By far the most common question I get asked by someone just learning photography is something like "What camera do you use?" or "What lenses do you recommend". I usually first explain to the student of photography that it's more important to know more about light, design (or composition) and various techniques when shooting than deciding on which camera one should buy. One way to look at it is, I'm sure Tiger Woods would do just fine if he used my mediocre golf clubs. But at the same time you don't want your equipment to hold you back from being the best you can deliver. So we tend to look at reviews of equipment, sees what feels comfortable and purchase what we can afford at that time.

     My first camera I owned when I first took photography classes in 1970's was a Minolta SRT102. I remembering doing quite well even though it wasn't considered a "professional" camera. But when I decided to take photography a little more seriously I thought, well, I better get a camera brand that most people consider more "professional" for whatever reason. I knew a couple of professional commercial photographers whom I assisted after I took classes that owned Nikon cameras so I bought my first Nikon. The result, well I must say I didn't see much of a difference with my not-so-critical eye. I probably used Nikon cameras and lenses for about the next 25 years while making a living from the profession shooting commercial assignments, weddings, portraits and landscapes. Along with 35mm cameras I would also include cameras that had a larger format, a larger film size for clarity and perspective control. So throughout 1980's and 1990's, I would also purchase various medium and large format cameras.

     In the 1990's it seemed more and more professionals were switching their small format camera from Nikon to Canon for various reasons like Canon's auto focus advancements at that time. I did my research and as the digital age came upon us I thought this was a good time to switch my small format camera gear from Nikon to Canon.  It was costly since at that time we know Nikon lenses would not mount onto a Canon camera and the resale value of used camera gear is minimal. I've been very happy with the Canon equipment so much so that I have very little use for my medium and large format cameras. The sharpness I get is outstanding from todays small format digital cameras because of technological advances that are continually being made. With some slight sharpening techniques prints up to 50 inches have held sharpness quite well.

     Basically my current gear for shooting travel and landscape locations consists of the Canon 5D Mark II and the following Canon lenses: 17-40mm F4; 24-105mm F4; 70-200 F4 and the TS-E 24mm F3.5. Other basic equipment includes the GT2531 Gitzo carbon fiber tripod, Markins M10 ballhead, Canon 2X extender, extension tubes, filters, a Lowepro backpack and other various accessories. In future posts I will expound in more detail my camera gear including examples and why the equipment is so useful.