To me it’s more important to be flexible and portable than having tack sharp photos. I’m not the kind of photographer that wants to haul with me massive amounts of strobes and even more assistants. I like the personal touch, and I want to keep the handy work for myself. I prefer to be portable, comfortable and flexible.
Sharpness in lenses doesn’t bother me much. The digital era in it self offer huge amount of quality and to be viewing photos in 100% inside Photoshop and scrutinizing every pixel is… way to pedantic for my taste. I still need to do this at times when the client requires so, but honestly, it will not make a difference. However, the picture captured will. So I try to pack as light and flexible as I cant to live by point of view: the moment is always more important than the light. Having said this though – if I can create good light and tack sharp photos – I will.
For you who wonders about my equipment it is as follows:
* Canon 5D Mark II: Freaking amazing camera. The live view mode when shooting stills is awesome, the 1080p movie mode rules for footage (even though it’s a tad bit bulky to activate) and the auto ISO option is more intelligent than I am. However, I’d like to see a way to set the ISO range for this so I can set it to activate between 50-1600 for instance. Knowing that it’ll never go higher than 1600. Meh, the ISO performance is excellent never the less and full frame. Well, what can I say? It’s full. Say no more, say no more.
* Canon 24-105mm 4.0/L IS: My allround lens. I’ve had different lenses but as a portrait/landscape photographer the 24 to 105 is just perfect. Sure, not the sharpest lens in the world and that’s a side effect of the zoom ability, but it’s still my pick of the litter because of its flexibility. I’d rather capture the perfect image in a bad quality than capturing a crappy image in perfect quality.
* Canon EF 50mm 1.4: I’d say this is my favorite lens. Why you say? Because it’s saved my arse more times than I can count. I prefer to keep a more flexible lens attached to my camera, but if I’m in a pickle this will no doubt save me every time. However, 1.4 is to extreme for depth of field. If the focus hits slightly off in the image it will be ruined so I rarely use it. But 2.5 or 2.8 it’s just excellent in every way. Don’t get me wrong though: the option of 1.4 is invaluable.
* Canon 70-200mm 4.0/L IS: This is my zoom-it-in-and-make-close-ups-when-no-one’s-really-noticing-lens. For instance I shoot sports with this. I wish it was 2.8 but the IS helps slightly, at least for my movement. However, used to have a 70-300 IS before and kinda regret exchanging it. But this lens is the one I use when I need perfect sharpness. It is a quality piece of lens, no doubt. And Canon… lay of on the beige. I love the red line though, combining that in a more design aware fashion would be most excellent.
* Kenko Extension Tubes: Awesome purchase. These ones let’s me transform my lenses into macro lenses and whenever I need to photograph macro – these are the extensions I pull out. They are cheap and work nicely. I actually combined one of the tubes once with my 1.4 lens and created my first flower macro series of photography – hand held. It was experimenting and pure joy so they are not published on the site.
* Canon 580 EXII speedlight: The master. Good light, strong lighting. I often use this to remote control my 430EX. E-TTL II is excellent and if I can I prefer to use this and THEN under- or overexpose depending on the result I want.
* Canon 430 EX: My slave. Good slave. Excellent to create effects and sometimes even to use as only flash.
* Camdapter handstrap: At www.camdapter.com you can get your own Camdapter hand strap, and no – I’m not getting a dime for this. I’ve tried the normal strap. I’ve tried the new and improved Black Rapid Strap and I’ve tried the Camdapter with the adapter of choice for my tripod and I quickly change back to Camdapter every single time I try to switch. The reason being is that it supports holding the camera perfectly. For me, using no battery grip, it balances the weight so that I don’t need to hold it all with my fingers but it will also distribute it to the back of my hand. Thus the camera feels lighter and easier to work with. It feels like a part of me. The Black Rapid Strap is an excellent piece of hardware but it kept slipping on my shoulders which annoyed me and I felt disconnected with my camera.I treasure my camera more than most things in my life and when the Camdapter merges it into my very loins of humanness… I can do nothing else than to let it.
* Polaroid filters: Well… it’s just a gotta get it, gotta have it piece of deal. Protect your lens and filter out flare and crap. Jeez! Got it on every lens off course.
* Totally-Rip-Off-Gary-Fong-Lightsphere: I bought a replica of the Gary Fong Lightsphere to soften up my flash, and it works just excellent. However, any golden sphere’s or chrome spheres aren’t included; it’s just diffusing but it’s making a heck of a job! I use it indoors almost always and it does soften up perfectly. It depends on the result I want off course, but when I need it – it softens up perfectly. However, you still need to understand light to use it. Get the Joe McNally book I’ve done a review about.
* Lowepro Toploader Pro 75 AW: The bag of my choice when it comes to just walking about and snap, snap, snapping. Good space, wear it normally with my 5D mark II with attached 24-105 L lens and my 50mm prime 1,4 in the bottom for emergencies. Works pretty well. Also I wanna mention the Think Tank bags. I have one and it sure is excellent – however, it’s not a bag I’d like to walk around with since it’s hard to get the camera out and when it’s just reasonably packed it fills up like a can of anchovies. Seriously, it feels like somethings gonna cut of my hand when I reach for a second memory card. Basically, it’s a condom for your photo equipment. But sometimes condoms are good. Protect against a bunch of things.
* Crumpler “something-or-other” bag: I don’t remember the exact model name but this is good quality! I have a serious bag fetish which causes me to throw out old bags like one of the gay guys of Fab 5. But this one I just continue loving. This is the bag I use when I wanna bring my whole pack. And it’s comfortable to. Sure, it weighs a bit but the more reason to beefcake up.
* Photoshop and Lightroom software: I started out trying to do everything in Lightroom. Doesn’t work. So, now, Lightroom is my organizer and pre-photoshop-editor. Awesome for META-tags and RAW processing. (Yes, I shoot only in RAW). But to finish a photograph I almost every time bring it into Photoshop for adjustments. Sometimes it takes an hour but more often it just takes a few minutes. Folks, it’s NOT in the Photoshop skills. Photoshop is just a pimped up darkroom. The real photograph is created in your head.
I have a bunch of other equipment to but the above is the one used most frequently. Comment if you want to know more.
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My Advice Regarding Photography Equipment Purchase
I see your point Mick, but most of the equipment in the professional world is much more expensive than it need to be in my opinion and I want to reach those who want to grow as photographers, but just don’t have the money to do so. The Gary Fong lightsphere is a great product with a very intelligent design, but by using a replica, except for saving a few bucks, I want to show that there’s alternatives that are just as good for less money. Whether it is a replica, a piece of paper or just a wall to bounce off of. I want the photographers with a passion and talent to be able to know that you don’t need expensive gear to go pro.
Mikael.
It’s a shame that as a professional photographer you advocate using counterfeit products (“Totally Rip Off Gary Fong Lightsphere”). No doubt you will complain about the cost but have no appreciation for what it takes to design and make anything. As a so called professional you should know better and you should encourage better.