What Camera Do You Use?

[Phoenixkh]

Not sure where you are in Florida, but in St Augustine (NE coast) the alligator farm has a boardwalk that goes out into the swamp/river and it's all wild waders.

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this guy I took with about 100 on a 70-200 zoom

Yeah, we go there every year for the rookery season. As you noted, 6 or 7 species of large wading birds court, mate, nest and raise their young there. The gators keep all their natural predators at bay... none of them can get by the gators to raid the nests so they are completely safe. They fish outside the Alligator farm and return home during the day with the fish to feed the chicks.... and roost there at sundown or shortly thereafter... it's quite a sight to behold.... watching them all arrive at dusk. You have to purchase a special pass to be able to stay after 5 when the park closes but it's worth it.

We're about 1.5 hours south of St. Augustine, give or take so it's an easy trip. And you are right.... you can get by with a 70-200 lens for some shots.... but as you know, since you've been there, some shots are farther away from the boardwalk and a longer lens can be a plus. Even in that smaller space, I see lots of 500 and 600mm lenses, as I'm sure you noticed.

This is one of my shots from there:

Cropped from this. I did downsize it a bit for B&B:

 

[Wogus]

Currently shooting a Nikon D850, with a variety of lenses, but primarily a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR.
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[Valerius]

I mainly use Leica M4, M4-P and M6TTL. The lenses are the classics for rangefinders: 21mm, 35mm, 50mm and 90mm.

 

[Saxonbowman]

I mainly use Leica M4, M4-P and M6TTL. The lenses are the classics for rangefinders: 21mm, 35mm, 50mm and 90mm.

Those are hard to beat. I use an M4 myself, mainly with a 35mm. Today I took along the Nikon FE2 that someone gave me last year. It was fun to use a large aperture 50mm on a manual focus SLR.

 

[Valerius]

Those are hard to beat. I use an M4 myself, mainly with a 35mm. Today I took along the Nikon FE2 that someone gave me last year. It was fun to use a large aperture 50mm on a manual focus SLR.

The FE2 has an ideal size for SLR's. I have looked at modern SLR cameras but, in my opinion, are they unneccesary large.

 

[Tony Miller]

I likley have an use more vintage film cameras than many have straight razors LOL. Nikon F and F2 (several of each), Leica m4, M4-P & CL rangefinders and a pair of Leicaflex standards. Minolta SRT-101 and SRT-102, Pentax S1a and SV. For medium format I shoot Pentax 6x7, Mamiya RB67 and Hasselblad 500CM. Probably sold and traded away as many others as I still have. For digital I use an old Canon G15 for my website pics, a Nikon D700 and a Sony A7.

I have been into photography since 1974 and for several years I did the wet plate collodion process as well as built wooden and view cameras for myself and many civil war reenactors and pro and art photographers like Sally Mann, John Coffer, Robert Maxwell and Dale Bernstein. My personal reproduction sliding box wet plate camera was used for a research project at the George Eastman House in NY.

 

[Basil]

I likley have an use more vintage film cameras than many have straight razors LOL. Nikon F and F2 (several of each), Leica m4, M4-P & CL rangefinders and a pair of Leicaflex standards. Minolta SRT-101 and SRT-102, Pentax S1a and SV. For medium format I shoot Pentax 6x7, Mamiya RB67 and Hasselblad 500CM. Probably sold and traded away as many others as I still have. For digital I use an old Canon G15 for my website pics, a Nikon D700 and a Sony A7.

I have been into photography since 1974 and for several years I did the wet plate collodion process as well as built wooden and view cameras for myself and many civil war reenactors and pro and art photographers like Sally Mann, John Coffer, Robert Maxwell and Dale Bernstein. My personal reproduction sliding box wet plate camera was used for a research project at the George Eastman House in NY.

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Amazing. I have a m4-p and CL too! Also have an f2 and it’s pretty awesome. I’ve sold a bunch lately and only have a small collection of film cameras now.

 

[CaptainGreybeard]

A nine-year old Nikon D7100 with a Sigma 17-50mm/2.8 OIS, with which I take about 80 % of my photos. The other 20 % are taken using a Sigma 10-20mm/3.5 ultra-wide, a Nikkor 70-300mm/4.5-5.6 VR tele or a Micro Nikkor 40mm/2.8 macro.

I shoot RAW, process the captures with DxO PureRAW 2 and finish them in Lightroom 6. So far, I'm quite pleased with the results, however, I'm just a hobby photographer, definitely not a pro or aspiring to be a pro.

Well, there's been a slight change since July 2022, when I purchased a Nikon Z fc in a package with the Z DX 16-50mm/3.5-6.3 and Z DX 50-250mm/4.5.-6.3. Later, a Z DX 12-28mm/3.5-5.6 and a Z DX 24mm/1.7 also went into my gear bag.

The camera gear has become significantly smaller and lighter by switching from DSLR to DSLM, and the image quality has slightly increased despite the decrease in megapixels (24.1 down to 20.9 MP).

I now process my RAW files in DxO PhotoLab since Lightroom 6 doesn't support Z fc RAW files and I don't feel like surrendering to Adobe's subscription plan.

 

[Texchappy]

Wife wanted an upgrade to her old digital rebel (T4i iirc). Bought her a refurb R5. Added several lenses in RF: have 100-400, 16.2.8, F4 trinity, 50/1.8, 85/2, and the 28 pancake. On the waiting list for the 200-800. Oh, also have the 800/11 And 2x extender.

 

[Phoenixkh]

Wife wanted an upgrade to her old digital rebel (T4i iirc). Bought her a refurb R5. Added several lenses in RF: have 100-400, 16.2.8, F4 trinity, 50/1.8, 85/2, and the 28 pancake. On the waiting list for the 200-800. Oh, also have the 800/11 And 2x extender.

I've been watching for the R5 Mark II to be released... I still haven't decided if I'm going to upgrade to a mirrorless or not. I love my 1DX 2.... It's a wonderful camera... but the future has been mirrorless for quite some time now. I haven't been following too closely. I didn't even know there was a 200-800 in the works. I have read the 100-500 is a wonderful RF lens.

I doubt I'll return to a very active photography schedule until our granddaughter is at least 3. She's 8 months old now, so I have lots of time to save up enough cash for an upgrade. My shaving gear is all but complete now, so I'll start saving up for camera gear just in case I decide to head that way.

 

[Laborking34]

Canon M10

 

[Texchappy]

I've been watching for the R5 Mark II to be released... I still haven't decided if I'm going to upgrade to a mirrorless or not. I love my 1DX 2.... It's a wonderful camera... but the future has been mirrorless for quite some time now. I haven't been following too closely. I didn't even know there was a 200-800 in the works. I have read the 100-500 is a wonderful RF lens.

I doubt I'll return to a very active photography schedule until our granddaughter is at least 3. She's 8 months old now, so I have lots of time to save up enough cash for an upgrade. My shaving gear is all but complete now, so I'll start saving up for camera gear just in case I decide to head that way.

Don’t have the 100-500 but the 100-400 is a great lens; light and sharp and even with high minimum f stop very useable. The 200-800 is new but initial reviewed very positive. Been shooting mirrorless for about 13 years.

 

[Phoenixkh]

Don’t have the 100-500 but the 100-400 is a great lens; light and sharp and even with high minimum f stop very useable. The 200-800 is new but initial reviewed very positive. Been shooting mirrorless for about 13 years.

My longest lens is also a 100-400... the EF Version 2. It's a wonderful lens, but unlike the mirrorless, as you know, when using a 1.4X converter, you lose a bit of detail... That's one of the appeals of mirrorless for me.

And the eye tracking... holy cow.. brilliant.

 

[Jim in NZ]

This is my first stop in the darkroom...

Canon 6Dii is my DSLR. Lenses include from Sigma 15mm fisheye, 24-70 2.8L (mk 1), 70-300 f4L and Canon 100mm f2.8 macro (Non-L version). Lenses are rather long in the tooth! Would love to upgrade to mirrorless, but the financial hiding is something I don't want to suffer... the old chestnut, "if you want to make a small fortune out of photography, you have to start with a large fortune!"

 

[BradWorld]

Ive been lurking in here for a bit. I am just recently returning to photography with a camera after not doing so for many decades. The Micro Four Thirds format has captured my interest. Tiny cameras with big features.

My injection back into photography was sparked by a business need. I have a business where I build guitar effects pedals. And there is a need for me to step up my video demos. So I did a mega ton of research, and ended up purchasing a camera that has been panned as a horrible photography and blogging camera by a wide variety of YouTube reviewers. The LUMIX G100. My reason for getting that camera was the huge benefits for taking videos. The audio processing is top notch. Great flippy screen, awesome video quality. And the biggest complaint is the lack of ibis and no weather sealing. Neither of which effect usage while taking videos on a tripod. The camera also lacks phase detect autofocus. But it ticked all my boxes. And the price was very affordable.

At this same time, I relocated into my RV full time and now live on a lake in Florida brimming with all sorts of wildlife. Much to my surprise, I started taking the G100 down to the lake for nature pics. Although this camera was super fun to use, the meager 12 to 32 mm kit lens, and the lower end photography related features, plus the lack of weather sealing made it less than ideal for nature photography.

My first step was to start exploring the adapting of vintage Canon FD glass I had left over from the film photography days decades ago. I have a 50mm, a 100 x 200 zoom, a 300mm prime, and a couple others. Using these already made a huge difference. Then I bought an M42 mount Helios 44-2 58mm from the other side of the world. What a beautiful lens that one is. Amazing swirling bokeh.

Keep in mind that with Micro 4/3, you need to double the focal length to calculate the 35mm equivalent. A 300mm lens is really 600mm. So, I found that capturing images of moving wildlife with a long focal length manual focus lens was quite difficult. So I bought a new model LUMIX 45 - 150 AF lens for those shots. I also got an Olympus 7mm for super wide shots.

But I felt the need to get another body for the nature photography. There were the reasons I mentioned above. But even though the G100 was relatively inexpensive, it was still a good chunk of change. And the plastic housing seems less than rugged. And I need this camera for my work. So back to the research. I ended up getting a used Olympus OM-D E-M5 body. What an awesome camera. For being released 12 years ago it still holds up incredibly well. And the still shots are amazing. It lacks a lot of the video-centric features of the LUMIX G100. But that makes it a great complimentary camera body for me. The E-M5 has an alloy metal body, 5 axis ibis, phase detect AF, weather sealing, touch screen, and a host of other great features. I am loving it. I love both cameras actually.

Sorry for the long winded story. But if you got this far, thanks for reading.

 

[RangerReady23]

Well, there's been a slight change since July 2022, when I purchased a Nikon Z fc in a package with the Z DX 16-50mm/3.5-6.3 and Z DX 50-250mm/4.5.-6.3. Later, a Z DX 12-28mm/3.5-5.6 and a Z DX 24mm/1.7 also went into my gear bag.

View attachment 1822805

View attachment 1822807

The camera gear has become significantly smaller and lighter by switching from DSLR to DSLM, and the image quality has slightly increased despite the decrease in megapixels (24.1 down to 20.9 MP).

I now process my RAW files in DxO PhotoLab since Lightroom 6 doesn't support Z fc RAW files and I don't feel like surrendering to Adobe's subscription plan.

Good to see another Zfc user! I bought mine last year and have been in love with it, after spending 10+ years shooting with an Olympus e420.

 

[BigHairyGobbler]

I use my trusty ol' Canon EOS 3 and I occassionally break out the Pentax P3N.