What's in my Camera Bag? #1

by Jo Ferguson (follow)

camera bag (1)      whats in my camera bag (1)      my camera (1)      landscape photography tools (1)      professional photographer tools (1)     

I'm often asked about the type of photography gear I use. Being a landscape photographer, my tools of trade will differ a little to those of say, a nature, sport, portrait or wedding photographer.



My Camera

I use a Sony A7R and a Sony a77 for a back up body. It surprises many people that I do not use a Canon or Nikon for professional photography. Rather than selecting a camera based on a brand, I chose to research the type of camera that suited my personal needs, and that was most useful for shooting landscape photography.

These cameras are not the fastest in response time or frames per second, but this is not a concern for me as most of my subject matter isn't going anywhere in a hurry.

The highest priorities for landscape photography are image quality and the ability to print really large. The Sony A7r has a 36 megapixel full frame sensor and so produces stunning image quality that can be printed really big and not lose any of the fine detail.



The A7r is extremely portable and lightweight, in fact the most lightweight full frame camera on the market to date. Shooting on location can involve a lot of walking and traversing difficult terrain so travelling light is a huge bonus. When paired with a lightweight Zeiss lens designed for this camera I have an extremely lightweight, portable, professional package that can literally fit in your pocket.

As the majority of landscape work is done with the camera on a tripod for the sharpest, best image quality, I chose the Sony cameras for their tilt and swivel live view monitors. In landscape photography a lot of great shots require difficult shooting viewpoints such as very low to the ground to create the best composition. Sometimes it involves setting up the tripod in shallow water. With an adjustable monitor I can easily compose the scene from any angle, without being a contortionist, getting soaked through, or rolling around in the dirt. It also makes night time landscape shooting much easier as the camera can see better in dim light than my naked eye can.

Sony mirrorless cameras are ideal for landscape shooting as the monitors have true live view funcionality due to their mirrorless technology. This allows the scene to be viewed in real live view like a compact point and shoot camera, and their is no temporary blockout when the shutter is pressed like many other live view SLR cameras.



The monitor can be adjusted to be brighter during bright sunlight. It can be programmed to show exactly what the captured scene will look like, including exposure. This makes for really intuitive, accurate shooting. It is especially useful when attaching a dark filter to my lens, as normally with a traditional optical viewfinder you would have to compose the scene and pre focus before attaching the filter as you would see nothing with it attached.

Stay tuned for What's in my Camera Bag? #2 - My Lenses


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