What Camera Gear do I use?
My Camera Gear:
light and adaptable
I am always curious what other photographers use for camera gear and processing software, so I list mine here.
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Cameras and lenses
Sony NEX-F3, 16-Mpixel camera with the kit 18-55 mm zoom lens. I still bring it on nearly all trips so that I have a second camera, generally keeping my wide-angle or fisheye lens on it.
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Sony a6000 camera with the 16-50 mm compact zoom lens and the 55-210 mm telephoto zoom lens. This remains my primary camera.
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Rokinon 8 mm fisheye lens. I love this lens, as you can see from the many fisheye photos on the other pages of this website, especially the travelogue slide shows. This lens, combined with the NEX-F3 reversible screen, is fabulous for taking selfies because the 180-degree view includes yourself plus a wide background that can be cropped later to whatever composition you want. The only caveat with using the fisheye lens for selfies is that you need to keep your faces near the center of the frame to avoid the severe distortion near the edges.
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Sony E 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS zoom lens, This has a wide zoom range and better sharpness than the older lenses. This lens is widely rated as one of the best, if not the best, "all-in-one" travel lenses for compact Sony cameras. It has a 35-mm equivalent range of 27-202.5 mm, which is almost the same range I had with my older film camera and three lenses (24, 50, 70-210 zoom) that I used for many years.
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Rokinon 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Ultra Wide Angle Lens. This lens has a reputation for sharpness, though suffering from chromatic aberration. The latter, however, is easily corrected in post processing.
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Sigma 10-18 f2.8 zoom. This is a fabulous lens, which combined with the 18-135 lens gives a full zoom range of 10 to 135 mm on my APSC sensor (15 to 202.5 full-frame equivalent).
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I have a full-sized Manfrotto tripod for around-the-home work, but my main travel tripod is a great little Manfrotto aluminum tripod that weighs 3.3 pounds (Model: MKSCOMPACTACN-BK SKU:6244901). This is made for video so has a grip handle, but it works just fine for still cameras. It extends to 61 inches in height plus the center post. Most importantly, it folds up to about 17 inches, so it fits inside of my backpack.
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I also recently purchased a little Pedco/Kestrel portable tripod for carrying permanently in my camera backpack:​
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This cheap (under $20) little tripod weighs only a few ounces and works on a table top, or can be strapped to objects like posts or railings with a velco strap. For hiking, it can be strapped to a hiking pole to make a monopod.
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Travel Kit
For minimal travel gear I just bring the a6000 with either the 18-135 lens or, if I want to put it in a coat pocket, the 16-50 lens.
For multi-day trips I take a more full set of gear consisting of:
-Tripod
-a6000 camera with 18-135 lens on it (my main camera and lens)
-NEX-F3 camera with 8 mm Rokinon lens on it (second camera)
-Sigma 10-18 mm zoom.
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For landscapes and hikes I bring the 55-210 zoom, leaving the 16-50 mm behind, but for city travel I don't bother with the long zoom. Depending on where we are planning to visit, such as to a specific museum or a rigorous hike, I sometimes leave some of the gear in my suitcase in the hotel rather than lugging it around all day.
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