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People I meet frequently ask me about my camera bag, and what exactly is in it. As a seasoned railroad photojournalist (30 years and counting), I am always eager and happy to reveal my tricks of the trade. Of course, there are no tricks, just carefully selected components to optimize the subjects on which I select to expend several million megapixels. Everyone is different, and I just happened to opt for Nikon equipment many years ago. As most folks know, once you select a manufacturer (Nikon, Canon, etc), it is cost-effective to stick with that OEM, for all the lenses that you purchase will fit your different camera bodies going forward.
My previous Nikon bodies have been the old film model N70, and then my personal history of digital SLRs; the D80, the D90, the D300s, the D700, the D7000 and the current body that I will probably take to the grave, the amazing D810. They have all been worthy bodies, as I have made the transition from the DX format to the larger sensor FX format. The D80 was very good, but the D90 was a great body for it’s time. The D300s was a pro body in DX format, and excellent to work with. The next purchase changed everything in terms of speed (frames per second), image quality and durability. The Nikon D700 was, and is still to thousands of photogs, one of the best bodies ever produced (at an obtainable price) for the masses. I still have mine as a backup, and still pull it out from time to time. A real workhorse (albeit without video capabilities), I still to this day recommend it to anyone who can find one with less than 100K on the shutter; it’s that good.
My current weapon of choice is the amazing and fantastic Nikon D810, usually paired with my everyday Nikkor 24-120mm f/4 lens. The D810 is everything that it is cracked up to be, although the 36.3MP files are huge! And, everyone, please take the megapixel count into consideration when you make a purchase!! The higher the resolution of the image, the bigger the file on your computer! A 36.3MP photo is NOT internet ready; as most of you know, resizing is paramount when purchasing a camera producing such glorious (and huge) photos. Personally, I don’t know that anything above 20MP is ever really needed, but that’s just my opinion; pro shooters enlarging photos to several feet by several feet certainly need it, but how many of us ever really do that.
Additionally, in addition to my 24-120mm lens, I have a couple of low light prime lenses, the Nikkor 50mm 1.8 and the Nikkor 85mm 1.8. As a musician, these come in handy at local clubs where I photograph fellow artists while on stage, usually in miserable light. My ‘heavy artillery’ for daylight photos continues to be my Sigma 150-500mm f/5.6 telephoto. This lens was more than worth the $1K cost, and I recommend it to everyone I talk to. There is a newer 150-600mm version, but I have not personally tried that one (too happy with the 150-500mm). This lens is for daylight; don’t waste your time with this after dark.
I have recently obtained a Nikon D7000, a 16.2 MP DX format body which is, I would say, a high-end amateur camera. Photos are beautiful, and it’s a great rig without killing the bank account. Again, every Nikkor lens that I own will fit this body, and the possibilities are endless, even with the Sigma 150-500mm fitted to it.
