Camera Equipment in Use

Although I include information about the camera equipment I use in some blogs posts from time to time, this quickly becomes impossible to find. I thought I'd just give a quick overview of the tools I use to bring you the images on this blog and on flickr. At least it is all in one place that is easy to ignore if you don't care.

While in Australia, I had the following cameras: Nikon D800E, Fujifilm X100s, and Nikon 1 V3. The Fuji and Nikon1 both found themselves getting increasingly little usage. In fact, between at least March '17 and '18, the Nikon 1 camera set in a box unused. These were both sold and replaced with the modern Fujifilm X-H1 purchased in mid-April '18.

Then In May 2019 I decided to take the plunge and get rid of the Nikon. I replaced it with a Fuji GFX 50-R. With this move into the medium format world and the reduction in the total number of lenses, I have really changed my photography.

• Fuji GFX 50-R - This medium format camera is larger than full frame and has a crop factor of 0.8. With its 50 megapixel resolution, this is perfect for landscapes. I have resurrected and added to my collection of Lee filters and am making a real effort to explore landscape photography. This is a larger camera than the old Nikon and the lenses are correspondingly bigger as well. And more expensive as well (ouch!). Initially, I bought only one lens, the 32-64mm zoom. This is the equivalent to a 25-50mm on the Nikon. After traveling through Europe with this, I came to realize that I also needed more reach to get the kinds of landscapes that my eye was seeing so I've added a 100-200mm zoom and the 1.4 teleconverter that matches with it. This gives me cover the range from about 80mm to a bit over 200mm full-frame equivalent. This should give me the versatility to capture what I see. In addition, I've also added a 45mm extension tube to use with the longer zoom for macro work and this is working out just fine.
• Fuji X-H1 - This crop-sensor camera (crop factor 1.5) has lots of whistles and bells the more staid (and older) Nikon did not. It has a wider ISO range (up to 512,000), faster shutter speeds (up to 1/30,000 sec), and more flexibility with the adjustable screen on the back. I have also learned that birding with the larger D800E is very tiring with the sizeable 200-500 mm lens. It is just a bloody heavy system to carry all day. With the sale of the Nikon and its lenses, I purchased a Fuji 100-400mm lens with a 1.4X teleconverter. With this lens and a 10-24mm zoom (notice I went from nearly all primes to all zooms), I am down to two lenses with each camera and much happier. I have recently added a 2x teleconverter for the long lens in anticipation of more birding workshops. I'll keep you posted on success with this combination. The most recent addition is the 16-80mm lens. This is great for travel and for use with either the 16mm or 11mm extension tubes for macro.

To hold all the heavy cameras/long lenses steady I use a Sirui tripod. The one I have allows one of the legs to the removed to be used as a monopod. I have found the perfect replacement for the Sirui K-20 ball head and Wimberly Sidekick combination. It is the Arcatech Long Lens Head. With the Sirui LE-60 Leveling Base to initially create a level platform, the ability to rotate and raise and lower the camera without changing the leveling of the system is really great.

If you have questions about any particular photo, ask in the comments to the blog entry and I'll let you know.