GearOver the past week since I've started this blog, I've been asked several questions about gear. So I wanted to take some time today to cover some of the most asked questions I've been asked this week. I will cover photography gear, and what models should pack in their model bag. To start I will go over my current gear and talk about some of the past gear I've owned.
I started with a Canon t2i, and for a while I used a Canon 70d. Lenses I no longer own are the Canon 50mm 1.8, Canon 18-55, Canon 75-300, Sigma 18-35 1.8 art, and 2 Yongnou speedlights. In my opinion you only upgrade or add a lens out of necessity. The order of importance to upgrade once you have a base kit in my opinion is, Lens, Light, Camera body. Most photographers I know really don't know the importance of using off camera flash. Off camera flash allowed me to create amazing images on a crop sensor using the $100 canon 50mm. I only upgraded to the full frame because I hit the limitations of my Canon 70D, and wanted some of the conveniences that the 5d MKIV offered. I built my current kit knowing that I would need it to be flexible to handle any kind of photography that I want to do. The 24-70 for example is wide enough for me to photograph fireworks and landscapes, but I can still zoom in to 50mm if my 135mm is too much zoom for studio work. For studio work, and any kind of portrait work, I prefer to be at 85mm of longer. On the canon side of things there are a lot of affordable options new, used, and refurbished. One of my favorite lenses to borrow from friends is the 100mm 2.8 macro. The lens can be bought used for around $350, and it focuses fast, accurately, and is incredibly sharp. The compression from that lens and the bokeh produces some amazing images. When shooting, I wont go wider than 35mm. For me it has the potential to distort the model's features too much, and I hate seeing images where the subjects shoe is 2x the size of their head. So figure out what you shoot or what you want to shoot and from there its pretty easy to find out what the top professionals of that niche use. I also like to use DXO mark to research which specific lenses test out to my camera body. As for models, it is important to put together a good model bag/kit. Most new models have no idea what they should bring to a photoshoot so below is a list of items that every model should include in their bag. Your book/portfolio. You never know when you may need to have your portfolio handy so its best to always bring it
Hopefully this list has been helpful. |