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I get a lot of questions asking about what equipment I take with me on a typical photo assignment. Here’s a quick rundown:

Lowepro CompuTrekker AW Backpack
• 15 inch Apple Macbook Pro Notebook
• Nikon D700 DSLR
• Nikon D300 DSLR
• Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 Lens
• (2x) Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 Lens
• Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR Lens
• Nikon 24mm f/2.8 Prime Lens
• Nikon 35mm f/2.0D Prime Lens
• Nikon 50mm f/1.4G Prime Lens
• (2x) Nikon SB-900 Speedlights
• (6x) Sandisk 16gb Memory Cards
• Batteries, filters, light modifiers, gum and junk…

Tripod Case
• (2x) Paul C. Buff Light Stands
• Portable Light Stand For Speedlights
• Westcott Apollo Softbox For Speedlights
• Paul C. Buff Giant Softbox
• Paul C. Buff Large Softbox
• (4x) PocketWizards Plus II Transmitters

JTL Case
• Alienbee B800 Studio Strobe
• Alienbee B1600 Studio Strobe
• (2x) Nikon SB-800 Speedlights
• RadioPopper PX Wireless Transmitters and Receivers
• Various cables, chargers, brackets, adapters and light modifiers

Not Pictured
• Paul C. Buff Vagabond II AC Power Pack
• BRNO BaLens
• Digital Calibration Target
• Nikon F100 Film Camera
• Holga Toy Camera
• Kodak 400VC 135 Film
• Kodak bw400cn 135 Film
• Kodak e100vs 120 Slide Film

Now that’s a lot of stuff! I typically prepare for each job and add or remove certain items as I see fit. I can do without the laptop for many assignments as well as a lot of the lighting gear and even my film stuff. That really helps to scale down things.

So hopefully that answers some of your questions.

Enjoy!
~Mike

There are well over 2.5 million people out there who own a digital SLR camera… That is absolutely awesome! Digital SLRs are where it’s at! Sure they are bigger and bulkier but they produce a much better image overall and allow you to do a whole heck of a lot more than what a point and shoot can. However, they are only better when you throw a little know how into the mix…. If you take the camera out of the box and keep it at Full Auto or Program Mode then you are really limiting the camera’s true potential and are essentially just making it one big, overpriced point and shoot.

There are three main camera settings that will do the trick. If you memorize these three the same way you know your name, address and phone number then you will be off to a real good start.

I wrote up a nice detailed blog post about shutter speed, aperture and ISO that you should definitely check out here:

Please remember at least that there are other settings beyond Full Auto or Program Mode. It isn’t all about what brand or model of camera you have either. If you have an old DSLR then it all of a sudden isn’t broken or obsolete when a new model comes out… That new model will not do everything for you either. It takes time and work to be a better photographer. I have been shooting film a whole heck of a lot more lately so imagine how “obsolete” I must be with my $300 film camera??? Yet, I am getting some of my best work out of it!

Listen, If you want to make your pictures look better or if you want to take your photography to the next level then you have to play around with Manual Mode and Aperture Priority Mode. I am going to just briefly talk about Aperture Priority mode for sake of boring you to tears so listen up and listen closely.

Aperture Priority Mode is one of the camera settings on almost every digital SLR out there. 9 times out of 10 I find myself being more concerned with depth of field (or lack thereof) than worrying about motion blur or camera shake… Therefore, Aperture Priority is PERFECT! You set the ISO and you pick the ideal aperture for what you are shooting and the camera does the rest and decides on the shutter speed for you. There is a nice button on the cameras that has a little “+/-” icon on it. This is the Exposure Compensation button and you can set this to a higher or lower value and it will tell the camera that you actually want your image to be brighter or darker than what it is going to “assume” you want. I say assume because a camera is just a tool and it can (and will) get fooled. From experience, I can tell you that photographing someone who is strongly back lit requires around +2 exposure compensation and typically 0 to +1 for pretty much everything else. I am mostly a portrait photographer so my subject’s are always people. Things are different if you shoot nature, wildlife or landscapes and you may need to use the negative exposure compensation.

Now you’re probably asking yourself “but what should I set my aperture to? I’m scarred help me!” No worries people.

Just remember, a good rule of thumb is to set your Aperture value so that it is equal to or greater than the number of people in your picture. If there is one person in the picture then use f/1.2 or higher. If there are two people then f/2 or higher. For five people, use f/5.6 or higher and so on… If you are shooting landscapes then a good default is f/16 to ensure that everything is in focus.

The only hurdle you may encounter with this guideline is that your lens may not allow you to go lower than f/4 or f/5.6… This is common in kit lenses that come with the camera body in a set. However, this is the beauty of being able to change out lenses. You can add to your gear slowly but surely and phase out the kit lenses in lieu of ones that do what you need them to. If you want to go a little nuts while not spending a fortune then check this lens out. It’s great for portraits of your kids and stuff like that where you may want a shallow depth of field. The lens is a 50mm prime lens (no zoom). It has a fixed aperture (that won’t change on you when you zoom obviously) and allows you to be able to shoot in real low light or so you can have real shallow depth of field all courtesy of that f/1.8 aperture. All this goodness for a modest price of $125 or so:

For Nikon:
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens at B&H

For Canon:
Canon 50mm f/1.8 Lens at B&H

For Sony:
Sony 50mm f/1.8 Lens at B&H

B&H Photo Video has the best prices and I use them all the time so they are a great company with great customer service. You can’t get that off eBay or from a no name company that no one has ever heard of. Stick with the companies who are legit whenever you consider picking up new camera gear.

That’s all I have for today. Thanks for stopping by!
~Mike

Speedlights are EXPENSIVE!

I get a lot of questions where people ask me what flash I recommend for them. Now I am a Nikon shooter so I will be using their speedlight models while getting my point across to you all.

The most popular choices for Nikon shooters are the SB-600 and the SB-800 / SB-900 models. If you are a Canon shooter then many or all of these bells and whistles also differ between Canon’s 430EX and 580EX speedlights.

First, let’s address the most important thing… PRICE. The SB-600 is around $200 while the latest SB-900 comes in at around $450 and up. So far so good?

Next, the SB-600 is much smaller in both size and weight (10.6 oz. to be exact). That can be nice especially if you do not have a battery grip attached to your camera or if you have a more compact D-SLR (a la the D40, D90, etc..). The SB-900 weights in at just under a pound (14.6 oz.) and it is big! It is more solid and rugged and the hot shoe is more robust.

Now for what’s under the hood. The SB-600 does have less power but not enough to be a deal breaker. Flash power is rated in what’s called a guide number. The SB-600 rates in at 98 while the SB-900 rates in at 111.5 at ISO 100.

Since the SB-600 outputs less power, you get more shots with your AA batteries than with the SB-900. It is almost a 2 to 1 difference so it is pretty considerable!

The SB-600 is an older model so it supports both new and old TTL modes (i.e. i-TTL, D-TTL and Auto TTL) while the SB-900 supports only i-TTL. No biggie here unless you have an older camera model like the D100.

So far the SB-600 seems to be kicking some butt right? Now for where the SB-900 excels.

First, the lens coverage is pretty substantial. You can zoom your SB-900 all the way up to 200mm and that means you have yourself a nice range to do some creative lighting. I know that I have used the 200mm zoom to get more reach or to give the effect of having a snoot attached. To contrast, the SB-600 can only zoom to 85mm. This isn’t a big deal if you don’t use flashes for creative lighting or off camera flash too much.

Next, the SB-900 has the ability for the flash head to turn a complete 180 degrees left and right where the SB-600 can rotate 180 to the left but only 90 degrees to the right. This can be a pain for you bounce flash shooters like me.

You also cannot hook up an external battery pack to the SB-600 while you can use the SB-8 or 9 battery pack for more oomph and faster recycling.

In wireless TTL mode, the SB-600 can only act as a remote / slave while the SB-900 can also be a master / commander flash. If you use manual mode then you can go all the way down to 1/128 power with the SB-900 while the SB-600 only goes down to 1/64 power.

Other features that are pretty nice on the SB-900 is the ability for it to receive firmware updates, has overheat protection (which you should immediately disable), adjustable light patterns and gel filter identification.

Nikon is also nice enough to include a diffusion dome, gel filters and a built-in bounce card with the SB-900.

So what is my suggestion??? Eventually get both!

Start with the SB-600 and then keep it and get the SB-900 when you get more into advanced flash techniques. Now this suggestion goes for anyone who shoots a camera other than a flagship model like the D3s. All other models have a built in flash and many of which allow for it to act as a commander flash. D3s users do not have that built-in flash so the SB-900 is really needed simply for that commander mode feature.