I’m going to share my current camera kit below and lessons learned about gear over the years. Read it and contact me at bottom of page with any questions you have.
Visit a famous location like the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, or any other hot spot for photographers. You’ll see people crawling around with tens of thousands of dollars in camera gear. The latest, most high tech, hyped up gear in the world is all right there.
I’ve learned most camera gear people buy is over hyped and not worth the money. Worse yet, it’s so impractical and hard to use that it makes shooting photos no fun!
Industry pays YouTubers and “internet gurus” to peddle the most expensive, least practical gear, available. The secret the industry doesn’t want you to know is, behind the scenes photographers rely most on older proven gear that’s cheaper and easier to use.
Let me share the kit I rely on every day for work and how I’ve arrived at this list of camera gear…
My Current Camera Kit
This equipment listed below sells millions of dollars in homes each year as well as documents my trips to backcountry. I have carried this across multiple continents and humped it thousands of miles in my backpack to backcountry locations. It’s lightweight, compact, reliable, and captures stunning imagery.
- Sony a6400 APSC Mirrorless Camera HERE
Order with kit lens 16mm to 50mm. The kit lens is great for most shots.
My kit lacks a portrait lens w/ depth of field like HERE
Sony 10mm to 18mm f4 lens HERE only used for real estate shoots - Zhiyun Crane M3 electronic Gimbal HERE
- DJI Mavic 2 Pro Drone HERE
- DJI Mini 2 Drone HERE
- GoPro Hero 10 HERE
Battery Volta Grip HERE
Media Mod HERE - Rode Wireless Lav Go HERE
Rode Lavalier Go Professional Wearable Microphone HERE
You can surf my webpage here and see actual media created with the gear I listed above. It works exceptionally well and is easy to use.
Another YouTuber gripe. They all unbox gear but never use it! You can see them do demo clips, but they don’t use it over long run or produce content with it. The real question to ask internet guru’s is, “What camera do you shoot your reviews with?” It’s seldom if EVER the gear the recommend in their reviews.
Additional gear not listed
I have all the Speedlight’s, action cameras, pelican cases, field monitor, calibration equipment, and the list goes on. I don’t want to bore you with all that. The list above is the basic kit I have used over the years.
Dirty little secret about cell phones
Use a decent cell phone camera; expose and compose your photo correctly; and NOBODY will know you didn’t the best full frame camera. The only limitation with cell phones and cheaper cameras is the ability to adjust certain aspects of your pictures / video (depth of field, shutter angle, focus racking, angle of frame, etc). A lot of my b-roll and occasionally even some of my main shots come from cell phones! They make GREAT backup cameras.
Some of the gear I’ve parted with
- Sony a6500 APSC Mirrorless Camera
- DJI Ronin M2 Gimbal
- Zhiyun Webill S Gimbal
- Zhiyun M2 Gimbal
- Canon Mark II DSLR (running Magic Lantern)
Canon 24mm to 105mm f4.0 L Series Lens
Canon 16mm to 35mm f2.8 L Series Lens I miss this phenomenal lens - DJI Mavic Pro
- DJI Phantom 4 Pro
Why did I move to APCS & smaller sensors
I’ve switched from full frame to APSC. Before doing so I tried Canon Mark IV and briefly played with Sony a7. I also carried the Canon Mark II thousands of miles and used it for about 5 years. Full frame is a bit easier to use but HEAVY. During daylight shoots you’ll NEVER notice a difference in shots between the two. Low light, there’s no more noise but rather a different noise grain. Even so when shooting correctly, it’s hard to tell the difference between the APSC & Full Frame so I don’t bother with full frame anymore.
Why did I move away from ProRes, RAW, even log profiles
Some of the expensive cameras, especially when comes to video, save more data. They have support for Raw, ProRes; HVEC; AVID; higher bit rate AVC etc. You can adjust the video more in post production software / NLE.
These workflows are a PITA to put it mildly. The files are huge and hard to work with. I worked with a broadcast studio years ago on a photoshoot for a commercial. They gave me clear instructions to NOT USE any of that stuff.
Log is another bag of worms. It flattens your compressed image so reduce risk of clipping highlights and shadows. You have to add another process to your workflow to correct the exposure and saturation costing time. It’s tricky to match them up with images that didn’t call for log exposure as well.
I VERY rarely shoot in those flat profiles anymore. The cameras profile is typically best. You can pull the highlights down a bit if anything when you shoot. Works good enough and makes a LOT easier to shoot as well as edit video.
Consider this before you buy new gear
Do not rent instead buy to try I have friends that spend THOUSANDS renting equipment and go to extreme lengths to return it on time. I instead buy gear, try it for a couple months. Then I keep it or sell it again. Many times I am able to sell the equipment for the same price I bought it for because I…
Buy used and or refurbished equipment I purchase all my gear used. Many people get gear they don’t need only to sell it again. You can get lightly used equipment all over the internet. You can sell for a bit less then new and get most of your money back when you swap the item out of your kit. I typically only have to pay listing fees which leads me to the next tip…
Sell local and or to your customers I photograph houses. When it comes time to swap out gear, I first offer it for sale to my existing business contacts. This saves me listing fees and helps my friends out. If nobody wants it then I put it on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and lastly on eBay or Amazon where you have to pay fees. Most of the time by existing contacts purchase the equipment and are extremely thankful as they get it for far less than any other source.
Share your questions about camera gear with me
Please let me know any questions you have though before you buy. I’m more than happy to answer them. I may even have some gear I need to sell.
In full disclosure, I've provided links for you to purchase any of these items. I get paid if you buy from them. It is SUCH little money though it's almost not worth putting the links but hopefully helps you out. Amazon really shafted it's affiliates but whole different story.