My Gear

Given that this blog is primarily focused around photography and my ambition to improve as a photographer I thought it would be fitting to let you know what kind of gear I use.   My primary camera is a Nikon D300 digital SLR.  This camera is 6 1/2 years old and was purchased in January of 2008 to replace my then 5 year old D100.  Who knows, maybe before this blog is complete I'll have a new SLR to shoot with.  Both the D300 and its predecessor are what is known as DX cameras in the Nikon world.  What this means is that the digital sensor is roughly 1.5X crop from that of a full frame sensor or (16mm x 24mm) vs (24mm x 36mm).  At the time that I bought my D300, a full frame sensor SLR camera was very expensive.  That is no longer the case as Nikon now has a few full frame cameras that are around the price point of my D300 in 2008.  Among them are the D610 and the new D810.  Neither of these are quite what I'm looking for and I'm hoping the rumors of a new camera coming soon will be a winner (Edit: I have since purchased the rumored camera and now have a brand new Nikon D750).
One thing about photography when taken seriously is that you quickly realize your investment in the hobby is really in the lenses you own or as we say in the hobby - the glass.  I have learned very quickly that quality lenses are well worth the extra cost, both in manufacturing quality and the all important image quality.  For this reason I have stopped buying any lenses that are not Nikon pro level lenses - arguably the best glass you can get.  The only exception that I still use is a Tokina 12-24 mm wide angle zoom.  In addition to the Tokina I have a Nikkor 17-55 mm DX lens that I use as my everyday walk around lens.  I bought this lens after having rented one for a trip to Utah in 2010.  The only problem with this lens is that, being a DX lens, it will need replacing once I get a full frame camera.  All my other lenses, including my new macro lens, are FX or full frame lenses and work equally well on both FX and DX cameras.  My other high end Nikkor lens besides the mid-range DX zoom and the 105 mm macro lens is a Nikkor 70-200 mm f2.8 zoom which some claim is Nikon's finest lens.  This 70-200 was my first high end lens purchase and is ideal for high school sports and other action shots.
When I bought my first DSLR (the Nikon D100), I quickly purchased the SB-800 Speedlight flash unit.  Shortly after buying my D300, I learned that Nikon had significantly enhanced their flash control system and released a new line of speed light flash units.  The SB-800 was Nikon's best unit when I bought it and now it didn't work in an integrated fashion with my D300.  This prompted me to buy the new (then) Nikon SB-900 flash unit.  Luckily, my just acquired D750 is perfectly happy with the SB-900 unit.
Not shown in the picture is a pair of low end studio lights for playing around with (used for the picture above and other shots on this blog).  A pair of tripods, the Manfrotto 055M4 with a Junior gear head for general use and when I don't mind carry extra weight.  For those long hikes I bought a light weight travel tripod, the Benro A-169 travel angel.  I also have a couple of point and shoot cameras, the most recently obtained one (this past Christmas) is the Nikon P7800, which was used to take the above photo as well as several photos in various posts on the blog.

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Given that this blog is primarily focused around photography and my ambition to improve as a photographer I thought it would be fitting to let you know what kind of gear I use.   My primary camera is a Nikon D300 digital SLR.  This camera is 6 1/2 years old and was purchased in January of 2008 to replace my then 5 year old D100.  Who knows, maybe before this blog is complete I'll have a new SLR to shoot with.  Both the D300 and its predecessor are what is known as DX cameras in the Nikon world.  What this means is that the digital sensor is roughly 1.5X crop from that of a full frame sensor or (16mm x 24mm) vs (24mm x 36mm).  At the time that I bought my D300, a full frame sensor SLR camera was very expensive.  That is no longer the case as Nikon now has a few full frame cameras that are around the price point of my D300 in 2008.  Among them are the D610 and the new D810.  Neither of these are quite what I'm looking for and I'm hoping the rumors of a new camera coming soon will be a winner (Edit: I have since purchased the rumored camera and now have a brand new Nikon D750).
One thing about photography when taken seriously is that you quickly realize your investment in the hobby is really in the lenses you own or as we say in the hobby - the glass.  I have learned very quickly that quality lenses are well worth the extra cost, both in manufacturing quality and the all important image quality.  For this reason I have stopped buying any lenses that are not Nikon pro level lenses - arguably the best glass you can get.  The only exception that I still use is a Tokina 12-24 mm wide angle zoom.  In addition to the Tokina I have a Nikkor 17-55 mm DX lens that I use as my everyday walk around lens.  I bought this lens after having rented one for a trip to Utah in 2010.  The only problem with this lens is that, being a DX lens, it will need replacing once I get a full frame camera.  All my other lenses, including my new macro lens, are FX or full frame lenses and work equally well on both FX and DX cameras.  My other high end Nikkor lens besides the mid-range DX zoom and the 105 mm macro lens is a Nikkor 70-200 mm f2.8 zoom which some claim is Nikon's finest lens.  This 70-200 was my first high end lens purchase and is ideal for high school sports and other action shots.
When I bought my first DSLR (the Nikon D100), I quickly purchased the SB-800 Speedlight flash unit.  Shortly after buying my D300, I learned that Nikon had significantly enhanced their flash control system and released a new line of speed light flash units.  The SB-800 was Nikon's best unit when I bought it and now it didn't work in an integrated fashion with my D300.  This prompted me to buy the new (then) Nikon SB-900 flash unit.  Luckily, my just acquired D750 is perfectly happy with the SB-900 unit.
Not shown in the picture is a pair of low end studio lights for playing around with (used for the picture above and other shots on this blog).  A pair of tripods, the Manfrotto 055M4 with a Junior gear head for general use and when I don't mind carry extra weight.  For those long hikes I bought a light weight travel tripod, the Benro A-169 travel angel.  I also have a couple of point and shoot cameras, the most recently obtained one (this past Christmas) is the Nikon P7800, which was used to take the above photo as well as several photos in various posts on the blog.

Read more »