Gear

Having made several recent additions to my gear, I thought it would be a good time to do a complete rundown of the gear I’m currently using.

Hardware:

My camera body is a Nikon D7000.  This replaces the Nikon D40 that I used for over four years.  After taking 13,347 shots with the D40 I decided it was time to upgrade to something that packed more punch.  After much deliberation I decided to stick with Nikon’s DX format (you can read more about that here), and the D7000 was the best DX format camera available.  I’ve taken about 1,500 shots with the D7000 so far, and have been impressed by the camera’s performance and the resulting image quality.

I have four lenses in my bag right now, all Nikon Nikkor glass: the Nikkor 10-24 DX, Nikkor 18-55 DX, Nikkor 55-300 DX VR, and the Nikkor 85 DX VR Micro.  The 55-300 VR is on the camera when it’s in the bag, when I’m out hiking, or when I’m driving so I can grab a shot of whatever I come across, near or far.  The 18-55 is the “kit” lens that came with the D40.  I rarely used it until recently.  When I was visiting the Badlands of South Dakota a couple of months ago I used it to get a wider angle of view, to try and get more of the landscape in the photo and this lens did the trick.  It’s small, light, and sharp.  Recently I added the 10-24 to the mix.  This lens allows me to go even wider, or to push in real close to a subject and immerse myself in the image.  I love this lens and it’s really changed the way I approach some subjects.  I also have the 85 VR Micro.  I haven’t taken this macro lens out yet, but summer approaches, a trip to Maui is days away, and blooming flowers and insects buzzing will offer numerous opportunities to put this lens to work.

All images are processed and stored on a MacBook Pro 15" with Retina Display, and backed-up on two Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1.5 TB Portable Hard Drives as well as an older Seagate 250 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive that I’ve had for years. 

Software:

I recently started using Adobe Lightroom 4.3.2.  I’m still in the beginning stages of using Lightroom but the intent is to dive headfirst into shooting using the RAW file format.  Before making the jump to Lightroom I was using Apple Aperture 3.0 to process my photos, and I occasionally dabbled with using the Topaz Adjust 5 plug-in within Aperture.  I also have Photomatix Pro 4.2.4 installed for the occasionally foray into producing HDR images.

Support:

My most recent purchase is a Manfrotto 190XPROB Pro tripod, with a Manfrotto 496RC2 Compact Ball Head, 200PL-14 Quick Release Plate, and a Vello Two-Axis Hot Shoe Bubble Level that fits in the top of the camera.

With the exception of the tripod, all of this gear fits into a Lowepro Pro Roller Lite 250 AW roller bag that will fit in the overhead bin of most aircraft.