So recently I received a few messages asking about my gear and what I'd recommend using, so I decided just to write about it on here. My camera is a Nikon D810 then the two lenses I use most often are a Sigma Art 18mm-35mm F1.8 and a Tamron 85mm F1.8. I primarily use the Sigma for landscapes and the Tamron for my portrait work. Since the Sigma lens is a wider angle it can distort the faces/ bodies of my subjects, though sometimes for fashion photos you can use this to your advantage by making the models look taller and leaner. The Tamron is perfect for most portrait situations, unless you're looking to get full body shots in a tight space. It doesn't distort their faces, and unlike using the 35mm I can be further away so I don't have to be up in personal bubbles to get close ups.
The Tamron and Sigma are the only two lenses that I currently use. I'm looking to add the Tamron 50mm to my collection, for when I don't have very much room during portrait shoots (such as my small studio) . As for studio equipment, I use two elinchrom D-LiTE RX 4 strobes. With one medium sized rectangle elinchrom Portalite softbox and one small octagon. For the backdrops I'm not sure what the brand is, its just a cheaper stand set I found on amazon.com with a 9ft x 6ft white cloth backdrop. The black, brown and pink backdrops I have are just material picked up at fabric stores, all are approximately 2 meters by 3 meters. The blue one that was used for "You're Beginning to Grow on Me" was one of the curtains from my bedroom at my old house. This just goes to show that high quality content comes from creativity.
You can find the approximate price for each product below:
Nikon D810 $4,000usd/$ 5,260cad (paid) $2,800usd/$3,681 (worth)
Sigma Art 18mm-35mm F1.8 (I bought this one used) $600usd/$789cad (paid) $750usd/$987cad
Tamron 85mm F1.8 $750usd/$987cad (paid) $750usd/$987cad (worth)
Strobes & Softboxes $913usd/$1,300cad (paid) $913usd/$1,300cad (worth)
Studio Backdrop (including white backdrop) $46usd/$60cad (paid) $46/$60 (worth)
Black Backdrop $27usd/35cad (paid) $31usd/$40cad (worth)
Brown Backdrop $38usd/$50cad (paid) $50usd/$65cad (worth)
Pink Backdrop $19usd/$25cad (paid) $31usd/$40cad (worth)
Four Sided Reflector $12usd/$16cad (paid) $12usd/$16cad (worth)
Monopod $25usd/$33cad (paid) $25usd/$33cad (worth)
Tripod $33usd/$44cad (paid) $33usd/$44cad (worth)
Photoshop + Lightroom $120usd/$158cad (paid/worth per year, for two years so $240usd/$316cad)
Total Paid: $6,703usd/$8,914
Total Worth: $5,681usd/$7,570cad
(all prices excluding the Adobe products are sourced from amazon.com)
Since I have always shot with Nikon, I'm obviously going to recommend a Nikon camera to anyone who asks me. Really I don't think theres too much of a difference between Canon and Nikon. Besides control positioning and possibly colour differences, depending on the models being compared. Though I have noticed there is a small difference in prices of lenses for the two brands. Newer lenses for Nikon tend to more expensive than their Canon counter parts (at least from what I have seen). But used Nikon lenses are typically lower prices for some reason, no idea why this is. As for lens brands I strongly recommend Tamron and Sigma to people even over the Nikkor lenses. I've used some higher end Nikkor lenses before but I find that they are just over priced and the Tamron/ Sigma versions out preform them. In many cases the Nikkor lenses are lighter than the Sigma or Tamron which makes them great if you are lugging around a lot of gear in the wilderness or something. To me the fact that the Sigma and Tamron lenses are heavier makes me feel that they are sturdier. The material they are made out of makes looks sleek and is very durable, both also give me incredibly crisp images even at low shutter speeds. Both lenses are very high quality and give me the results I want.
Don't get me wrong I'm no expert when it comes to what lenses, cameras or brands are better than one another, these preferences are all based off of my personal experiences and simply opinions on the matter. I really just know what focal lengths I want for what situations, and how to operate on manual. It takes a lot of researching and just time using different equipment to really get a feel for what you prefer to shoot with. One thing I strongly encourage is to do lots of looking into your [future] equipment, when I purchased my Sigma lens I had no idea that some cameras were full frame and some were crop frame. So I had no clue that I had just purchased a crop frame lens while using a full frame camera. As a result every time I use my Sigma lens I lose almost half of the megapixels that I could be using if it was a full frame lens. I still love the lens to death, but it is definitely something I wish I had known before dropping almost $800cad on it, I'm sure you can imagine how upsetting that bit of information was.
Do your research people, don't make the same mistake I made! A good way to use different equipment and see what you like the most would be to rent gear from a decent camera equipment rental store. Most have decent rates and they normally just require a large damage deposit, which is super understandable when you think about how much camera equipment is. Everyone's style of photography is different so it makes sense for us to prefer different types of equipment over another. It's really just all what you want or what is the most convenient. Like if your family members shares gear and uses Nikon then maybe it'd be easiest to get a Nikon camera over a Sony or Canon. So take you time, do your research, and try stuff out, you don't want to be stuck with pricy equipment you never use or can't stand.
Thanks so much for reading everyone, let me know in the comments what type of gear you use/ recommend. I'd love to hear some of your opinions as well! Until next time guys!