First thing first, here are my views about the equipments
and taking photos.
1. Without camera, you still can enjoy the scenery with your eyes.
Many times while I was busy myself adjusting my cameras, lens
and filters and shooting, my wife was enjoying the sunset in real time. Now I
am saying to myself: put the camera down and enjoy the view. Maybe next
time.
2. Any usable camera at hand is better than none.
a).
Buy only what you can carry with. No matter how wonderful a lens
or camera is, it means nothing if you do like to carry with around.
Once I rented a Mamiya
RZ and shot at sand dune in the Death Valley. Man! it is heavy. I was burdened to carry with me. Its functionalities means little from that point on.
b).
Be prepared and use backup. More than once, something wrong happened
to my system. In this situation, even a disposable camera would be
nice. I have run out of films in Jiuzhaigou (Nine Village Valley),
have camera jammed in the Coyote Buttes North, lost battery
in Virgin River at Zion National Park, and run out of battery power in the middle of shooting.
3. No just expensive system can produce good pictures.
Right moment, right place, good composition, interesting angle,
unique perspective will win.
4. Utilize your camera system to its limits. There are
cheaper way than tossing out your lens or camera after reading various
discussing groups and reviews.
a)
Use a sturdy tripod. A tripod is no just for group pictures and exposure
at low light situation. Using it slows you down but you will likely think
more about composition, achieve better sharpness with optimal aperture
and reducing vibration, and cover greater depth-of-field.
b)
Use optimal aperture, i.e. f/8, f/11. The difference of lens quality
between expensive lens (with Max aperture of f/2.8 or larger) and consumer
lens gets narrower when the lens aperture is closed down to f/8.
c)
Use a slower and fine grain film (ISO 50, 100) or use lower ISO setting
on a digital camera (like ISO 100-400). Use a tripod if needed.
d) While using digital SLR camera, try shooting RAW instead of JPEG and establish RAW workflow. Here is why according to Micheal Tapes, or Capture One article 1, article 2, article 3. Now I am doing this way majority of time without worry with wrong exposure.
e)
Remember even the cheapest prime lenses will give most zoom lenses
a run for its money (such as a $70 Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II).
e)
Try mirror lockup feature and use the self-timer or a shutter trigger.
The following are what I currently are using and ones I have used:
Cameras
35mm
digital camera Canon EOS 5D II after Canon 20D (over 50,000 shots)
35mm film camera Canon EOS-1N (seldomly used these days)
35 mm camera lenses
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM (center sharpness
is very good; to achieve edge sharpness, aperture needs to be stopped-down to f/5.6 or f/8)
Canon EF 24mm f2.8 (sharper than 17-40mm f/4L at f/4, f/5.6 at edges; after aperture stop-down, performance is similar)
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II (cheap and sharp)
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 (sharpest between f/4 -f/11)
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro (sharp, great for portrait and marco work)
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM (heavy and sharp)
Canon EF 2X II Extender Telephoto (seldomly used. A 1.4x might be a better choice)
Media
SanDisk 1GB and 4 GB ultra II CompactFlash card
Lexar 4GB and 8 GB 300x CompactFlash card
Hitachi 4GB microdrive (hacked from MP3 player, less reliable and seldomly used)
Tripod and ballhead (Best
photographic accessories)
Gitzo
Carbon fiber 1325 MK2
Arca Swiss B-1 ball head
Custom-made camera plates from Really Right Stuff and Kirk
Enterprise lens plate
for Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM. Here is why I use them
Panoramic tripod head from Nodal Ninja
Filters
Hoya,
Haliopan, and B+W UV, 81A, 81B
Tiffen 812 warming filter
B+W 77mm circular polarizer
Singh Ray graduated neutral density filters 2 stops soft-edge
and hard-edge.
Software
Adobe Photoshop CS2 (Camera Raw 3.7 converter)
Phase One Capture One Pro 3.7 with custom Magne Nilsen, Etcetera (ETC) color profiles
for 20D
Past Medium format camera (Finally decided to exit film after digital full frame 5D Mark II is out)
Mamiya 7 II (light weight, great optical performance)
Mamiya 43mm f/4
Mamiya 65mm f/4
Mamiya 150mm f/4
Films
Fuji NPH 400 Pro Portrait
Fuji Velvia 50 (used as ISO 40) and new Velvia 100 (not Velvia 100F)
