One of the very common questions I come across is what kind of gear do I use, what is in my bag and how I like to go about it. So here I am super excited to share with you, well the things I am gonna share is what I use personally and I am sure about it enough to endorse and recommend it to you. There are few things I don't own it but have used it enough to recommend it to you again and I will make sure to let you know where needed so that you are well aware off prior investing in any.
I do have few hacks around in case you are not yet ready to invest for the big tickets.
I love my canon 5D mark 3, brought it in 2012 and I swear by its simplicity. It do cost a bomb as its on a professional level but its worth every penny, to add the HD video quality is worth your usual commercial work. For the people who cannot afford it I will suggest Canon 6D as it has a detachable screen specially for the bloggers. If you have enough to upgrade Canon 5D Mark 4 is one to go for plus it gives you a higher frame rate for those slow mo videos. It comes with a kit lens which works beautifully for those wide angles as well as for video.
Lenses I use on my Canon
Canon 100mm 2.8 : one of my fav and its amazing for those detail shot of any product and food though it again works well for beauty and head shots. The build quality is good, the detail is amazing and quite quick to focus with.
Canon 50mm 1.8 : Its a must for anyone into photography, its easy on pocket and very versatile. It fits almost every genera but I personally love it due to its light weight, quick focus and lovely shallow depth of field is its USP.
Canon 24-105mm : Though it comes as a kit lens but don't underestimate it. It works really good for the wide angles and video making, has a good built quality with a smooth focusing ability.
Canon 85mm 1.8 : Though I don't own it personally I have used it for various head-shot assignment and the quality is worth the money, focusing ability is smooth and detail is amazing.
Its worth to understand that having multiple lenses is not as important as creating variation with one you have, lenses are expensive due to various optical reasons so do maintaining them against fungal growth. Keep it simple, because less is more.
Something which I will strongly suggested is to have some extra batteries (original only) and high speed memory card, Scandisk 64 GB Extreme pro for those who have a CF card slot and 64 GB extreme pro for the SD slots.
A good, hardly tripod is a must, specially when you plan to go pro with photography, Manfrotto has some amazing range and I personally recommend Manfrotto MT055XPRO3 055 its steady, a little heavy but takes up most of the weight even with a 70-200mm on it. The lock built is good and safe and its ability to give a top view is amazing for those product shots or food shot, I suggest buy it along a Manfrotto 494RC2 Ball Head or a Manfrotto Lightweight Fluid Tripod Video Head specially for video.
If you are planning to go pro with photography or videography, its not possible to have all the best pro lights, they are indeed expensive and heavy in pocket to maintain yet there are few things I personally use and its easy not only on pocket but easy to carry along. A ring light is worth when you wish to take those head shots, feel free to add video light dual tone for blogging and interview purposes. A pair of strobe lights is good to have, Elinchrome 400 is my go to and It works perfectly for usual product and people shots.
I have been a long admirer of Low-Pro bags and I own two of them at present. The material is fantastic and its indeed worth the money. Something I will recommend to the photography aspirants is Lowpro format 150 backpack in-case you are going pro and have enough to spend and want something for a long run I personally suggest Lowpro Protactic 450 AW Its a beautiful bag, fantastic material, holds all my equipment and 15inch laptop and easy to grab when needed. All the Lowpro bags comes with a rain cover and its right below attached to it. Spending on a good bag is must, as you will be carrying worth more important and expensive in it. In-case your are someone who travels be mindful about the bags straps and back support, something which hugs your body will put minimum stress over your shoulders.
As every graphic designer I will swear with my Macbook pro15 inch and I Mac 27 inch. Be sure about adding a few bucks on RAM as it boost your processor specially for those heavy graphic and video rendering. A TB of hard disc is a good choice, in-case you have enough to spend, do invest in a SSD than a Flash drive.
WACOM CINTIQ: I personally own a Wacom Cintiq 16 inch and its one of the most beautiful tool I have ever used, the pen pressure is amazing and its satisfying to have a feel of pen over paper. Retouching is more fun. It may sound a little expensive as its meant for professionals. Anyone who is a beginner in retouching I suggest Wacom intous medium, slim enough to slide in your bad and it doesn't need any external power source.
OSMO ACTION: I recently added it in my kit and its amazing, with a high speed card it works wonders, too good for vlogging and documenting on the go and in action. The stability is too good with a HD resolution video capability. It has various modes to go from video, to HDR to slow mo and super wide stills, the best part is the front screen which is intriguing yet very helpful.
LENS WIPES: Cleaning your equipment can be tricky with those soft scented tissue, I personally use Ziess Lens wipes
HARD DISK: As a photographer I do own a huge bank of images and I am very choosy about my storage, External (needs power source) WD elements 2 to 3 TB is my go to. I even carry a 1Tb WD portable for my daily shoot requirements to transfer files between my MAC.
For the professionals who have enough to spend on a quality storage system I personally recommend a Western Digital My Cloud EX Ultra 2-Bay Diskless its quite heavy duty and keeps your file safe.
CARD READER: Its not a good deal to rely on the inbuilt card readers in your system as they are often unpredictable, having an external card reader is must. I personally use Transcend RDF8 USB 3.1 .
REFLECTOR: SHOPEE 42-inch 5-in-1 Collapsible Light Reflector is a go to reflector for your personal and professional shots. It has 5 sides ( white, black, gold, silver and a diffuser) which do come very handy.
