Medium Format:
I’ve had the great opportunity to recently up grade my film 645 to digital with the addition of a Leaf Aptuis 22 digital back. I’ll now be able to use my Phase One AF medium format camera along with my Mamiya 645 lenses 45mm f2.8, 80mm f2.8, 150mm f3.5, 210mm f4, 300mm f4.5 and 55-110mm f4.5. This system will soon be my go to for landscape and architectural photography.
Canon:
Canon 7D Mark II: This body is my first up grade from my aging 40D Digital SLR, it’s my new go to for when I go out to shoot either far away subjects or fast moving subjects or the combination of both. The 7D Mk. II offers a fast burst mode that can take shots up to 10 frames a second! Great for fast moving subjects that you want to freeze their motion. Another feature I like is the APS-C sensor, or a “Cropped Sensor”. This means that no matter what lens I put on the Camera, the sensor uses a smaller portion of the image coming through the lens giving you a magnification factor of 1.6 times (on Canon), great to bring in far subjects.
Canon 40D Converted to IR: With this body I’ve had a filter removed from the Digital sensor so that it will take in Infared light along with the visual light we see. By shooting Infared the camera is able to see more then what the human eye can see, bringing out the shadow areas of foliage or cutting through haze or smoke. This conversion only allows me to use Black and White for final images.
Canon 5D Mark II: This camera is my go to when I’m going to be shooting landscape images or subjects in low light. The 5D Mark II offers a full frame sensor, meaning that there is no crop factor and that I use the full image coming out of the lens to work with giving me those wide angle shots.
Lenses, also known as Glass:
Canon EF 17-40 f/4.0 L USM: This is my Ultra-wide angle zoom lens, a must for landscape photography to get everything in the picture without having to use a fish eye lens. The great thing about ultra-wide and wide angle lenses is their nature to have a great depths of field to get everything in focus.
Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8 L AF USM: This is my all around lens, although not very wide, out in the field it can work it’s magic to give a slight wide landscape and a slight zoom. It’s great for taking in the surroundings while shooting portraits to show the viewer the environment of which the person or animal is in.
Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8 L AF USM: This is my telephoto zoom lens, this is my all around lens when shooting wildlife or intimate landscapes. Given the ability to zoom in to 200mm allows me to isolate subjects in the landscape (shoot at it’s widest to take in the barn and some of the farm field, zoom in to take in just the barn). I also use this lens for rather tame wildlife that will allow you get close and take the shot.
Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary: This is my super telephoto zoom lens, I use this lens for when I’m out to shoot wildlife that can be skittish of human presents and be able to capture a more candid and natural look.
Accessories:
Teleconverters: Canon 2x and Sigma 1.4x these are like magnified glasses for your lenses that go between the camera and the lens. This allows you to get even more zoom from your lens, ie: my 70-200 lens with the 2x Teleconverter gives me a 140-400 lens on my 5D body or 224-640 on my 7D Mk.II. However for every pro there is a con, teleconverters give you more reach, but take away light and will need a longer shutter speed to get the proper exposure. No problem for stationary subjects or very bright times of the day, problematic if the subject is moving and in low light situations. They also render images slightly soft in focus making them not quite as sharp.
Extension tubes: I have the Kenko tube set. 36, 20 and 12mm, these tubes go between the lens and the body and bring the focusing distance much closer to you. If you’ve ever tried to get in real close to something (a flower for example) and your camera will not focus unless you move farther away these tubes are for you!! They are much cheaper and lighter than a dedicated macro lens. They are nothing but a metal tube with connectors to keep your auto focus working and they move your lens farther away from the camera so that you can get closer to your subject.
Memory Cards: SanDisk Extreme CF Cards, 16GB and 32GB nothing much to be said about these, fast transfer speed from taking the image to storing them on the cards. These are the “film” of the digital world however they can be erased and reused.
Tripod and Heads: Induro AT413 tripod, very easy to use and very very sturdy!! It is rather heavy and does not compact very well but it is a tall tripod, extends well over my head, great for when I’m on a steep slope or in areas where the long legs are needed. Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ball Head, this mount is on top of a ball and allows for movement in all direction, I use this for most of my landscape and fine art work. Jobu Gimble, this mounts my 70-200mm and sigma 150-600mm and other long or large lenses, it’s used for wildlife and sports why? fluid moment, sturdy, and those lenses get heavy quick!