PHOTOGRAPHY

Adam Berent

I am a firm believer that a good photographer can take excellent pictures with even the most limited equipment. However I also believe that good equipment just makes taking good pictures easier.

For me the choice of equipment comes down to the following factors:

Price: If I had an unlimited budget my equipment would probably contain a few more lenses, flashes and a better camera. However when looking at price, I usually compare price vs. possible increase of taking better pictures.

Size is not a factor for most people. After all if you bought an SLR then you are obviously not looking to put the camera in your pocket. However I require that all my essential photo equipment fit in one small backpack with room leftover for some water, lunch and a map. Form me this makes taking pictures while I am traveling or hiking much easier and at the end results in me having the camera with me almost all of the time.

Return on investment: Is this new piece of equipment really going to help me take better pictures, if so how much better vs. the price of the object. This is the hardest factor to guess. Reviews from photographers often help but they usually concentrate on new purchases.  Odds are you are not going to see a comparison of your current equipment vs. your possible choices of upgrade. Renting equipment before a purchase is an option but can get costly quickly.

And finally what is in my bag:

	First the bag is a Lowerpro Orion Trekker II, cost $49.99.  It has 2 compartments.  The lower compartment is designed for your camera equipment.  It will fit an SLR camera with a lens attached and another medium sized lens on the side.  The upper compartment is designed for loose items such as your lunch water etc.  The upper compartment also contains a small pouch for small accessories such as a remote filters etc.
	Camera is a Canon Digital Rebel XT.  Also called Canon 350D, cost $549.99.  I got this SLR on sale just after the 400D came out.  So far this camera has treated me well, it is extremely small, contains most of the custom functions required such as mirror lock and rear curtain flash synch.  It has good noise control, (way better then the Canon 300D I had before) and extremely small and light.
	Primary Lens is a Canon 17-85mm F/4-5.6 IS EFS, cost $699. This is really an excellent lens.  I am a firm believer that your primary lens should be one of the most expensive pieces of equipment you own.  People have tried to convince me to buy the 400D when it came out however for the same price I much rather get the 350D and my image stabilized lens.
	Secondary Lens Canon 50mm F/1.8 cost $99. This is really the best bang for the buck purchase for any Canon owner. F/1.8 is just spectacular in low light environments. On top of that with the 1.6 crop factor (80mm) and a shallow depth of field at f1.8 this is a perfect portrait lens. As if that was not enough the Canon 350D with the small 50mm lens attached is no bigger then a large point and shoot. Perfect for activities where weight is an issue.
	The tripod I use the most is an OPTEX T27, cost $20.  It fits in the upper portion of my Lowerpro backpack by folding down to 10 inches.  When un-folded it can span 41 inches in height.  This is the one piece of equipment I am looking to replace soon to something just as small but sturdier, however considering I have 2 other huge tripods that I never use I thought this tiny but useful piece of equipment requires a mention.

Some of the other accessories I also often use are 20GB photo bank $99, Canon remote control $20, Canon 70-300 f/4-5.6 lens $100, and several filters memory cards etc.

For image editing I suggest Raw Shooter to process raw files (always shoot raw) and Photoshop for the fine tuning.

I would estimate the total cost of my equipment at around $1700-$1800 hopefully proving that you don’t need to spend a fortune to take good photos.