What gear do I use as a professional photographer?
I get a lot of questions about what type of camera and lenses I use for my work. This is because most people think that the better the gear, the better the images, which is somewhat true, but there are so many other factors involved in getting great shots such as lighting, composition, colour, subject etc. But thats a story for another day. Today we will focus on the gear I use and why.
Firstly let me start by saying I’m a Canon shooter, not because I have a allegiance to Canon as a brand, but because my first DSLR was a Canon 10D, and I have owned quite a few Canon lenses, so it would make sense to stick with the brand, unless I was really unhappy for some reason. These days modern mirrorless cameras are so good, it doesn’t really matter which brand you use, it really comes down to personal preference.
The key factors to consider are:
Do you already own lenses of a certain brand? If so, it can be very expensive to switch.
Are you generally happy with the brand the camera? If so, why change?
Is weight important to you? Some brands like Nikon and Fuji GFX are general bigger and heavier and this can weigh you down (no pun intended!) during a day of shooting.
For me personally, I already had a bunch of Canon lenses, and I was generally happy with my previous Canon DSLR’s (1D/5D/6D), and I love the way Canon is heading with their new RF lenses, so its an easy choice for me. So what do I have in my bag? Here are the main items I use daily:
2 x Canon R7 bodies
Canon RF 24mm 1.4 VCM Lens
Canon RF 50mm 1.4 VCM Lens
Canon EF 70-200 2.8 IS USM Lens (20 years old!)
2 x Canon EL-5 Speedlites
Let me first clear the air by answering why I have cropped sensor cameras. I bought my first Canon R7 about a year ago, and was super impressed with all the new mirrorless features, such as face tracking and the fact that you can actually see what the exposure will look like BEFORE you take the shot - incredible stuff.
I used the R7 beside my 5 year old Canon 6D for the first year and I realised we are at a point in time now where pretty much any image sensor for DSLR’s or mirrorless cameras made in the past 10 years is very good quality. Look at it this way, I could go out and buy a Canon R5 Mark II, which is 3x the price of the R7 at the time of writing this blog, but if the R5 is a 10/10 for image quality, I would rate the R7 a 9/10. Given that the R7 is a third of the price, and I love the layout, and the fact that its smaller and lighter, I really have no reason to get the R5. I did actually consider buying the R5 and having the R7 as a back up, but then I have to learn 2 different camera layouts, and as a working professional, I want things as simple and efficient as possible. When I pick up either of the R7’s, I know exactly where everything is, which is really handy in the real world.
Does the crop sensor introduce more noise? Possibly under certain conditions, but I use Adobe Lightroom to denoise every single image I ever shoot anyway (even if I’m shooting at 100 ISO), so that doesn’t really bother me. And I almost always use flash, even outdoors, so low light isnt really an issue. Overall the R7 is a fantastic camera, and the fact that I now have 2 of them makes my life much easier.
No onto the lenses. I love prime lenses. I bought my first prime lens (Canon 35mm 1.4 EFII) about 3 years ago and fell in love with it. The clarity, the small and light form factor, the amount of light it lets in - all incredible. I’ve since sold that lens and picked up the new Canon RF 24mm and 50mm 1.4’s. The 24mm is good, the 50mm is incredible. I really only use the 24mm to get any wide shots I need when working, and the 50mm mostly for portraits (being the equivalent of 80mm on a crop sensor).
And that new control ring on the front of the RF lenses - an absolute game changer! You can essentially assign it to whatever function you like, and I use it to set the ISO quickly and easily. When I shoot an event indoors, I typically shoot at 1/200 and 2.8 with a speedlite, and seeing as how I always shoot in manual mode, I only ever need to adjust the ISO to get the correct exposure. Now I can do this while holding the lens and simply turning the control ring - no need to touch he camera body at all.
Is using primes a pain sometimes? Yes. I find myself constantly changing lenses to get the right shot, but I still love the benefits they bring. You have to remember, as a working professional, if you have to carry around 2 camera bodies, each with a lens and speedlite all day, the smaller and lighter the better. The difference between lugging 4kg in each hand vs 2kg is huge over a 10 hour day. I am now waiting to see what additional RF lenses Canon release so I can buy some longer focal lengths.
I also still have my 20 year old Canon 70-200 IS USM lens. It’s been around the world and taken thousands of shots, but I will retire it this year. I still use it for sports, where the 1.6x crop factor gives me an effective 320mm focal length at a 2.8 aperture, which is great for the football games I shoot, but the lens is lacking in overall sharpness, and I find that I have to use a fair bit of sharpening when editing. I also find the lens doesnt work that well with the R7, being a newer body paired with an old lens. I miss many shots due to the subject being out of focus, even though the face tracking is telling me the subject is in focus. I dont really see this is a Canon issue, its just time to move on to the next generation of lenses. I am hoping to see some longer focal length VCM prime lenses released by Canon this year.
My preferred speedlite is the Canon EL-5. I find them the best blend of weight, speed and power, and they communicate well with the new mirrorless bodies. I did try one of the new Godox speedlites, but it really annoyed me for a few reasons. The first was that it would just switch off at random, which is unacceptable as a working professional. The second was that the high speed sync function wasnt compatible with the first curatin shutter on the R7, which is what I use 99% of the time. The third was that my nose would always rub against the touch screen on the speedlite and change some settings.
So thats it, that my main kit. Of course there are many other bits and pieces I carry with me such as filters, memory cards, tripods etc. But I find these less important and not worth fretting over.
What do you think about my gear? Let me know in the comments.