring a couple of fresh batteries with me, but they usually never leave my bag. Sometimes it seems like I can go days and not worry about the battery, its a welcome change for most of us. * I still keep an extra battery or two in my pockets while shooting, more so with wildlife so that I don’t need to rummage around my bag when I should be shooting**
- The Touch Screen – There isn’t a whole lot useful about the touch screen for most users it would seem, but the one thing I find it very useful for is focus stacking. It is so much easier for me to just touch the screen where I think the next focal plane is in my composition and then hit my back button focus button to refocus rather then the guessing game I used to have to play with my camera and lens. It certainly has it limits, and I’m no expert in this idea, but this feature has made it much easier to experiment with . * I had a workshop leader Joshua Snow show me a much better way of doing focus stacking using the blue tooth remote that I found extremely useful especially when I’m shooting low and its hard for me to see what’s going on in the EVF, my friend Stephen Bay does a great job explaining how this works and you can read about it here.
Sony A6500
I picked up this camera body after hiking up Mt Langley with my Sony A7R2 and a Nikon 14-24mm F2.8 strapped to my chest and feeling like someone was trying to stomp on my chest the whole way. After that experience I decided I needed a smaller camera for hiking and backpacking. I’m very comfortable with the Sony systems so I decided this would be the camera I would take out in the field. I am still trying to dial in the right lens combo for this when hiking, maybe the Sony E 10-18mm F4 might be a good choice. I am also very happy using the crop factor to my advantage when attaching it to one of my zoom lens. *I recently sold this camera as I found it easier and easier to just pull out my iphone for trail photography while backpacking, although I will still bring one of my camera with a lens or two stowed in my bag for special photos. With the recent bump to 48 megapixels for the iphone 14 Pro in Raw Photography I really don’t need a bigger set up for most of my trail photos **
The Sony A9
I started to shoot more wildlife and birds and found the autofocus system on the A7R series to be lacking for such things. I bought this used from Craiglist with a battery grip and two battery’s and it worked so well. The speed and autofocus system was amazing and it was so much fun to use. The only thing I missed was the ability to crop into a photo like you could with the Sony A7R series. Sony finally fixed that with the Sony A1 and I finally did give in and pick up that camera before selling this one to KEH.
The Sony A7R4
I case you have not figured it out by now I have a bad case of G.A.S ( Gear Acquisition Syndrome ), sometimes I upgrade for small reasons like just a bump in resolution, a better EVF, and a more reliable autofocus system. These where the main reasons I upgraded to the Sony A7R4 from the Sony A7R3. I picked this camera up from Craigslist as well, I’m always happy when I get a great deal from Craigslist, although I find it much more satisfying to buy then I do to sell. This camera performed well for me, I even thought with the improved Autofocus reliability that it might compete with the Sony A9 for bird photography, it does not. The ability to crop your photo to what you want is awesome, but it will never compete with the speed and stickiness of the A9 for wildlife photography. This has been my main camera for a while until I preordered the Sony A7R5, I’m looking forward to some of the features on the upcoming camera and will sell this one when that one comes in.
The Sony A7R5
This camera coming out solved a few issues for me. For one the screen was finally usefull and with the full articulation and swiveling this helps quit a bit when shooting low and in portrait mode. Focus bracketing has been great with this camera, again coming in especiallly useful when shooting low on a subject and not wanting to get into a convultued contotion in order to see what you are shooting. I’m very happy with this camera.
The Sony A1
What can I say about this camera, other then I had to sell a kidney in order to buy it ( haha). This is Sony’s flagship camera for a reason. I bought this in order to take my wildlife and bird photography to the next level. The autofocus system is phenomenal, although I’m sure they will stick the new autofocus AI system from the Sony A7R5 in the next version of this camera to up its reliability. The speed is awesome, you really need to get used to gently goosing the shutter button when your shooting at 30 frames a second or you will be spending all your time deleting all the extra photos you don’t need. The EVF is next generation and makes using this camera even more enjoyable. 50 megapixels now gives me the ability to really crop in on my wildlife photography like I can with my landscape photography, its really a game changer. My only gripe about this camera is that I can’t believe they did not update the LCD screen on the camera, that was really disappointing, again something I’m sure they will borrow from the new Sony A7R5 when they update the A1 series.
With the announcemwent of the new Sony A1 ii it looks like they have packed all the goodies they updated the Sony A7R5 with into the new A1 ii, so that will probally be an update for me sometime in the future.
H – Alpha Asto Modified Sony A7iii
I Have been wanting to get an astro modified camera for sometime. After perfecting my skills with stacking and tracking I felt like this was the next logical step. I had been looking at the A7S series but I did not want to spend the money on a new Sony A7S3 if they had another model in the pipe line set to come out soon ( at least that is always the rumor). I felt like 12 megapixels was not quite enough for full frame astrophotography that I might want printed out large so I went with the 24 megapixel Sony A7iii. It was a hard descision to make and I read up on all I could, still not sure if I made the best choice but, we shall see what I can do with the model for now. Spencers camera is who usually everyone goes to for getting an astromodified camera, but I had heard a pretty bad story from a workshop leader about his experience with Spencers and he had good things to say about Life Pixel so that is who I decided to go through for my H-Alpha Astro Modified Camera. So far so good, I have not had any issues with the camera the couple of times I’ve taken it out to shoot with. Now I just need to figure out the best way to post process these images to get the most out of them.
My Current Set Up
After purging myself of all the cameras I had sitting around collecting dust that I had originally planned on selling but never got around to I now have my set up leaned out to a Sony A1 for shooting all my action and bird photography and the new Sony A7RV for my landscape photography. I finally picked up a H-Alpha Modified Sony A7iii for my astrophotography, so far I am pretty happy with it. I briefly had a DJI mini 3 Pro and enoyed using it, but quickly realized I wanted the better options on a larger drone and picked up a good used DJI Mavic 3 Pro and have very happy with it. I thought I would keep my smaller mini 3 pro for hiking because its so easy to stick into a backpack or pocket,…but you quickly realize that if you follow the rules that are set you really can’t fly the mini 3 pro in a lot of wilderness areas that I might have been hiking in and it just sat in my closet collecting dust, so I sold that as well.
The Glass
Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Lens for Sony E
I bought this lens for use on my Sony A6500. I wanted a small but powerful lens for astrophotography. I have not had to many chances to use it, but so far its worked pretty well. I used it once in Anza Borrego and once on a backpacking trip to Rae Lakes Loop up in the California’s Western Sierras and have had great results both times.
Sony FE 14mm f/1.8
This just seemed like a no brainer. I had the Sony 24mm f/1.4, and I love that lens for astrophotography, but how can I pass up on a wider fast lens. So this became part of my gear. I’ve used it a few times. I still enjoy the little extra light the 24mm f/1.4 lets in for astrophotography but if I need a wider lens this fits the bill. This lens is also much lighter then other 14mm lens I have used in the past. If I go backpacking I can stick this lens in my bag for astrophotography without carrying to much extra weight.
Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8
When this lens came out I jumped at it. Maybe it was just my G.A.S talking, after all I already had the 16-35 mm f/2.8, but having the ability to wider is always appreciated. My original intention was to sell my 16-35mm f/2.8 after I bought this lens, but the filter kit I have from Wine Country allows me to use it on the 16-35mm lens as well as other lens’s just by switching out the lens adapter ring, the filter kit I have for the 12-24mm f/2.8 will only work on this lens. I thought this would be my go to landscape lens and for astrophotography, but not to long after this lens came out Sony also put out the 14mm f/1.8 which I picked up. I have not got as much use out of this lens as I thought I would, it remains a lens I will take with me only when I plan ahead, its so much easier to keep the 16-35mm on one camera body and my 70-200mm on another in my bag.
Sony FE 24mm f/1.4 GM Lens
I recently picked up this lens after reading all the raving reviews for it and I have not been disappointed with it. I have been primarily using it for shooting astrophotography. The results I have achieved left me feeling very pleased with my purchase. I even had a workshop leader recently talking about most lens like this having to much coma to use for astrophotography, and maybe I’m not enough of a pixel peeper to see it but so far I like the results.
Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8
I probably use this lens the most with my landscape photography. I started off with a Rokinon 14mm F2.8 as my wide angle lens and then when I could afford it, and when Sony had come out with it I picked up this lens. I wanted to use it for my landscape photography, but I also knew it would make an excellent lens for my astrophotography, although after renting the new Sony FE 24mm F1.4 I want to add that to my astrophotography arsenal as well.
Sony FE 50mm f/1.2
I recently picked up this lens. I have seen a few articles about shooting astrophotography with this lens and it intrigues me, so I picked it up used on Craigslist. I understand it does great work on portraits as well, but I have not tested that out yet, I’ll have to let you know my thoughts on it when I do.
Update: I love using this lens for astophotography. I have not used it for portraits yet, but I really have enjoyed taking it out at night for some good astrophotography.
Sony FE 85mm f/1.8
I picked up this lens when I started shooting headshots for my fellow trainers at the club at work at. It is such a great lens for portraits, its just a no brainer. I’ve heard rumors that Sony may update their 85mm f/1.4 lens or come out with an even faster 85mm and if so I may take a look at it, but this is just a great workhorse for shooting portraits and it does not cost a fortune.
Sony FE 90mm f/2.8
When the world went in to lock down at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 I like everyone else tried to find things to do to keep myself busy. I’ve always been interested in macrophotography and this seemed like the perfect time to pick up the lens and get familiar with it. I can’t tell you how many times my wife would look out in our backyard and see me photographing bees from an inch away wondering what the hell was wrong with me. This lens works really well and I’m glad I have it. Another lens that I purchased used from Craigslist. It spends most of its time sitting in my collection of lens but once in a while I get a wild hair up my butt and dive into some macrophotography.
Sony FE 24-105mm f/4
Other then the kit lens that came with my first camera the Sony A7mii I have never had a mid-range lens, so when a workshop leader suggested having one for a workshop I was going to I decided to pick one up. At the time I had read rumors that Sony was going to be coming out with an updated version of its 24-70mm f/2.8 GM, a heavy and expensive lens. I did not want to pick up a f/2.8 GM version of the lens if they were coming out with a better one soon so I picked up this version, again bought used on Craigslist. I have not used it a whole lot, its not in a range that I typically use in my photography, but its great to have in case I do need a mid-range lens. Sony did come out with their updated version of the 24-70mm f/2.8 GM, and from what I understand its a awesome lens, but since its not a range I use a lot I decided to keep with this lens for now.
Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G
Before I could afford this lens I was using the Sony E 55-210mm F/4.5-6.3 as my telephoto lens. It worked all right on my full frame camera, although it cut the effective megapixels in half. I got some very good results shooting an air show using that combo, but I needed and wanted more, so I picked up this lens and have been very happy with it. I would not mind picking up the Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8, but so much of what I have read says that the performance is pretty much on par with the F4 for my needs, and the F4 is much lighter and less expensive so that is why I went with this lens and have been very happy with it. This lens worked well for hiking with a lighter load but I did end up selling it after I traded my 100-400mm for the old 70-200mm f/2.8 lens on Craigslist.
Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens
I recently picked up this lens with a trade for my Sony FE 100-400 mm on Craigslist. After picking up the new Sony FE 200-600 G I felt like I did not have as much use for the 100-400 mm and while cruising around on Craigslist looking for a trade, and thought it would be the perfect trade. After using this lens I can say it certainly is much heavier the the F4 version of this lens but man you can’t beat that bokeh with the F2.8. This lens performed well for me, but it was heavy and the AF was not in lock step with the newer systems of Sony Cameras that I have picked up. By itself it performed well but attached to any type of teleconverter not so much with the AF. When Sony announced the newer version of this lens I jumped at it, I like having this lens in my bag attached to a 2nd camera body and having a much lighter and faster version of this lens was a no brainer, so I sold this lens on Craigslist and picked up the new one, I’m very happy with the new lens.
Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM 2
I am very happy with the purchase of this lens. It is so much lighter then the previous lens, making using it on your camera so much easier and enjoyable. I love that the lens is internal and not telescoping, helping to keep the lens well balanced and more dust free inside. The new auto focus system works really well, although it still had a tougher time locking on while attached with a 2X T.C on my Sony A1 during an air show, it did fine but not perfectly.
Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS
I picked up this lens because I was very disappointed with the Auto Focus performance of the Tamron 150-600 G2 on my Sony A7 series bodies. I had bought the Tamron 150-600 G2 primarily to shoot the moon, but I also started to experiment with shooting wildlife with it. With the Tamron 150-600 G2 being attached to the Sony A7 mirror less bodies with an adapter I found the auto focus to really be lacking, frustratingly so. So I decided I could kill two birds with one stone, I could attach this lens to my Sony A6500 and because of the crop factor get the same reach as I was with the Tamron, and I could use this for wildlife photography knowing that the Auto focus would be working much better on my Sony Body’s. I have been very happy with it so far, I really have not used it much for wildlife so I can’t really give you my feed back in that regard, but I am much happier with the snappy AF on my Sony Body’s and after reading an article recently I started thinking about adding an 2 x extender to the setup effectively giving me 1200mm when attached to my Sony a6500. I recently upgraded my super telephoto to the new Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS Lens, with this new lens I was not sure I really needed the Sony 100-400 anymore, even though I really liked this lens I always felt like I needed more reach. Luckily as I was looking through Craigslist I found someone who had a new Sony FE 70-200 F2.8 G.M and who was looking to trade for this lens, needless to say we both walked away happy.
Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di USD G2 for Sony A
I bought this primarily to use for shooting the Moon, and for that purpose it has done very well. Unfortunately trying to use it on a Sony full frame mirrorless or crop sensor body with an adapter has not been a good experience when it comes to Auto focus which tends to make it a one trick pony and one reason I picked up the Sony 100-400mm GM. I ended up selling this lens on Ebay and was happy to have it out of my lens arsenal.
Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS Lens
With the frustration I had using the Tamron 150-600 G2 on my Sony A7 body I was elated when Sony finally came out with there own telephoto series for the Sony Full Frame Mirror less bodies. I have to say I have not been disappointed. I still need more practice with this lens when it comes to wildlife photography, action photography, etc,…but what little use I have gotten out of this lens so far has left me very pleased. The Auto Focus works great on my Sony A7 bodies, but it does make me wonder how much better it would be on one of the Sony A9 bodies,…another possible gear acquisition in my future. With a native Sony Lens I was able to use the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter on both my Sony A7 bodies and my Sony A6500 to extend the reach out to 1200 mm to 1800 mm when shooting the moon, this has been awesome.
Sony FE 600mm f/4
I Wish ! This lens is something that most wild life and bird photographers dream of. When looking at good photos taken with this lens you can really tell the difference between using this or the 200-600mm G, or maybe that is just in my head. This is a phenomenal lens that I have a hard time justifying in my arsenal of glass so for now it just dances in my dreams. I did however rent this lens for a trip up to Washington State to photograph bald eagles with Mark Smith, and I am so happy I did. I bought a lens foot and a lens rain cover to use with this lens and they both came in extremely handy and now I have them in case I ever pull the trigger on this lens. I ended up renting it through Lens Rentals, they sent it in a hard case ( not the one it is sold with) and a soft carrying bag ( like a backpack) that fit in the hard case. I had it sent to a local Fed Ex location to where I was staying, I picked it up the day I arrived, which was a day before the workshop, giving me time to familiarize myself with the lens before put it through its paces. After the workshop I was able to pack it all back up and drop it off at the Fed Ex location the day before I left and it was sent back. This made it much easier to travel and not worry about lugging around a $13,000 dollar lens. Mark Smith was able to show me some extra uses for some of the buttons and ring on the lens which I would imagine I would use quite a bit if I picked up the lens. If you are going on a trip for a couple of days to shoot wild life or birds this is well worth the splurge to rent, you wont be sorry.
*Update: I was finally able to pick a copy of this lens. I bought it off of MPB.Com for just over $10 K, saving myself some money in the process and getting 1 year warrenty on it as well. So far I am really likeing using this lens, I just have to get out more often and use it, to many competing interests pulling me in differnet directions.
The Equipment
My Camera Bags
F Stop Ajna Red Bull Backpack
This is my first backpack for photography, so I really have no experience with other bags to compare it to. Given that, I have been generally happy with the bag. One reason I choose this bag over other camera backpacks was the ability to choose how much of the pack I wanted to dedicate to my equipment using the ICU ( Internal Camera Unit ) and how much I wanted to use for hiking or camping purpose’s, although after using it for a while I would only use this for day hiking, there is no way I would be able to fit what I need for camping in or on this pack.
Shimoda Action X70
When Shimoda came on the scene it grabbed my attention, but it was not until this bag came out that I decided to pick up another bag. By this point I had been using my Sony 200-600mm G lens on a Sony Body such as the Sony A9 or Sony A1. I like just putting the whole thing into my bag with the lens attached so I can pull it out and use it when needed without exposing everything to dust, so I bought this with the extra large ICU which was worked well for carrying the set up but I would suggest stepping that down one, I find the ICU to be to deep for my purposes and I have to stuff towels in the bag to keep things from shifting around to much. I thought this bag would replace my old F Stop backpack, allowing me to put camera gear and camping gear in it. I can’t honestly say how well that works yet as I have not used for that purpose yet. I realized that this bag may to be large to take on a plane as a carry on when traveling so even though I thought of selling my original F Stop bag when I picked up this one I have keep it for now for when I need a smaller bag that can still store my longer lens and camera but pass for carry on luggage.
Shimoda Exlpore V2 30
I liked some of the features of my Shimoda Action X70 bag so much that when Shimoda came out with this bag I thought it would make the perfect every day bag for throwing in my car. So far I am pretty pleased with it but I do find that I need to transfer over to my Action X70 when taking out my long lens for bird and wild life photography. I usually just keep two bodies in this bag with a wide angle lens on one body and my 70-200 f/2.8 GM 2 on the other body. I don’t find my self using the side pocket to access the internal core unit at all, I just don’t find that comfortable. I do like that the side pockets have to bags that come out, making perfect pockets for a large metal water bottle in one and holding onto my tripod in the other one.
Gitzo 3532 Mountaineer Tripod
This is my first “professional” level tripod. I wanted a tripod that would be sturdy for all of my needs while also being small enough that I can put it on my pack and lug it up and down mountains with out a problem. On the first need this tripod has done well, I use it with my landscape camera and setup ( Sony A7R3 w/ Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 ) and my large zoom lens for shooting the moon ( Tamron 150-600mm G2 ) without any issues. I would like to pick up another, taller, and sturdier tripod for just my large zoom lens and a smaller travel tripod for hiking and backpacking in order to save weight, but it has not been a necessity. I can’t remember how much I paid for this tripod but I picked it up off of Craigslist in practically new condition for several hundred dollars less then it sold brand new, so I was very happy with that.
ProMediaGear TR344LBL Pro-Stix Carbon Fiber Tripod with Leveling Head | 4 sections 71 inches height
I picked up this tripod when I started to get more serious about shooting wild life and wanted a larger and sturdier tripod for use with a gimble head, funny thing is I find I prefer to shoot handheld rather then using a tripod, but it has worked well. My only complaint would be the leveling head I bought to go along with this. There is a bubble level on the tripod but not one on the leveling head which does not do me a lot of good so I found a small plate to put between the leveling head and whatever gimbal head I may have on there, I guess a better gimbal head that has a built in bubble would solve that issue as well.
Really Right Stuff BH-40 Tripod Head
I had read that this ball head was a nice compromise, with the sturdiness of the BH-55 ball head from Really Right Stuff, but with a smaller and lighter foot print making it a much better choice for people who wanted to use this for a set up when hiking out on some long trail. I have been generally happy with this ball head, but I would not mind picking up the BH-55 as well. I find the lever that you use for locking down the ball head tends to get in my way sometimes and wonder if the large dial on the BH-55 would be a better choice.
Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ball Head
I bought this ball head after using the BH-40 for a while. I really dislike the main lever on the BH-40, I find it gets in my way all the time when I’m trying to compose. This ball head has worked well and I have nothing bad to say about it. Another great used purchase off of Craigslist. I keep this ball head on my larger tripod and keep my older BH-40 on my smaller lighter Gitzo tripod.
Wine Country Filter System
I have never had a filter system before. When I first started thinking about using a filter on my landscape lens I was using a Nikon 14-24mm F2.8 attached to my Sony Full Frame camera with and adapter and the bulbous front end of that lens made it difficult for me to justify the cost of a system that I could only use on one lens. When I saw this system it really caught my attention and since picking it up and using it I have been very happy with its performance. I have not really used it on any other lens then my Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8, but the lens rings are only about $50, so maybe one of these days I’ll pick up another one for use with one of my zoom lens.
NISI S6 150mm Filter Holder Kit for Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8
I picked up this kit for use with my Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8, although I wish I had just sprung for the Wine Country kit for this lens instead. Its a trick to use these filters without getting my grimy fingers all over the glass, having the filter vaults on the Wine Country solved that issue. I also had an issue with the black felt lens cut outs that came on the lens to seal out and light leaks, they came off of the filters after just a couple of uses.