Photography Equipment

anand January 26th, 2008

One of the commonly emailed questions to me is what photographic equipment I use. Here is the list of what I use currently:

Body:

Nikon D300

 

Zoom Lenses:

  1. AF-S Zoom-Nikkor ED 17-55mm f/2.8G IF DX. Easily the best lens in that range. Excellent colors, contrast and sharpness, only if you get a good copy.
  2. AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor ED 70-200mm f/2.8G IF. This is all you can ask for in a lens and three things you don’t want. Weight, size and cost. Simply the best lens I have handled.
  3. Nikon 70-300 f/4.5-f/5.6 AF-S VR. A lightweight carry everywhere telezoom lens.
  4. Sigma 10-20 f/4.5-f/5.6 HSM. Really nice UWA lens.

Prime Lenses:

  1. Tamron 90 macro - easily the most bang for the buck macro lens in that range.
  2. Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AF lens [non-D]. I briefly sold the lens and was without it for about 2 weeks to realize that I needed it badly, so I ordered another one :(. This is the perfect lens to make quick photos of the kids.
  3. Nikon 85mm f/1.8 AF D.

 

Flash:

SB-800, has built-in wireless capabilities and fully i-ttl and CLS compliant. All that means is I can use the flash on the hot shoe or outside of it and don’t have to do a thing to get it to work well.

 

Tripod and head:

Feisol CT-3401 Carbon Fiber tripod. One of the few things in this hobby which is worth the $ you pay for.

Kirk BH-3 ball head. You won’t know why people spend so much money for a ballhead until you use one :). My photography can be easily split into two phases, before this tripod set and after. I wrote a review of this setup here.

 

Studio equipment:

2x Alien Bees AB 400, 22 inch beauty dish and diffusion sock, many light stands, umbrellas, background support systems, many backdrops, flash adapters and reflectors :)

 

Filters:

  1. B+W 77mm thin circular polarizer, I use it outdoors all the time.
  2. Cokin P slim holder, 2 stop soft GND filter.
  3. Tiffen, hoya UV filters that I don’t use any more :(, step up rings to the 77mm diameter.

 

Hardware:

  1. Apple iMac 20″ 2.16 GHz, 3 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD
  2. Series of external HDDs
  3. Wacom intuous 2 tablet

 

Software:

Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop CS3, Bibble Pro.

 

Monitor Calibration:

Gretag Macbeth EyeOne hardware calibrator. A steal given the steep discounts of today. [Update: Version 1 of this calibration device is no longer available, you have to get the pricier ver 2 these days]

 

Printer:

An Epson R200. A very good entry-level photo printer.

 

Bags:

  1. Thinktank Airport Antidote backpack. Simply the best backpack I have used.
  2. Lowepro Reporter Light 200 RL Shoulder Bag - when I want to carry a two lens kit.

 

On the go storage:

PD 70X portable storage device with a 60 GB hard disk.

 

Books:

  1. Creative Nature and Outdoor photography, Brenda Tharp. Very useful book to get a creative eye.
  2. National Geographic photographic field guide. The book that taught me everything I need to know to get started
  3. Photoshop CS one on one - Deke McClelland, it is all there in this one book!
  4. Still life and special effects photography, Hicks et al. Very interesting book with great tips, I am yet to implement any of them :(
  5. Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers, Christopher Grey , great starter book for portraiture.
  6. Digital photography acquisition and post processing techniques, Ron Rezneick. Taught me almost everything about RAW processing.
  7. Complete Nikon D70 guide, Thom Hogan, the definitive users guide to the D70.
  8. Complete Nikon D80 guide, Thom Hogan, the definitive users guide to the D80.
  9. John Shaw: Close-ups in nature, Landscape photography. Simply the best books on the subjects. Some day, I will get to read and purchase all his books.
  10. Mountain Light. A must-read if you are into photography.

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