Cameras

Nikon Z8 (June 2023 – Present)

Lenses

Nikon’s mirrorless cameras use a new lens mount called the Z mount which works with most of my existing lenses through an adapter. However, Z lenses generally provide higher image quality and more control options, without the need for an adapter. Since much of my existing F mount glass is still pretty good, I’m being really selective about investing in Z mount lenses.

• Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 S – This is the only Z lens I’ve invested in so far, and I almost didn’t because I had a perfectly good F mount 24 – 120mm. I changed my mind because I wanted to have the experience of at least one Z lens for comparison. I’m glad I did, because this lens is not only sharper than my already sharp F mount version, but it focuses faster and closer too. It is a great all-around lens and I love using it for street photography. Nikon continues to offer a high quality f/4 lens that goes to 120mm when everybody else stops at 105mm. It’s a tiny difference, but it’s appreciated. I intended to get this as part of my Z8 kit for a $200 discount, but I ended up buying it separately for its full price of $1,100. YOLO

Nikon D800 (April 2022 – Present)

Lenses

Since the D800 is full frame like my D750, I don’t need any special lenses for it. However, I’ve been learning about my existing lenses with its high-resolution sensor. My prime lenses work great with it, as does my macro lens, which isn’t surprising. I’ve discovered some more extreme sharpness dropoff on the edges of my 15 – 30mm than I can see with my D750, but it isn’t a huge issue.

Sony a6100 (March 2022 – Present)

Lenses

• Samyang 75mm f/1.8 – This is an inexpensive lens ($249) made by a Chinese company and sold under the Samyang and Rokinon brands. It cost about $250 and punches far above its price range. It’s a full-frame lens that provides a 112.5mm field of view on the a6100. The autofocus is fast and quiet, easily keeping up with subject tracking mode. Contrast is nice, colors are good, and it’s very sharp, even wide open. The body is light but sturdy. Though it contributes nothing to the capability of the lens, I like that its mount is a light champagne color rather than silver. One of my best lenses for the a6100.
• Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary – This is also an inexpensive lens ($264) but its made by the more established Sigma. It’s a crop-sensor lens that provides a 52.5mm field of view. It’s about a stop faster than the Samyang and performs just as well from a sharpness, contrast, color, and autofocus perspective. The build is a little bit more robust, with the lens hood being one of the thickest and sturdiest hoods on any lens I own. Reviews consistently rate it as one of the best lenses for Sony’s crop sensor cameras. The best part: it’s just as inexpensive as the Samyang!
• Sony FE 16 – 50mm f/3.5 – 5.6 OSS – This is the kit lens that comes with the a6100. I got it for $69 used and it’s absolute garbage. It’s very soft wide open and doesn’t get that much better at f/8. It’s a power zoom which means that it has no zoom ring, just a button that you have to hold, like on a camcorder. It’s great for video but terrible for stills where you need to change focal lengths quickly. It is a stabilized lens, which would be great if it wasn’t so bad that I never used it. It’s one of the worst lenses I’ve ever owned and it’s the reason I bought the Samyang and Sigma.
• Sony FE 55 – 210mm f/3.5 – 6.3 OSS – This is the other kit lens for the 6100 and it’s much better than the 16 – 50. It’s a regular zoom so I can change focal lengths quickly, it’s sharper (though not as sharp as Nikon’s consumer lenses), and it’s stabilized. Autofocus is fast and handles subject tracking well. Image quality is OK, but colors and background blur aren’t the best. It’s rather tiny for its range, so it’s easy to bring around with me. That makes it a good value for the $114 I paid for it. This lens was good for me until I discovered I could adapt my much higher quality (and larger) Nikon 70 – 200mm to my a6100.
• Sony Zeiss 16 – 70mm f/4 ZA OSS -Since my Sony 16 – 50 was garbage, I needed a quality lens to cover this range. The Sony Zeiss lens was well-reviewed for its sharpness and quality. I picked one up on eBay for $272 in November 2022 and it’s pretty good. It doesn’t match the quality of my Nikon 24 – 120mm f/4 lens, but it is far better than the native Sony lens.

Nikon D500 (May 2021 – Present)

Lenses

Nikon offers a full line of lenses specifically designed for crop-sensor cameras (DX lenses). They are smaller, lighter, and cheaper than full-frame lenses because they project a smaller image to fit the smaller sensor. I don’t own any DX lenses since I already have a large library of high-quality full frame lenses and the intent of this camera is to magnify the image. The only reason I’d need DX lenses is for extremely wide angle shots, which I’d use my D750 for anyway.

Nikon D3200 (June 2020 – Present)

• D3200 Review

Lenses

Nikon offers a full line of lenses specifically designed for crop-sensor cameras (DX lenses). They are smaller, lighter, and cheaper than full-frame lenses because they project a smaller image to fit the smaller sensor. I don’t own any DX lenses since I already have a large library of high-quality full frame lenses and the intent of this camera is to magnify the image. The only reason I’d need DX lenses is for extremely wide angle shots, which I’d use my D750 for anyway.

Nikon D750 (March 2016 – Present)

• Reasoning & Initial Specs
• Initial Impressions
• Final Verdict

Lenses

• AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR – great range, very sharp, vibration reduction. Far sharper than my Canon 24-105 ever was. It is truly an amazing lens. It has a great range and can be used for portraits, landscapes, and everyday photos.
• AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/4G ED VR – amazingly sharp, vibration reduction. It doesn’t quite have the same contrast and color characteristics as my Canon L did, but it is super sharp and has nice bokeh. I love it and should use it more often.
• AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8G – fast, beautiful bokeh, slowish focus, tricky aperture if you don’t pay attention. Makes great portraits when used correctly.
• AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G – fast, nice bokeh
• AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4 D – This is one of Nikon’s screw-drive AF-D lenses from the nineties. It doesn’t have an internal focus motor and requires a body with a screw drive motor in order to autofocus (D7000+, D700+, D1+, no D5000 or D3000 series). It also includes an aperture ring that must be locked at f/16 for automatic exposure. This is by far my favorite lens. It cost me about $200 and it makes beautiful images. I never thought I’d love an “old” lens so much. While it is a stop faster than my 50mm G lens, I prefer the quality of the contrast even at the cost of sharpness over the G.
• AF NIKKOR 35mm f/2 D – The 35mm variant of the 50mm / 35mm / 20mm AF-D prime series. I don’t love it as much as my 50mm but I also haven’t used it as much. I also paid around $200 for it.
• AF NIKKOR 20mm f/2.8 D – The 20mm version of the AF-D prime series. It isn’t very sharp at f/2.8 and it seems to have a lot of fringe artifacts. It is definitely wider than my 24-140mm but not by much. If I want something ultrawide, I usually use my Tamron 15-30mm.
• Tamron SP 15-30mm F/2.8 Di VC USD – I spent a lot of money on this lens ($800) and it is well worth it. It’s an amazing wide-angle lens that I used on my trip to Amsterdam in 2017. It has a fast ultrasonic motor and vibration compensation which is not super necessary at this focal length but helps due to the weight of the lens. It’s heavy because it’s good! It makes beautiful images! There is an updated G2 version that is even better.
• Sigma 150-600mm f/5.6-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary – Talk about a mega lens! This lens is absolutely huge and elicits comments wherever I bring it. I got it refurbished for $700 in 2017, which was nearly 25% off of the regular price. It has been an absolutely phenomenal lens for photos of birds, deer in my yard, and even Zach’s soccer games! It is a unique lens because it zooms not only by turning the zoom ring but also by pushing and pulling it. It includes a tripod mount and can be connected to the Sigma USB dock to upgrade its firmware and customize functions. It focuses fast for such a large lens and I really enjoy it. The slow f/6.3 aperture requires higher ISOs and it doesn’t have the best contrast but I can recover much of it through Lightroom.
• Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro VC USD – I contemplated between this and Nikon’s own 105mm VR Micro lens but it’s $800. The Tamron is $150 – $200 less and is as well reviewed. It’s a little less wide but not by much, and has vibration reduction and an ultrasonic motor. It’s really super sharp now that I know how to use it.
• Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5 – 5.6G ED VR – I bought this as a walkabout lens for trips when I only wanted one lens to drag around. While it has a variable aperture it is still pretty sharp and the large range makes it very versatile. On a crop-sensor camera it has almost as much reach as my Sigma 150-600mm on full-frame, but with much less heft. I bought this one used on eBay for $450.
• Nikon 16mm f/2.8 AF-D Fisheye – While this lens is an older design released in 1993, it still sells brand new today for $1000. I got mine used for $300 and it was a worthy investment. This all-metal autofocus lens provides a warped 180 degree angle of view. Since it doesn’t correct distortion it provides a wider field of view than my 15-30mm ultrawide. It’s super small and super light too, making it easy to tote around. I can even use it as a ~20mm lens in a pinch if I correct the distortion in Lightroom after. It’s definitely a special-purpose lens, but it’s so tiny that I can’t help taking it along with me all the time.
• Lensbaby Spark, Composer, and 3G – Lensbaby is known for its unique and inexpensive manual focus lenses. My first Lensbaby was a Spark with a few optical inserts. The Spark is a cheaper version of Lensbaby’s flagship selective focus lens where the center of the lens is sharp while the rest falls off into blur. The Spark is basically an accordion where focus is achieved by squeezing the front towards the camera and the focus spot is moved by tilting. It renders interesting results, but the Spark is a pain to use due to the need for constant pressure to keep it in focus. It doesn’t include an aperture ring, instead requiring magnetic aperture discs to be affixed inside the lens using a special too. The whole thing cost under $100 and I snagged it on sale to boot. The Spark was frustrating but the system was interesting so I later picked up the 3G used. The 3G has pins that screw in and out to set the focused area and a ring to set general focus. It still takes aperture discs, but it’s far easier to use. I purchased a used Composer a while later which replaces the pins with a ball-bearing design and another ring. Along with it I purchased a few more optical inserts, including a 12 mm Fisheye that delivers a completely circular image.
• Lensbaby Twist 60 f/2.5 – The only standalone Lensbaby I own is the 60mm Twist. The Twist creates swirly bokeh due to its Petzval design, which is one of the first portrait lens designs in the history of photography. The lens is reasonably sharp and does provide cool swirly bokey and an antique feel. As it is a standalone lens, it is much easier to focus and use than a traditional Lensbaby lens.

Canon EOS 7D (May 2010 – 2017)

Lenses

• EF 70-200mm f/4L – This  is an amazing beautiful lens. It was the first professional fixed aperture zoom I purchased and it set the standard in sharpness and contrast for all of my future lenses. It isn’t stabilized, but it focuses quickly, and has great contrast and color. Many of my best photos were taken with this lens.
• EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 – This is not one of Canon’s L lenses in name but acts like it in quality. This lens is sharp and provides a 27-88mm equivalent focal length on my crop camera. Since it is a crop-only lens, its lighter than most of my other lenses. It’s a great lens.
• EF-S 60mm Macro f/2.8 – My first macro and all I can say is “wow”! This is a crop-only lens and provides a 96mm equivalent focal length. It’s great for macro but also portraits as well. Like many macros it is extremely sharp even wide open. Another great, light lens.
• EF 24-105mm f/4L – The 24-105mm is Canon’s standard issue kit lens for its full frame cameras. I purchased this one refurbished expecting it to provide the same quality as my 70-200mm zoom. Based on its reviews it should have, but mine has a major focusing issue that prevents it from being as sharp as it should be. After my 90 day warranty expired I noticed that it wasn’t giving me the quality I expected. I did some research and found out that this lens is notorious for manufacturing variations and it is very common to get one that isn’t sharp. The only way to fix it is to send it in and pay for an adjustment.
• EF 50mm f/1.8 II – I owned Canon’s “nifty fifty” a few years ago but eventually sold it because I wasn’t using it. I used it to take many great photos of the boys during their first couple of years but eventually stopped using it after purchasing my 17-55mm and 60mm macro. It’s also the cheapest lens I had for my Canon, both in price and materials – it had a plastic lens mount, a virtually non-existent focus ring, and a loud AF motor.The glass was good but the rest of the materials were cheap. It has since been replaced with a more substantial model with a metal lens mount, sturdier construction, and faster and quieter motor.

Canon EOS 50D (June 2009 – May 2010)

It was sturdy, felt great in my hand, and had an awesome continuous burst rate, which were more important to me than video. I didn’t have any lenses for it, of course, so I had to make a big investment in equipment. I also bought something that I’d always wanted: a battery grip. What a great buy! The 50D would have given me several years of great service, but I sold it to my friend, which enabled me to upgrade to its bigger brother, the 7D.

I started out shooting JPEG with this camera and eventually discovered the huge advantages of RAW. The files were bigger but they were far more malleable out of the camera.

Lenses

• Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM – I bought this to replace my 18-55mm and 55-250mm Canon lenses in hopes that a single lens with a wide zoom range would allow me to capture better photos. I bought it right before a trip to Texas in 2010 and used it for a couple of years. I took many, many photos with this lens due to its versatility. Many of the photos from the boys’ first year were taken with this lens. Unfortunately it suffered from severe softness around 200mm, mediocre contrast, and significant chromatic aberration. I sold it after I bought my 70-200mm.
• EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS – This was the short end of your typical two-part kit lens. Inexpensive with a variable aperture and micro-motor autofocus. Image stabilization was a bonus. Overall the lens was fine but not great.
• EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS –  This was the long end of your typical two-part kit lens. Inexpensive with a variable aperture and micro-motor autofocus. Image stabilization was a bonus. Overall the lens was fine but not great.

Pentax *ist DL (May 2006 – June 2009)

I never used it to shoot RAW, which is a bummer. I have some good photos from it but they are all JPEGs and were sharpened to death by the camera. They looked good at the time 🙂

It served me well for the four years that I used it.  I even bought digital-specific lenses for it about six months before I upgraded to my 50D.  I keep it as a history piece. The quality of its images are laughable compared to what is available today.

Lenses

• SMC Pentax DA 1:3.5-5.6 18-55mm AL II – This is optimized for the 1.5x crop factor and provides the same view as a 27-82.5mm lens on full frame. It isn’t macro (.34x magnification) but it still allows close focus at under 12″.
• SMC Pentax DA 1:4.5-5.6 50-200mm ED – This is optimized for the 1.5x crop factor and provides the same view as a 75-300mm lens on full frame.

Pentax *ist (July 2003 – May 2006)

As is the case with all of my photography, I never took enough photos with it, but it worked well when I did.  I took some of my best film photos with this camera including the lily at UNH and my friend Matt’s senior pictures. I still have it and I tell myself that I’m going to load it with black and white film and take some photos so I have something to develop in my darkroom.  That’s what I tell myself.

Pentax K1000 (January 2001 – July 2003)