My Equipment
This page contains a list of equipment I currently use. I aim to use equipment that strikes a balance of being cost effective, but also durable and high quality. Some of my go to brands that meet these requirements are Manfrotto, Godox / Pixapro and Small Rig.
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Cameras
In 2023 I needed a new camera. My requirements were:
- Dual memory card slot with simultaneous recording
- 4k 60FPS video
- External Mic input
- Full frame
- Compatible with Godox Flash (with a Godox hot shoe trigger)
My main two consideration were Canon and Sony, although I did research others. I chose Sony, because of their reputation for good auto focus, and low light performance, both which are super important for my style of shooting indoors.
The contenders were
- Sony A7 III
- Sony A7S III
- Son A7R III
- Sony A7C
- Sony A7 IV
- Sony A7R IV
The Sony A7IV ticked all the boxes at the cheapest price. I did consider the Sony A7S III but was an older camera and much more expensive, it wasn't worth the extra cost for the improvements to low light performance.
So far the Sony A7IV has performed brilliantly.
This is my go to lens.
My style of shooting tends to favour the longer focal range, from around 100mm to 250mm.
I didn't want a 200mm because it isn't quite enough for situations such as photographing perfomances from the audience, but the 300mm is just enough.
I've never been dissapointed in Sony's own lenses (they aren't perfect but are definitely competitive in price).
There seems to be a trend the past few years needing the widest apature/fastest lenses. I'm quite happy shooting f5.6 - f8 on most of my shots, I find anything lower than f4 is too shallow and doesn't suit cosplay. I'm comfortable raising the ISO on my Sony A7IV to 12,800 if needed which is more than enough in 99% of circumstances.
I use this lens mostly in confined spaces, I'm personally not a fan of shooting wide, but my 70-300mm isn't practical in busy areas such as hallways, nightclubs etc.
A 24-70mm is pretty much the gold standard range for a do it all general purpose lens. In hindsight, I would have probably opted for a 24 - 105mm but at the time I did not have enough funds and needed it for an upcoming job.
I can't fault the lens itself though, it performs brilliantly.
I first used this camera when working for a drone manufacturing company roughly 10 years ago. I was my first time using a camera with interchangeable lenses and and was impressed with how many frames it could shoot and the versitility of changing lenses to suit the situation. It was also much smaller and lighter than the more common Canon DSLRs I had seen.
Main benefits
- Excellent value for money
- Good auto focus
- Small and light
- 11 fps brust mode (great for sports and fast action)
- Handles noise well, comfortable going up to 800 ISO in light conditions and 3200 ISO in dar conditions
- Interchangable lenses (E Mount)
The Sony A6000 is quite old now, and has been supersceded by the A6100 and A6400. If buying new, I would suggest the A6400 due to the following extra benefits
- Weather sealed
- Newer imporved auto focus system
- 4k video
- External mic input