Tools
I thought I’d make the first post here about gear in case anyone is interested or finds it useful.
For context, quite recently I had to start from scratch on a (relative) budget to make a professional kit which could cover news and corporate work including events (remaining competitive with colleagues on the most up-to-date kit), and would also help me produce landscape photography prints at fairly large sizes. It was nice not being already tied into Canon, Sony or Nikon. I went with Sony.
Such a kit has to cover focal lengths from 16mm to 200mm (that’s what everyone alongside you in news will probably have, traditionally 16-35/70-200, and also covers all events), has to have focusing capability up to sports photography standards, resolution for big prints, the ability to shoot silently, and not break in difficult conditions. It also has to have a 50mm for me, and a small lens to carry obout. This is what I ended up going with:
Sony A9 ii (first choice for everything except landscapes, very reliable, tough, fast all rounder, very good for news and events, still good for everything else)
Sony A7R iiia (companion to A9 ii, much slower, worse controls with horrible AF-ON button, very good for landscapes, still ok for news and events, high resolution adds extra capabilities beyond the A9 ii including a high resolution file in APS-C crop mode effectively giving all lenses a 1.5x digital teleconverter, sensor might be as nice as a 5D mark 1’s)
Tamron 16-30 f2.8 (have to cover the 16mm end somehow just in case, lightweight, small, internal zoom, more useful than a 16mm prime because you really want something around 24mm too)
Sigma 35mm f1.4 (most critical events focal length, need at least one very fast lens for when things get unusually dark)
Sigma 50mm f2 (I’ve got to have a 50, small and light to carry every day, fairly discreet, makes a 75mm f2 on the A7R iiia with the APS-C crop button which makes up for not having an 85mm at events)
Zeiss 135mm f2.8 (the smallest 135mm for Sony, outstanding image quality, optical stabilisation is very useful, makes a 200mm f2.8 on the A7R iiia with the APS-C crop button so that’s the 200mm end covered)
Formatt Hitech Firecrest 85mm filter holder - polariser, grad, ND 2.4, ND 3.0, 1/4 black mist.
Three Legged Thing Travis 2.0 tripod
Little Godox speed light
Really Right Stuff arca baseplate/grip extender for the A7R iiia
I went with Sony because they are generally small, light and well built (the A9 ii is a modern equivalent of my old 1DXs but tiny), good value used, you can tilt the screens without folding them out to the side, there’s loads of excellent money saving third party lenses available, and the Zeiss lenses are very nice. Yes, Sony’s grips are too small, but you can always screw on a grip extender and it’s nice to have the option of a smaller, lighter camera if not. Sony’s controls are fine except for the appalling AF-ON button on the A7R iiia. The control customisation on both bodies is excellent so I don’t really need to use the slightly complicated menus, I just put the few things I might need in the my menu page.
All I need now is another 5D mark 1 (my favourite camera of all time, mine broke).
So there it is. Questions welcome to tim@timirelandoutdoor.com, or here.
There lots of other bits, like laptop, bags, waterproofing, straps, tape etc. that I've not talked about here. Maybe in another post.
Thanks for reading,
Tim.