How did it begin part 9?
Welcome back to another part in the series, today will be a shorter blog as in this segment I am going to talk about the equipment I have used and currently using for my photography. I will try and include photos where I can of my own but there are some items that I don’t have anymore so I will show an image from the website from the brand which I have used it from. As you’ll see I have gone through a few cameras over the last 8 years and there has been lessons learnt. We will start from the very beginning and what I used at first…
Apple being one of the biggest companies in the world have produced revenloutnary products such as the iPhone, iMac, Macbook’s, Apple Watch and much more. One product which will remain special to me is my iPod touch 4th Generation which I kindly got for Christmas by my mum and dad. This device I used so much everyday, I absolutely loved it to death. At the time I thought this had the best camera which it did. You compare it to the modern day iPhones and sadly it’s not even close. The fact it was the first iPod to also do FaceTime which was a huge innovation to any tech product. I took many many photos on this iPod and it served me well until I was lucky enough to get a refurbished iPhone 5C which sadly died after a year and half.
A very dusty and very scratched iPod touch, I haven’t charged it but it does still work to some extent. Yes I can’t really play many games on it as they require the more recent IOS updates but it still works.
Funny story when I got this iPod, I tried out the headphones and they sounded good, what I forgot to do was take them out of the slot and low and behold I snapped the headphone jack port which meant that part of the headphone was still in there and I couldn’t get it out. It is still in there to this day (16th August 2023)
The camera on the back was a staggering 0.7MP, my camera now has 30.3MP. It is staggering how far technology has come to now have iPhones with a 48MP camera inside of it. At the time I thought hey this is really good, now I compare it to what I have now and it’s very very shoddy.
After I used the iPod touch for a few years I then started to use a Lumix camera, now when writing this I couldn't find it but I know I had it around the house somewhere. I have always said to people that I have been doing photography for 8 years which is true, technically I have been doing it longer but taking it more seriously it has been 8 years. The first couple of years were just me taking quick snapshots and pictures on the iPod touch but the Lumix camera was the one that got me thinking of taking it a bit more seriously. It was an all in one camera so the lenses were not changeable. It served it purpose for about 4 and half years from 2013-mid 2018.
In that time I used the camera when we went to Florida in 2013 (I didn’t do any editing at the time, that came later), I used it when I went away to a couple of places in the UK and visiting Copenhagen in 2016. I took over the Lumix camera and made it mine and was using it a lot. It was a really good basic beginner camera to use.
In 2017 I went on a trip to Florida with my brother for my 18th and his 21st, it was just the two of us, it truly was (excuse the pun) a magical trip. So funny story time with this camera…
My brother and I went to Blizzard Beach, it is a fun water park with a winter theme. We then decided to head to the Magic Kingdom after, so off we jumped on a bus to a hotel and then had to transfer to another bus to the park. Half way on the journey to the Magic Kingdom my brother says to me “just double check you have the camera”, I look in the bag and it wasn’t there. Turns out I left it on a bench outside the Winter/Summerland manifold course. So we got to the Magic Kingdom, stayed on the bus, headed back to the hotel, then got on another bus back to Blizzard Beach and you know what… THE CAMERA WAS STILL THERE!!! (Panic over). Anyway this camera had been to a few places in its time and I took some quite decent pictures as well.
Mid 2018, was the first year I ever used a Canon Camera. The good Canon 1300D, it is a firm favourite with those starting out in photography. It has all the features you need including a video feature (if that’s your thing) It was a standard camera with a APS-C sensor which meant that the photo would be cropped down already so you wouldn’t get as much in the photo. The camera came as a kit, the main body and two lenses which one I still have. It came with a 18-55mm ƒ3.5-5.6, and a 70-300mm ƒ4-5.6. This meant you had a sort of wider angle lens and a telephoto lens as well. I used this properly when I went to RIAT (The Royal International Air Tattoo) for the first time. I used the 18-55mm for the static aircraft on the ground and the 70-300mm for the air displays.
The Canon 1300D was a good sturdy body and had a built in flash which at times I did use until I got myself a proper external flash for a camera. This camera took thousands of photos and it last for about a year and a little but from June 2018-September 2019.
I didn’t use this lens all that often it was mainly for when I was at RIAT. I tended to use the 18-55mm for all my street photography when I was in London. Sadly I don’t have the 18-55mm lens as I upgraded to have a better lens.
In 2017 I always had this weird dream of wanting to vlog my life, I watched a lot of YouTubers and got really hooked so I found myself a small Canon Camera on Amazon which was my first ever mirrorless camera. The Canon M3 (which I had not done any research before) was the one I purchased. You know in life you have those purchases that are like why did I do that?? I think this was one of those purchases. I look back on it and thought hey I could do some good stuff with this camera, turns out I didn’t really use the camera for a while. In 2023 I have it as a back up camera as it is light and easy to use. About a year and half down the line I brought an adapter that allowed me to use my lenses I had already on the Canon M camera because the Canon M uses different lenses.
It was a compact camera but it is a very good back up camera to have. This comes on me on trips recently (2023) just if I want to film anything I would film parts of my trips. It has a flip up screen which is good for if you want to vlog so you can see yourself on the screen.
In 2018 I decided to take my photography to a next step, it's all well and good taking all these photos but where am I going to store them/edit them?? I invested in a top end MacBook Pro 15inch with Touch Bar. This was going to be my work horse, I would be using this a lot of the time and would be coming everywhere with me. 2018 was the start of me using Adobe Lightroom to edit my photos which was the next huge step in my photography journey.
The specs for this MacBook Pro-
2.9GHz 6-core 8th-generation Intel Core i9 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.8GHz
Retina display with True Tone
Touch Bar and Touch ID
Radeon Pro 560X with 4GB of GDDR5 memory
32GB 2400MHz DDR4 memory
4TB SSD storage
This was a huge investment which lasted me 4 years because I decided to upgrade to a new MacBook Pro because of the new Apple chip inside. I did so much off this device, so many photos edited, music creations through Logic Pro and also many films watched too. I sold this MacBook Pro to someone on eBay at the end of 2022 and the journey of my 2018 MacBook Pro came to an end.
Alongside my MacBook Pro I had my iPad Pro which was great to have when editing my photos while on the go. Especially when editing photos in the car or on a plane. I brought this in 2018 and had this iPad for 4 years until I traded it and got a newer version of one which came in handy if I didn’t want to get my MacBook Pro out infront of people. I also had the Apple Pencil 2nd generation which helped a lot when editing on Lightroom so I could get stuff more accurate.
Also in 2018 I upgraded my camera from the Canon 1300D to the Canon 80D which was also a APS-C sensor (cropped sensor) but was a step up from the 1300D. With a better megapixel count and better overall specification. I brought the camera just the body on its own which was a decent price. Along with the body I brought a better lens to go with it. The 16-35mm ƒ4. This was also the first red ring Canon lens I had brought which as photographers know they aren’t cheap but I found a good deal. I also had the 18-55mm, 70-300mm still which i could still use on the Canon 80D. I was in the market as well for a wide angle lens too. I achieved that buy purchasing the 10-18mm wide angle lens. On-top of the red ring lens I also made a purchase for a prime lens which is one focal length, I brought the nifty fifty, the 50mm ƒ1.8 is a lens any photographer should have. The low aperture makes it perfect to capture those striking details.
Disclaimer you will see an attachment at the bottom of camera which is a battery grip. This allows two batteries at one time which means you can be out shooting more photos than changing a battery every 300-400 shots. I didn’t get the battery grip until July of 2021.
Canon bodies are usually very well built and this felt so much better to hold and use while I was shooting photos. When I had the battery grip added in 2021 it felt ever better and definitely helped for portrait shots.
As I don’t have the 16-35mm ƒ4 anymore (which I am in the mist of replacing soon) it was a very good lens to have. On a full frame camera such as the 6D Mark ii this lens would be equivalent to the 10-18mm on an APS-C camera. It captured such a wide area in different areas. It was perfect for nature photos and really getting that detail.
In early 2019 I made some more investments and brought a couple of other lenses, one being the 24-105mm ƒ4 which is my work horse lens. I also brought the 70-200mm ƒ4 IS ll which was my first canon L lens which is distinct because of its white colour. This was going to work for me as I was going to use this more in daylight situation, if I was going to use it in low light I would have had to get the 70-200mm ƒ2.8 which was way more expensive.
The 80D also had a flippy screen which is good when you're taking low down shots so you can see what you are shooting. The live view would be viewed through the screen instead of the view finder.
This was the wide angle lens, 10-18mm. It was one of my favourites as I loved the wide angle photos that I took especially in nature areas. I didn’t have this lens for much longer in 2018 leading into 2019 as I would upgrade the lens for a better one.
I sadly don’t also have this lens but like the 16-35mm I am upgrading this one potentially be the Sigma 50mm ƒ1.4 which would go to a lower aperture. This lens has been through a lot as well, this came with me to different places. I would have this alongside my 16-35mm and my 24-105mm in my camera bag which would make the triple.
The 24-205mm which to this day is my favourite lens I have ever used. It has come everywhere with me, every London trip, my New York trip, every RIAT show and so on. This lens would always be in my camera bag without fail. I would be lost without this lens.
I used this lens a couple of times in 2019 when I went to Heathrow to capture the aircraft landing. Now it wasn't the best as there was a lot of trees in the way but with what I did capture this lens was really good. When I went to RIAT in 2019 I used this lens and it was such a big improvement. This lens focused quicker compared to the 70-300mm lens that I had. This lens got replaced by another lens in 2022 which we will come to later on.
Not much happened for a few years, I didn’t get any new lenses because we hit a little known thing in 2020 called Covid-19. This put a pause on photography and I was on furlough from the company I was with so I saved money on not purchasing anything photography related. Roll on 2022 where I made some upgrades to my camera and my MacBook Pro
Let’s start with the camera, I decided to upgrade my camera to a full frame and I brought myself a Canon 6D Mark ii, I read some very good reviews about it, I did buy it second hand but it was in very very good condition (basically brand new). This camera was a huge step up with better megapixel and so much more. This camera came with me to New York which I was very excited about. So I actually had my Canon 80D and my Canon 6D Mark ii alongside my Canon M3 too.
My 6D became my new workhorse camera. Many many London trips and with this camera I took my favourite photo of all time. Sadly in July of 2023 after a year and a bit with the camera it had an error moment which sadly killed the camera. The shutter decided to have an error moment which stopped half way through at the RIAT airshow (which I am going to be honest that airshow will be the death of a couple of items).
This was the day that the Canon 6D Mark ii died. In the Abingdon Hilton Garden Hotel, it was a sad day and I was very stressed.
Next I upgraded my MacBook Pro 15 inch. Apple have moved away from the Intel chip in their MacBooks to have their own silicon chips which means that they are more powerful and my goodness I could tell the difference straight away with the new MacBook Pro. The fun thing was is that I got this new MacBook the day before I headed to New York. It was super exciting to have this ready and set up for my huge trip away. Like my previous MacBook I do everything off this device inducing writing for my website. I decided not to go full spec and just went with a base model with upgraded storage to 512GB. I then brought two SSD’s external hard drives at 2TB which would be a place to store my photos.
Also in 2022 I brought myself a new lens which would become my replacement to the Canon 70-200mm ƒ4. I found on Amazon the Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary lens. I have read some very very good reviews about this lens which I then bit the bullet and brought it. It was a fraction of the price of high end Canon lenses. This lens I would use in landscape environments, capturing things from further away, capturing the beautiful animals in nature such as squirrels and birds. This would be the lens I would use for RIAT 2023 which would make my images so much better because I could capture the action even closer than I could have done before.
This was the lens at 150mm.
This is extended to 600mm, it is a heavy lens to hold for a long period of time.
Sadly the same time as the Canon 6D Mark ii, my Sigma lens got affected by the rain at RIAT which caused it to mist at the front element of the lens. This sadly happened on the Friday flying which wasn’t great and I learnt the hard way that this lens was not as waterproof as I thought which now has prompted me to buy a waterproof sleeve for my camera and lens. As I am writing this (16th August 2023) the lens is currently with Jessops and they as assessing it to see how much it’ll cost to fix.
When I found out that water had affected the lens I got back to the hotel room panicking trying to figure out options on how to fix it a bit. I went to Screwfix and B&Q to find really specific screwdrivers and sadly they didn’t have them. The lady at Screwfix said get a plastic bag and get some rice and soak it in that. Lo and behold it actually worked a bit, sadly it didn’t fix the front class that misted up. Hopefully it can fixed soon because I do miss having this lens a bit because I want to try it with my new camera that I have.
This now leads me into the current day, after hearing that my 6D was not looking great I had to jump onto finding a new camera, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to have another 6D again. I set myself a decent budget and to make sure I don’t go over it. Disclaimer I did go a little bit over budget but for a good reason. I headed to eBay and searched cameras which would be similar to the 6D. I got myself into a bidding war for a Canon R which is something different for me. Sadly on the last day of the bidding it shot up massively in price and I was like nope. About an hour or so later I found the same camera for a little bit more than when I bided for the other one. This one was buy now which definitely helped. The added bonus was it came with the adapter so I could use my other lenses and also it came with the actual Canon battery grip instead of a 3rd party one. It came packed in box and it was brand new (all under £1000) I found myself in a good position.
The Canon R is a very different shape design compared to the 80D and 6D, I haven’t used this camera much as of yet due to work commitments but I am off on a trip which I will get to use this more and capture many different photos through it.
Connected with my favourite lens it looks so beautiful and with that 30.3 megapixel means that it can capture more of that sharpness in photos. The first time I used it was I went to London for a few hours and tried it out and I was very much in love already with the camera. I have to get used to the digital viewfinder which basically replicates what you see on the view finder screen.
There was a few other items that I use within my photography, I have had two tri-pods which my newest one is made of carbon fibre which you can defintley feel when you compare it to my other one. I use a lens filter for my 24-105mm which helps with making things pop in photos such as clouds so that the highlights are not overly exposed. You can also have not enough SD cards, I think at one time all my SD cards would add up to 1.6TB of storage just on various SD cards. It is very handy to have multiple SD cards just incase one decides to fail. To this day I haven’t had that as of yet (touch wood). Somehow I also have ended up with multiple batteries too which helps when you're doing long photography shoots such as RIAT for example.
That now leads to the end of this shot blog. This has now given you an insight of the equipment I have used over the last 8 years and a bit. From the various cameras that I have used from the iPod Touch to the new Canon R. It has been a journey so far learning with new equipment and teaching myself getting better at achieving better photos through the various cameras and equipment I have used.
Thank you for reading this part of my blog, as we speak I am in the middle of a writing a magical blog (no pun intended), stayed tuned for that segment and in the mean time feel free to follow my instagram to see photos being posted as often as I can. Thank you for your support and I will see you next time!
