My Photography Equipment

I often carry this camera with me as a backup or secondary camera, paired with a wide angle zoom lens for landscapes or my 300mm f/4.0 lens for closeup and wider angle shots than my 7D + 300mm f/2.8 combo can provide.

Smaller and less powerful than the 580 model, this little flash is still useful.  It can be used as a remote slave and be triggered by the 580 EXII flash, or even by the build in flash from the 7D camera body.

A large aluminum alloy tripod, I use it with a gimbal head and normally try not to carry it very far because it is very large and heavy.  I have a low profile center column for this tripod so it can be used very close to the ground and is easier to carry.  This tripod is actually taller than I am, so I can have it setup with my camera pointing up and can view the screen without having to adjust the camera or bend down.

This is a sturdy little tripod head, compact enough for hiking and strong enough to be used occasionally with a larger lens like my 300mm f/2.8.  I keep this head mounted on my Induro AT213 tripod most of the time.

A slightly smaller than normal gimbal head, designed for lenses like my 300mm f/2.8 and is even very helpful with my 300mm f/4.0 lens.  The gimbal head keeps the lens over the center of the tripod to help keep it more stable.

I normally connect this to the tripod foot of one of my larger 300mm lenses.  It is much easier to carry a large lens on this opposed to the normal strap, attached to the camera, around your neck.  The weight is distributed more over your shoulders rather than your neck and the camera hangs at your side, not your chest.

This lens has a closer minimum focus distance than the 300mm f/2.8 lens, very useful for closeup, and telemacro work where more depth of field is usually necessary.

A macro lens is designed to be able to focus on objects which are only inches from the lens, useful for closeup photography of very small objects.  Commonly used to photograph flowers and insects, a macro lens is a very useful lens for any photographer.   This lens really shines when used with a macro ring flash as well as extension tubes.

A fast (wide aperture) prime lens, I often use this lens for indoor photography such as cooking or family birthday parties.  I like the quality of this lens over the 50mm f/1.8 lens which is too plast-icky for my taste.  I like this lens because it has 58mm filter threads with are a very common size.  I also really like the USM focusing which is much faster and quieter than the cheaper lens.  I would recommend everyone have this lens or at least a 50mm f/1.8 if you cant spring for the f/1.4 model.  I normally use this lens around f/2.0 or f/2.8 for increased depth of field and sharpness, however wide open at f/1.4 can help create some very creative effects.

This lens is almost identical in size to the 50mm prime and is also very easy to carry due to size and weight.  Especially useful with my full-frame 5D camera body, as a low light, indoor lens.

A kit lens, but still an important lens to have.  Most of the time I keep this lens attached to my 5D MkII camera body.  It works well for everything from wide angle, landscape photos to portraits and even wildlife when you can get close enough.

I really like this lens because it is well designed, solidly built and it does not extend externally like most zoom lenses.  I have used this lens to take many of my favorite landscape photos.  This lens goes almost everywhere with me, it only leaves my camera bag when it is getting used.

This teleconverter extends the field of view by 100% of the lens to which it is attached.  It makes a 300mm become a 600mm and it would make a 200mm become a 400mm.  This teleconverter also reduces the aperture by two full f-stops.  It would make an f/2.8 lens become an f/5.6 lens and an f/4.0 lens becomes f/8.0.

This is an aluminum filter holder, useful for landscape and long exposure photography.  Filters are large square plastic or glass and they slide into the holder.  The advantage over screw on filters is that you can use a graduated filter and adjust the position of the transition in the filter, so it aligns with the horizon.  It is also possible to use multiple filters, or multiple filters and a circular polarizer.  The holder connects to the camera via adapter rings which screw into the filter threads of the lens.  I have 77mm and 58mm adapters so it can be used with most of my lenses.

This gigantic circular polarizer goes on a special adapter on the front of the 100mm filter adapter.  The slot filters fit behind the polarizer and can be adjusted up and down, and the polarizer can be rotated as required to adjust its effect.