Equipment List

Cameras

  • Sony A7IV - it more than meets my needs for photography. It has plenty of features and not too many megapixels (which only means super large file sizes and more star trailing in astrophotography).

  • Sony A7SIII - a recent addition, for video mainly. It has a well-earned reputation as a great camera for low-light work.

Lenses

As I most enjoy landscape astrophotography, I favour large-aperture prime lenses for their light-gathering capabilities and generally better image quality (although most high-end modern zooms perform well these days) . I also like to use primes for photographing my fast-moving dogs, so it doesn’t make sense for me to prioritise zooms over primes, although I like to take zooms if I’m just shooting landscapes, where compositions are sometimes easier to fine-tune, and where weather conditions discourage me to be swapping lenses too much.

  • Sony 16mm f/1.8 G (requires a lot of care when composing images to ensure strong foreground interest but the results can be exceptional).

  • Sony 24mm f/1.4 GM (a bread and butter focal length for wide angle (but not too wide angle!) landscape photography and landscape astrophotography). This is the lens I mostly use for videography.

  • Sony 50mm f/1.4 GM (for astrophotography and subject/everyday walkabout photography, including my dogs).

  • Sony 16-25mm f/2.8 G (a compact and tidy little zoom lens covering most of my preferred focal range for landscape photography).

  • Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 G2 (sharp, good autofocus and not too hard on the pocket).

Filters

  • Polarpro Quartzline Circular Screw-on Filters (Variable ND 6-9 Stops, plus a 3-Stop PL). I also sometimes use two filters with video for creative effect - a bluemorphic and a goldmorphic filter - which do funky things with bright light sources. I also have a 67mm Polarpro heavy mist filter which i sometimes use in astrophotography to soften the stars and create more glow around the larger stars. I’ve never been a fan of using a bulky filter system, and I find this set up is compact and easy to carry around, the filters are easy to attach and remove, they’re easily cleaned, and there’s no colour cast from them. I particularly value having the the built-in polariser on each of the ND filters.

  • For the DJI Action 5, Osmo Pocket 3 and the Mini 4 Pro drone, I use filters by Freewell (a range of ND and ND/PL filters)

Video Cameras / Drone / Audio

  • DJI Osmo Pocket 3 (a powerful little device - very high quality - and much more handy than having to carry a second main camera body around)

  • DJI Action 5 Pro (handy to have in the rain, and also for attaching inside the van, on my bike, or for POV work in the field)

  • DJI Ronin RS4 Mini - a very good gimbal and handles the Sony A7SIII and 24mm f/1.4 GM lens comfortably.

  • DJI Mini 4 Pro (a superb little drone, easy to operate, and few restrictions on where and how you can fly, although not everyone appreciates that!)

  • DJI Mic 2 and Lav Mic (works seamlessly with the Pocket 3 and the Action 5 Pro)

  • DJI Mic Mini (I tend to use this with the main camera)

Star Tracker

  • Move Shoot Move’s Nomad Tracker (a definite upgrade from the original Move Shoot Move tracker, compact yet high-performing). I still have the original MSM tracker which I can use for timelapses.

Tripods

  • Gitzo Mountaineer Series 3 (strong, sturdy, lightweight and maintainable - definitely suits my kind of photography - long exposure work at the coast and at night)

  • Peak Design Travel Tripod (for convenience more than anything as it is compact and light, but not really ideal for long exposure photography)

Bags

  • Shimoda Explorer 35L (superb quality bag - when you lift it it seems to weigh a lot, but you don’t feel this once it’s on the back)

  • Shimoda Urban Explore 30L (second bag for keeping all of my videography gear together)

  • Peak Design 10L Sling Bag (handy little man bag which I’ll often use for landscape work as I can fit in a camera, my two zooms and my filters)

  • Peak Design Tech Pouch (handy little clutch bag for all that random stuff we think we need - wipes, allen keys, tripod feet, brushes etc)