Camera Equipment:
For those of you who were interested in what I shoot with here it is.
- Canon 1D Mark II: I recently bought this because I've been shooting a lot of sports photography for the newspaper. The 20D was fairly fast but the buffer was killing me. Whenever I big play would happen I would start clicking away and then fill up my buffer and thats that. No more shooting. With the 1Dmk2, not only does it have a faster fps, but it also has a much larger buffer. I don't fill it up often, if not never. I was also supprised at the AF speed. Wasn't expecting that. I didn't really think it could get faster than a 20D. But it sure does. ;) Very pleased. Well worth the money.
- Canon 20D: Going from a 300D to a 20D was marvelous. The noise control was amazing. Bigger buffer and faster fps was nice too. The resolution wasn't really that much of an upgrade but it was something. Oh yea, and AI Servo. Pretty good camera. If you only shoot sports occasionally its amazing. I'm only taking this when I go touring around Europe this summer. Much much ligher than the 1dmk2.
- Sigma 24-60mm f2.8 EX: I love the 18-50 f2.8 so much that when I went to the 1Dmk2 I bought a full frame version of it. Not much to complain about. Great in everything except the AF speed. Its no USM. Can't really use it for sports.
- Sigma 18-50 mm f2.8 DC EX: Definitely my most used lens. Primarially because of the focal lenth. It's the perfect focal length for most PJ work. Wide enough for tight spaces, Long enough on a 1.6x for when you need some more length. Fast focus-- I've used this for indoor basketball, it was perfect focus all the time. Even though its not USM, its really fast. The low f number allows me to shoot without flash when I need to. Great performer. And their selling really low now a days. Highly recommend picking one of these up. Huge upgrade from the kit lens.
- Canon 70-200mm f2.8L: Do I really need to say anything about this lens? Its just awesome.
- Canon 100mm f2.8 USM macro: I wish I used this more often. I used to love doing macros. Stopped doing them. Most of my shots are photojournalism, sports, portrature or travel things nowadays.
- Canon 50mm f1.8 mkII: This guy isn't all that great. Sometimes you need him, but hes just not sharp at all. I guess I'm just spoiled by really sharp lenses. Thinking about replacing him with a manual focus SMC Takumar 50mm F1.4. Heard good things.
- Peleng 8mm f3.5 fisheye: I think I started a trend with this guy. Two other people went off and bought one after they played with mine. It's just really fun.
- Canon Speedlite 580EX: This was a whim. (A very expensive whim). I needed a faster flash for band photography. The old 500 DG ST was too slow. Been pretty happy with it.
- Sigma 500 DG Super: After I sold the 500 DG ST and bought a 580ex I wanted to play with wireless flash. Got this guy. Besides feeling cheap (it creaks when you squeeze it) its pretty good. Not as fast of a recycle time as the 580ex but considering my other option for wireless ettl: A ST-E2 costs just as much as a 500 DG Super but you can't use it as a regular flash.
Some other stuff I have: Raynox DCR-250 (a close up filter), Feisol 3401(tripod legs) + Manfrotto 488RC4 (ballhead), Wescott silver umbrella (for flash), Stofen Omnibounce (flash difuser), Various filters, 8gb Ridata 150x, 4gb Sandisk Ultra II, 2gb Lexar 80x. I throw all this into either a Domke F1X (really happy with this thing), a Kinesis belt system, or a Kelty Redwing with a Kinesis V090. I also have a Lowepro Compurover but the suspensions systems on the Kelty are much better.
So thats my gear.
