Gear

The type of camera an individual uses is pretty academic as far as I am concerned - a good photograph is a good photograph, whether it's made on large format, a digital slr or a camera phone.

I started out in 2003 with a Canon Powershot point and shoot. It was about the size of a half-brick and weighed about the same. With 2.3 Megapixels, I guess it was good for the time, but my mobile phone these days has double that!

I then moved to a Fuji finepix S5500 which is still alive and well and living with my wee sister. Following this, I 'got serious' and realised that to progress I would need to get a digital SLR. I purchaed my Nikon D50, which I was very happy with and despite being entry level with 6 Mp, I have prints taken with it on my

walls at 30" x 20" which look awesome.

Next, I 'upgraded' to a Nikon D80. It had 10 Mp, but really I wanted it for the slower ISO speed - the D50's lowest speed was ISO200. I still have this, and it now belongs to my wife along with the lenses and memory cards, which she is learning to use with the intention of starting wildlife photography.

Last year, I went to the 'dark side' and moved to the Canon Eos 5D. It has a sensor double the size of the D80, and the picture quality is awesome. It's fairly dated by digital standards, but gives great quality results.

I eventually hope to 'upgrade' to a 1 series Canon, more for the weather sealing and build quality rather than more pixels. I don't really see it as an upgrade to a better camera because I'm happy with the features and picture quality on my 5D, it's just not quite as tough as I'd like.

I only own 2 lenses which is all I need at the moment. I use a Canon 17-40L, which is a good lens, although at the 17mm end can be a bit poor round the edges, so I try to avoid 17mm as much as I can in order to maintain good picture quality. I also have a Canon 24mm TS-E lens, which replicates some movements from large format cameras to get great depth of field. The movements are handy for panoramic shots also.

Filters wise, I use Hi-Tech 100mm filters, with wide angle adaptors, a 105mm Heliopan polariser, and occasionally a 10 stop B&W filter for ultra-long exposures. The only other ND filter I own is a 4 stop, which helps me get the look I aim for in my photographs. I almost always use graduated ND filters - they are absolutely indespensible.

My best and most useful bits of kit however, are my eyes and my imagination, as well as a healthy dose of luck!