As photographers, most of us love to talk gear, specs, tech. Its inevitable that the question will come up from time to time of what gear I use. Because of that Ive put together a… somewhat comprehensive list of my most used gear, as well as some thoughts about each. Ive also done the leg work for you in finding good deals through various sites in case your interested in picking something on the list up for yourself . I did not list everything, so if you have any questions, or would like to me to expand on my thoughts for any of the items, feel free to reach out with your questions or comments. If an item is listed it is because I would recommend picking it up for yourself. I specifically left out a few items that I am dissatisfied with.

Cameras:

Currently this is my full time camera body, and I absolutely love it. Currently its the top pro-sumer crop sensor body and definitely packs a punch! I love the rock solid Magnesium Alloy body that will take all the abuse I choose to put it through. Noise performance is decent, an improvement over the Rebel below, but will suffice until I upgrade to 5D.

Before upgrading to the Canon 7D, I worked this baby to death! A wonderful camera for any amateur or hobbyist. Boasts an awesome 15mp crop sensor that makes for some wonderful images. To date most of my favorite images were shot on this body. If your looking for an entry level dslr, I would highly suggest picking one of these guys up. (with the latest release of the t4i, you can find some good prices on these)

I have a special love for this bad boy!! From time to time a break from the ease and accountability of digital is more than a good thing. Shooting with a old 35mm slr like this brings you back to the more relaxed roots of our fine art. From the manual controls and focus to the solid feel of the body, to shoot with this canon is a pure joy.

Ive just recently added this beauty to my bag-o-gear, and have loved the uniqueness the rangefinder format brings to the table. Called the poor mans leica, this cam has been regarded as one of the best street photography classics. The leaf shutter system is incredibly quiet and the super sharp lens is quickly becoming one of my fav toys to play with.

I know I know, not really a full on camera. But man is the camera on this thing kickass!! I would say the point and shoot will soon be extinct due to how awesome these guys are at taking pics. I use it so much, whether it be for instagram or full on shooting some conceptual photography (See what I mean here). I recently made a 10×10 print of the “Up Up and Away” pic and you would be hard pressed to be able to tell that it was shot on the iphone. On top of that with awesome apps like snapseed, light meter, instagram and so many more this is my all time favorite phone!! (and yes I have owned the android equivalents prior, and the iphone kicks butt )

Lenses:

Ive been looking for a 70-200 2.8 ever since renting the Canon version a little over a month ago. However with the Canon name comes the Canon price tag. I ended up going with this awesome Sigma version that still sports the 2.8 aperture, and crystal clear optics, but for a fraction of the price. Ive been extremely impressed with this guy so far!

The ol’ Nifty Fifty or Fantastic Plastic! Don’t its size or pricing fool you. Although it may be Canon cheapest lens I would have to say its on my camera a good 75% of the time, especially when out shooting street photography. The fixed focal length is great for making you truly think about what your shooting. An excellent investment to say the least!!

Every bag of tricks should have some sort of wide angle, and currently this is the lens Im shooting with when I need to get up close an personal. Eventually I will be upgrading to a 24-70, however until then despite being a “kit lens” this guy does a rather decent job.

Before upgrading to the Sigma 70-200 this was my telephoto zoom. With the IS it works great for getting in close when you dont have the ability to… well get in close. Definitely worked great for concert shooting and other situations where I wanted to capture the action. I am currently selling mine (if your interested shoot me an email ‘nick@nickexposed.com’)

Lighting and Grip:

I wasn’t too sure about this flash when I first ordered it, but when it came in I was quite impressed. When working on the fly at photo shoots things can at times get pretty hectic, needless to say my flash has taken a few spills and has made close acquaintances with the pavement. Regardless of the multiple accidents this flash is still running strong (sporting some manly battle scars along the way). I would highly suggest these guys for anyone looking to get into flash photography. I plan on adding a few more to my lighting kit.

Currently Im working with a few 7ft light stands from various makers. Mostly cheap economy versions right now, make sure you have sand bags with these guys!!

Sand bags are essential when working with light stands! (I found out the hard way ) Currently I use these PBL bags, which work fantastic. They have a double zipper setup to prevent from spilling your sand all over. Very solid design with double straps to ease on wear and tear.

I have two of these Westcott umbrellas, 1-convertable (with removable black exterior) & 1 plain white shoot through. Great modifiers, and very versatile! Definitely suggest you pick one up if your getting into off camera flash situations.

I have a couple of these Cowboy Studio’s cold shoe umbrella brackets. These are great for either mounting your shoe mount radio triggers (Im not going to be mentioning my triggers as Im not satisfied with them and will be replacing shortly) or your flash to your light stand. These are great if your only working with speed lights, thus not needing to get multiple bracket parts.

An extremely versatile tool for any photography arsenal!! I love this guy for both naturally lit and strobe lit photos. With so many options to choose from in one little bag it makes for one of the coolest modifiers around. I use the Neewer 43in version, which is one of the cheapest on the market, but performs exceptionally well.

The only thing I have to say about these guys is… You can never have too many A-Clamps! I literally use for everything!!

Office:

This is the beast of a computer that crunches through all my photo files!! Absolutely LOVE my i-Mac for both my graphic design and photography. Ive been called an apple whore, and I would say they were probably right. I love the ease of use and wonderful ecosystem the mac products have. My i-phone communicates beautifully with it, as well as the i-pad I will someday own . If your asking me whether you should go mac vs pc, I will undoubtably tell you Mac!

I have no clue what I would be doing without the Intuos4! This thing works magic when retouching and designing!! Ive had so many people ask my opinion of tablets and my only answer is YOU HAVE TO GET ONE! Productivity and efficiency goes through the roof with one of these! I use the small right now, which is perfect for a single screen, however when I run dual monitors I find myself wishing I had the medium size or larger. Either way one of these should definitely be in you office or laptop bag!

I wouldn’t have a job if it weren’t for this wonderful program!! Right now Im working off of Photoshop CS5 Extended an although I would like to upgrade to CS6 soon, 5 is suiting me perfectly fine right now. Great thing about photoshop is it comes with Adobe Camera Raw so if you don’t have a program like Lightroom you can still make your raw adjustments just as well in Camera Raw. This program paired with the wacom tablet above is an unstoppable force!!

Although Photoshop has its own Camera Raw editor, I still prefer to use Lighroom as my workflow management tool and initial editor. Again I have Lightroom 3, and although I would still like to upgrade to the new version(4) soon, this version is working just fine for me. I absolutely love this program and dont know what I would do for organization without it!

Anything I can do to keep the workspace clean and organized is a plus! Love this docking station for keeping the iphone under control!

With the increasing types of memory cards, having a multi card reader like this is a lifesaver!