Your Photographic Gear

[tonyeck]

Post your gear and recommendations

I am graphic designer by trade, photographer as a serious hobby. I am considering options now maybe looking into further education towards photography as it has become a MASSIVE part of my job and I love outputting my creativity this way. My first DSLR is the Digital Rebel XT looking to upgrade towards the end of the summer.

I enjoy landscape photography as well as macro. I aim to start studying more into portraits very soon

I have:

Canon Digital Rebel XT (black)
Canon EFS 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 (yawn)
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Tokina AF 12-24mm f/4 AT-X Pro DX

Canon Deluxe Photo Backpack 200EG

Powermac G5 Dual 2.0ghz, 23" ACD
Photoshop CS2
Aperture


Now my next lens is either Canon 50mm f1.8 or the Canon 50mm f1.4. Which would you (anyone) recommend?

Would love to see what you guys shoot with! (Sorry if there is a post like this already, I couldn't find it)

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

I have:
Canon Digital Rebel XT (black)
Canon EFS 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 (yawn)
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Tokina AF 12-24mm f/4 AT-X Pro DX

How do you like the 100mm f/2.8 Macro? I think that's going to be my next lens. Then I need a ~10mm lens after that.

Canon makes a 10-22 EF-S lens, so I'll probably get that. If I get those two, they'll be my last lens purchases for a while so I can save up for some bitchin' L glass.

Now my next lens is either Canon 50mm f1.8 or the Canon 50mm f1.4. Which would you (anyone) recommend?

I'm not sure the f/1.4 is worth the difference, honestly. Some people complain about the bokeh on the f/1.8 (5-blade aperture being the culprit), but I haven't been unhappy with it at all. For $70 (try Amazon), you really can't beat it.

I hear a lot about the 100mm f/2.8 macro being a good portait lens, FWIW.

 

[iGary]

How do you like the 100mm f/2.8 Macro? I think that's going to be my next lens. Then I need a ~10mm lens after that.

Canon makes a 10-22 EF-S lens, so I'll probably get that. If I get those two, they'll be my last lens purchases for a while so I can save up for some bitchin' L glass.

I'm not sure the f/1.4 is worth the difference, honestly. Some people complain about the bokeh on the f/1.8 (5-blade aperture being the culprit), but I haven't been unhappy with it at all. For $70 (try Amazon), you really can't beat it.

I hear a lot about the 100mm f/2.8 macro being a good portait lens, FWIW.

The 1.4 is not worth the price difference, IMO.

 

[tonyeck]

How do you like the 100mm f/2.8 Macro? I think that's going to be my next lens. Then I need a ~10mm lens after that.

Canon makes a 10-22 EF-S lens, so I'll probably get that. If I get those two, they'll be my last lens purchases for a while so I can save up for some bitchin' L glass.

I'm not sure the f/1.4 is worth the difference, honestly. Some people complain about the bokeh on the f/1.8 (5-blade aperture being the culprit), but I haven't been unhappy with it at all. For $70 (try Amazon), you really can't beat it.

I hear a lot about the 100mm f/2.8 macro being a good portait lens, FWIW.

I generally use the 100mm f/2.8 for portraits right now and had some incredible results. I'll post some stuff later (little busy right now). I would like to try the 50mm as where I shoot at work generally has little room and becomes a little tight for the 100mm f/2.8.

I instantly fell in love with the 100mm f/2.8 lens as soon as I attached it to my camera. As always with Macro photography, the creativeness of shots is limitless!

I think I will buy the 50mm f/1.8 now!

 

[tonyeck]

The 1.4 is not worth the price difference, IMO.

Sold Thanks iGary

 

[Obsidian6]

i sold my 50 1.8 to get the 1.4, and i dont regret it for an instant.

i shoot with:

Canon 1DmkII and 5D ( w/ BG-e4 grip ) bodies
and all my lenses are Canon ( for now )
EF 24mm f/2.8
EF 28mm f/2.8
EF 35mm f/1.4L ( my favorite! )
EF 50mm f/1.4
EF 24-70mm f/2.8L
EF 70-200mm f/2.8L ( non -IS )

Next up for my stable i imagine will be either the Sigma 12-24mm or the Sigma 150mm f/2.8 Macro lens. i'm in no hurry for either though, because i need to buy something for my WRX first lol!

for editing my photos i use:

17" G4 1.5Ghz Powerbook
2GB ram
80GB hard drive
Radeon mobility 9700 128MB
Photoshop CS2
Dell 2405fpw 24" display

and

Powermac g5 dual 2.7Ghz
6.5GB ram
400GB hard drive
Radeon 9650 256MB
ACD 23" ( aluminum )

Old Setups: ( for nostalgia )
35MM
2x Canon EOS 3 film bodies ( w/ high speed motor drive PB-E2 )
Canon EOS Elan 7
Canon EOS 10D
Canon EOS 1Ds
Canon EF 28-90mm ( yuck )
Canon EF 28-105mm ( yuck again )
Canon EF 28-135MM IS ( Cool but sold before i went digital )
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 ( mkI metal mount, distance scale )
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L ( i miss this one... )
Tamron 19-35mm ( meh )
Tamron 75-300mm ( meh )
Epson R-D1 digital rangefinder ( super cool.. but couldnt afford to keep )
Leica 35mm f/2 ASPH ( the best lens i ever owned. )
Voigtlander 28mm f/1.9 Ultron ( super cool rangefinder lens )
Konica 50mm f/2 M-mount
Olympus 35RD ( cool pocket rangefinder now collectable! DOH! )
2x Olympus 35 SP

Medium format:
Mamiya RZ67 ( i miss this war horse )
Mamiya 90mm f/3.5 ( one of the most brutally sharp lenses ever )
Hasselblad H1 ( possibly the greatest camera i ever owned. but too expensive for me to own lol )
Hasselblad HC 80mm f/2.8

Large Format:
Horseman LE 4x5
Fujinon 210mm f/5.6

So thats pretty much most of the gear ive been through in the past few years. some of it i miss dearly. some of i im better off without

 

[iGary]

Nice nice lense there.

Love mine.

 

[Xax]

Canon 5D
25-70 2.8L
15 fisheye 2.8
85 1.8
70-200 4L soon?

macbook pro with dell 2405fpw
panasonic dvx100ae with lotsa stuff

 

[iHotu]

osservazione non miniera

 

[Silentwave]

Dont know if you want canon shooters only... But I may as well chime in from the other side.

As far as recommendations...many people from both of the major brands say that the 1.4 50mm of their particular camera brand is not worth the cost versus the 1.8... It often depends on just how you shoot though. There may be a difference as to which is better wide open versus stopped down, which has better bokeh, and which has better color rendition as well as build quality...

As far as I can tell, here are some pros and cons for the 50/1.8 and 1.4

50/1.8 Pros: CHEAP, light, sharp, good performer
50/1.8 Cons: Not extremely sharp wide open, 5 bladed aperture means you may have poorer bokeh, plastic lens mount, no USM and it is one of the noisier of the non-USM lenses, no distance scale.

50/1.4 Pros: still pretty light, USM (micro), better build, 8 bladed aperture for better bokeh, focus distance scale, sharper wide open from what i'm reading now.
50/1.4 Cons: Micro USM means no full time manual focus, more distortion.


As far as my gear goes, this is a pretty extensive list, hope you don't mind.
Bodies:
Nikon D2HS
Nikon D200
Nikon D70 (donating to my school)
May add a D50 for a really light camera....will purchase the D3H most likely when it comes out.
Flash:
Nikon SB-800 (plan to add R1 close up speedlight kit)
Lenses:
Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8G AF-S DX ED-IF Aspherical (fantastic general purpose lens)
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G AF-S VR ED-IF (versatile and a great performer)
Nikon 85mm f/2.8D Perspective Control Micro-Nikkor (a stellar lens, as sharp as it gets)
Nikon 200mm f/2.0G AF-S VR ED-IF (adding TC14EII for 280mm f/2.8 when I need it)
Nikon 300mm f/2.8D AF-S ED-IF I (selling since I got the 200/2)
Nikon 28mm f/3.5 AI manual focus for fun
A bunch of lens extras, likely adding a 30/1.4 sigma, 85/1.4 nikon, and 50/1.4 nikon in the near future, and a Nikon 300/2.8 VR for college.

Tripod: Gitzo G1329mk2 Carbon Fiber tripod with Manfrotto 468MG Magnesium Hydrostatic head with Really Right Stuff QR system. Both excellent pieces of equipment and very stable.
Field Gear: Lowepro mini-trekker AW, Lowepro Street and Field system including lens cases, vest harness, waistbelt, utility pouches, and toploader 75AW. Tamrac CyberPack 8 for when I have to travel really heavy. The lowepro gear is excellent
Computer: my beloved MacBook Pro 15.4" Core Duo 2.16ghz/2gb RAM/256mb graphics card with 100gb HD, 300gb and 40gb externals. Next comes a FirmTek dual bay eSATA 3gb/s hard drive enclosure with some big drives and a firmtek dual eSATA 3gb/s expresscard/34. Epson R2400 printer...extremely good.
Used to use an HP ZX5280US/P4 3.2ghz/1gb RAM/80gb HD.

Other: Nikon MC-36 multifunction remote, RRS lens plates and camera plates, Lowepro neoprene Quick-disconnect camera straps, round eyecups for both main cameras, patience, and a prescription that gets me 20/15 vision.

 

[sjl]

Canon 20D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 (and boy, do I wish I'd splurged on the f/1.0 at the time ...)
Canon EF 17-85mm IS

Next on the lenses to buy will be the EF 100-400. Also the battery grip, which I'll probably get once my tax return comes through (~2 months for a nice little cheque from the government. ) After that, I'll probably look at the 100mm macro, or the 10-22.

 

[crazydreaming]

As far as my gear goes, this is a pretty extensive list, hope you don't mind.
Bodies:
Nikon D2HS
Nikon D200
Nikon D70 (donating to my school)
May add a D50 for a really light camera....will purchase the D3H most likely when it comes out.
Flash:
Nikon SB-800 (plan to add R1 close up speedlight kit)
Lenses:
Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8G AF-S DX ED-IF Aspherical (fantastic general purpose lens)
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G AF-S VR ED-IF (versatile and a great performer)
Nikon 85mm f/2.8D Perspective Control Micro-Nikkor (a stellar lens, as sharp as it gets)
Nikon 200mm f/2.0G AF-S VR ED-IF (adding TC14EII for 280mm f/2.8 when I need it)
Nikon 300mm f/2.8D AF-S ED-IF I (selling since I got the 200/2)
Nikon 28mm f/3.5 AI manual focus for fun
A bunch of lens extras, likely adding a 30/1.4 sigma, 85/1.4 nikon, and 50/1.4 nikon in the near future, and a Nikon 300/2.8 VR for college.

Tripod: Gitzo G1329mk2 Carbon Fiber tripod with Manfrotto 468MG Magnesium Hydrostatic head with Really Right Stuff QR system. Both excellent pieces of equipment and very stable.
Field Gear: Lowepro mini-trekker AW, Lowepro Street and Field system including lens cases, vest harness, waistbelt, utility pouches, and toploader 75AW. Tamrac CyberPack 8 for when I have to travel really heavy. The lowepro gear is excellent
Computer: my beloved MacBook Pro 15.4" Core Duo 2.16ghz/2gb RAM/256mb graphics card with 100gb HD, 300gb and 40gb externals. Next comes a FirmTek dual bay eSATA 3gb/s hard drive enclosure with some big drives and a firmtek dual eSATA 3gb/s expresscard/34. Epson R2400 printer...extremely good.
Used to use an HP ZX5280US/P4 3.2ghz/1gb RAM/80gb HD.

Other: Nikon MC-36 multifunction remote, RRS lens plates and camera plates, Lowepro neoprene Quick-disconnect camera straps, round eyecups for both main cameras, patience, and a prescription that gets me 20/15 vision.

All I can say is... NIIIIICCCCEEE! (NICE)

I Just bought a D200, loving it, but have a long way to go until I'm where you are...

 

[tonyeck]

Dont know if you want canon shooters only... But I may as well chime in from the other side.

As far as recommendations...many people from both of the major brands say that the 1.4 50mm of their particular camera brand is not worth the cost versus the 1.8... It often depends on just how you shoot though. There may be a difference as to which is better wide open versus stopped down, which has better bokeh, and which has better color rendition as well as build quality...

As far as I can tell, here are some pros and cons for the 50/1.8 and 1.4

50/1.8 Pros: CHEAP, light, sharp, good performer
50/1.8 Cons: Not extremely sharp wide open, 5 bladed aperture means you may have poorer bokeh, plastic lens mount, no USM and it is one of the noisier of the non-USM lenses, no distance scale.

50/1.4 Pros: still pretty light, USM (micro), better build, 8 bladed aperture for better bokeh, focus distance scale, sharper wide open from what i'm reading now.
50/1.4 Cons: Micro USM means no full time manual focus, more distortion.


As far as my gear goes, this is a pretty extensive list, hope you don't mind.
Bodies:
Nikon D2HS
Nikon D200
Nikon D70 (donating to my school)
May add a D50 for a really light camera....will purchase the D3H most likely when it comes out.
Flash:
Nikon SB-800 (plan to add R1 close up speedlight kit)
Lenses:
Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8G AF-S DX ED-IF Aspherical (fantastic general purpose lens)
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G AF-S VR ED-IF (versatile and a great performer)
Nikon 85mm f/2.8D Perspective Control Micro-Nikkor (a stellar lens, as sharp as it gets)
Nikon 200mm f/2.0G AF-S VR ED-IF (adding TC14EII for 280mm f/2.8 when I need it)
Nikon 300mm f/2.8D AF-S ED-IF I (selling since I got the 200/2)
Nikon 28mm f/3.5 AI manual focus for fun
A bunch of lens extras, likely adding a 30/1.4 sigma, 85/1.4 nikon, and 50/1.4 nikon in the near future, and a Nikon 300/2.8 VR for college.

Tripod: Gitzo G1329mk2 Carbon Fiber tripod with Manfrotto 468MG Magnesium Hydrostatic head with Really Right Stuff QR system. Both excellent pieces of equipment and very stable.
Field Gear: Lowepro mini-trekker AW, Lowepro Street and Field system including lens cases, vest harness, waistbelt, utility pouches, and toploader 75AW. Tamrac CyberPack 8 for when I have to travel really heavy. The lowepro gear is excellent
Computer: my beloved MacBook Pro 15.4" Core Duo 2.16ghz/2gb RAM/256mb graphics card with 100gb HD, 300gb and 40gb externals. Next comes a FirmTek dual bay eSATA 3gb/s hard drive enclosure with some big drives and a firmtek dual eSATA 3gb/s expresscard/34. Epson R2400 printer...extremely good.
Used to use an HP ZX5280US/P4 3.2ghz/1gb RAM/80gb HD.

Other: Nikon MC-36 multifunction remote, RRS lens plates and camera plates, Lowepro neoprene Quick-disconnect camera straps, round eyecups for both main cameras, patience, and a prescription that gets me 20/15 vision.

wow! Nice list. And yes, you can post any set up you have, canon, nikon, pentax etc etc

 

[Grimace]

Canon 30D
70-200mm f/2.8L IS
60mm f/2.8 macro
1.4x extender
300mm f/4L IS ???

 

[oblomow]

Canon 350D
Canon 85 1.8 (very nice!)
Canon 17-40L
and of course the complementary 18-55.

EDIT: Forgot about the Pentax ME-Super, Minox 35 GL and Canon Powershot S30...

 

[Silentwave]

All I can say is... NIIIIICCCCEEE! (NICE)

I Just bought a D200, loving it, but have a long way to go until I'm where you are...

Its an addiction. I wasn't so bad at first...D70 and kitlens for a few months. Then some time between DPReview and Nikonians got me the idea of a telephoto zoom but a good one...I bought an AFS ED 80-200/2.8 (the version before the 70-200 VR) but I quickly replaced that with the 70-200 VR.

This then addicted me to pro glass. I had the 17-35 AFS less than 3 months after that and it was all downhill from there However, with the exception of the 28/3.5 and 70-200, all of the lenses in my kit I have gotten in the last 6 months or so...come to think of it, most of my accessories too.

The D200 was the best thing to happen to me in a long time...but the worst thing to happen to my wallet since a credit card.

 

[bartelby]

After reading those lists, mine is very poor indeed (but then again, it serves it's purpose and my style)

I'm just saving for my first Digital SLR so I'm still very much chemical based.

Cameras:

Nikon F4s
Canon A1 - 30 years old this year and still going strong
Canon AE1 - Just hanging in there after being repaired
Pentax k1000

Bronica medium format - Haven't used it in years, currently living with my dad

Various Lenses -
Canon 50mm
Tamron 24mm
Tamron 60 - 210mm
Nikon 18mm (I think)
a 600 reflector for the Pentax
a couple of Bronica lenses

Lubitel TLRs meduim format
Holga CFN medium format (currently loaded with a 35mm film)
Lomo SuperSampler
Lomo ActionSampler

Polaroid wideformat

a tiny Praktica 3.2MP

My list of future purchases:

Either Canon 350D or Nikon D50
Lomo Fisheye
Lomo Kompakt Automat

 

[-hh]

Well, let's see:


P&S 35mm - Nikon Lite*Touch Zoom (35-70mm)

P&S (CF) - Canon A80
- Canon Underwater housing for same

35mm SLR - Pentax K-1000 (retained for doing IR "some day")
- 50mm f/~1.8
- 35mm f/~2

35mm - Nikon Nikonos V underwater camera (not a true SLR);
- dual Ikelite SS-200 strobe heads
- body tray and strobe arms for same
- synch cord for same (+spare)
- slave sensor for 2nd SS-200 (instead of hardwired w/sync cord)
- Nikkor 35mm f/3.5
- Nikkor 28mm f/3.5
- Sea&Sea 15mm f/3.5 with external optical rangefinder
- macro tube kit (1:2, 1:1, 2:1)
- Nikon Close-Up kit (1:~4)
- Tamron bag (630 model?) to carry it all in. 28lbs loaded.

35mm SLR - Canon Elan IIe body.
- see SLR accessories list, below.

35mm SLR - Canon EOS-3 body.
(Just picked this up; currently in testing)

Digital SLR - Canon 20D body
- 10GB in CF Flash Media
- two Hyperdrive HD80 (60GB) digital wallets
- Apple 12" Powerbook


SLR accessories list:
I: "General Stuff":
- various misc carrying bags
- Kinesis carry system (new for the 20D)
- various sizes of circular polarizers
- couple of bad, cheap tripods
- couple of hiking stick/monopods
- travel beanbag

II: "Lighting"
- Canon 380EX speedlight
- Canon 430EX speedlight
- Better Beamer for the 430EX

III: "Lensing"
- Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
- Tokina 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5
- Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-4.5 IS
- Canon EF 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 IS
- Canon EF L 70-200mm f/2.8 IS
- Canon 1.4x teleconverter


BTW, I convinced my management a couple of years ago to drop $80K to buy a Vision Research Phantom 5 for use in our test labs...am I allowed to count that too? I've only taken around 2 million digital photos with it (easy to do at 20,000 frames/sec!)



-hh

 

[tonyeck]

BTW, I convinced my management a couple of years ago to drop $80K to buy a Vision Research Phantom 5 for use in our test labs...am I allowed to count that too? I've only taken around 2 million digital photos with it (easy to do at 20,000 frames/sec!)


-hh

Thats incredible... What kind of work requires that many frames?!

 

[macgfxdesigner]

My Camera Gear

Canon 30d
100mm Macro 2.8
16-35mm 2.8 L
28-200mm 3.6-5.6
50mm 1.8
18-55mm Kit Lens
Velbon Carbon Fiber Tripod
Bogen Manfrotto Monopod
4GB Extreme III CF
Tamrac Pro 6 Bag

Soon to purchase:

Ext tube for macro lens
70-200mm 2.8 L

Photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital_rebel_xt/

Editing:

1.25 GHZ Powerbook 15 inch
2.1 GHZ Intel imac 20 inch

 

[Obsidian6]

silent wave -

you have all that kit, and this is a hobby for you?/ dang man.. lol i wish i had your pocketbook!

D2hs is a great camera btw - have you tried any HUGE prints from it? very capable

 

[thr33face]

- Sony Dsc-P9
- 128MB MemoryStick
- Fujica AX1
- X-Fujinon 50mm 1:1.9
- Polar MC 80-200mm 1:4.5

-Macbook 2Ghz, 2GB Ram
-Athlon64 3400+, 1GB Ram (WinXP)

photos: http://thr33face.deviantart.com/

 

[-hh]

Thats incredible... What kind of work requires that many frames?!

Ballistics. In order to freeze the motion of an object moving at 3000 feet/sec, figure a 1 - 2 microsecond (yes "micro") shutter speed, and since many experiments need more than just a single frame to capture the events, the Phantom can shoot partial frames at up to 100,000 frames per second. Typically, we shoot at "only" 20,000 frames/sec, as this gives us more pixels of resolution with which to measure location, etc.

Ours is a Black & White. Color didn't cost any more, but the effective ISO of B&W is 1600, whereas color is two stops slower at ISO 400. As to why we made that decision, do the math for how much illumination is needed to get a proper exposure at f/2.8 @ 1/500,000 shutter speed for ISO 400 vs. 1600.


-hh

 

[cookie1105]

Wow, there are some astounding setups in here.
My meagre collection:

Digital Rebel xt
ef 50mm f/1.4 + matching hood (bastards!)
Kit lens
jessops tripod

Sold:

Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM

I was going to buy the f/1.8 MkI but I got a faulty lens. With a full refund from seller and the sale of the 75-300mm, I decided to splurge on an f/1.4. I don't regret the decision for one second.

I can see that this hobby is going to be expensive. Especially as saving up for building a Canon L-quality prime collection is seeming like a really good idea.
But slowly, slowly!

I am looking forward to my Dad's Pentax 35mm SLR from the mid 70's with 35mm & 100mm primes. Picking it up next month.

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

As far as my gear goes, this is a pretty extensive list, hope you don't mind. [...] [W]ith the exception of the 28/3.5 and 70-200, all of the lenses in my kit I have gotten in the last 6 months or so.

I'm clearly in the wrong profession.