Our Photography Gear

One commonly asked question is: Which camera/lens was used to capture that photo?

You’ve likely heard many times the saying “It’s not the device; it’s the user”. I entirely agree with that statement; the equipment is useless without our perspective and imagination. To me, camera gear is merely a tool allowing my visions to be captured.

That said, understanding the necessary tools is also important, so we created this article so you can view all the equipment that we use to create our images.

As you’ll observe now, many of the equipment stated below is advanced camera gear. If you’re starting in photography or this is just a hobby, don’t worry, you don’t necessitate the latest models. Like everybody, I began with the most fundamental camera kit and I was able to capture lovely images that I still cherish. It’s accurate that as you progress and find new challenges, you’ll possibly requisite more explicit equipment, like a camera and fast lens to photograph the Milky Way, or a superb telephoto to shoot wildlife.

This is the complete camera equipment thatAscen and I currently use:

Cameras

SONY A1

The Sony A1 is our goto camera to photograph any kind of genres for instance landscape, Astro, and wildlife.

This camera currently offers a well-rounded assortment of features, and the sharpness, color accuracy, and high-ISO image processor are simply exceptional.

Night photography is the primary genre that I really enjoy, especially taking pictures of the Milky Way and the Northern Lights. This setup may not seem ideal for capturing low-light scenes considering the very high megapixel count (50 Mpx), but the image processor of the A1 is optimized to offer the best quality when shooting in low amounts of light and at high ISO settings, keeping noise levels well under control.

SONY A7RIV

The Sony A7RIV is one of the best cameras to record landscapes. It contains a Full-Frame sensor with an excellent dynamic range, something fundamental to include most light scenarios. It also has an enormously high megapixel count; this is technically more demanding but lets visitors crop their picture while keeping good quality.

I would also underscore its sturdiness; this camera has one of the most resilient weather-sealing available within the market to endure challenging conditions such as rain, sand, dust, etc., something important when photographing landscapes in diverse environments.

This camera is our second best option for shooting under normal conditions.

SONY A7 III ASTROMODIFIED

This specialized camera for astrophotography captures images of celestial objects in space. It`s a Sony A7III Astro modified by Spencer`s Camera using a filter transparent to visible light and hydrogen-alpha wavelengths.

This customization allows the camera to gather more light and it’s more sensitive to a broader spectrum of color wavelength, permitting you to capture some red nebulae that are impossible with a basic camera.

You can see some examples of images using this camera in our Astro gallery.

Lenses

Here are the lenses we use with our cameras:

SONY 16-35 GM F/2.8

One of the best lenses developed by Sony. It’s adaptable, lightweight, durable, and very rapid, perfect for most landscapes and for night photography.

I usually have this camera lens installed as my default selection. After photographing for numerous years with a wider focal length lens (14-24 mm), I noticed that I was capturing most of my shots in the 20-24mm range and occasionally I required some additional zooming ability, therefore I prefer this model over other popular Ultra Wide-Angle lenses such as the Sony 12-24 f/2.8 or the sigma 14-24 f/2.8.

SONY 20 MM F/1.8

After this, you’ll find a section with the ideal equipment,time period,locations, and suggestions to photograph the Milky Way.

SONY 24-105 F/4

This lens is one of our favorites. It’s considered the most adaptable lens, and it`s what we use when we need to select just one lens like for extremely long hikes or street photography where a versatile focal distance may be required. If you enjoy travel photography, this lens must be in your camera bag!

SONY 35 MM F/1.4

This camera is our best choice to create multi-row panoramas of the Milky Way and the night sky. It’s extremely lightweight and compact and the quality is excellent. I also utilize it for recording my Youtube tutorials and videos.

VOIGTLANDER APO-LANTHAR 50 MM F/2

This option is excellent for portrait photography, capturing landscape details, and astrophotography. Even though the focal length appears limited, you can create panoramas with significant detail through stitching images together. This lens is also sharper and utilizes higher quality materials than the Sony 50 mm f/1.8 we had previously used.

ROKINON 135 MM F/2

This compact telephoto is excellent for imaging the cosmos. As a prime, highly efficient lens, it is ideally suited for capturing photographs of outer space. Additionally, as a fully manual lens, while usable for other genres, it is specifically meant for taking such night shots, though manual operation is required.

SONY 100-400MM F4.5-6.3

This particular telephoto lens offers superb optical quality and versitility. It is also my preferred focal length choice when seeking a general telephoto option.

I employ this lens primarily for taking pictures of distant sceneries and natural specifics. I also utilize it for wildlife photography (sometimes paired with the Sony FE 1.4 X Teleconverter), and the concentration is extremely precise and swift on the Sony A7RIV, even in low-light conditions. This attachment is additionally beneficial for astrophotography of the night sky and focusing on far objects like the Andromeda Galaxy and other Nebulae. As is observable, this focal length is highly adaptable and allows you to photograph a broad assortment of topics.

Though this lens weighs the most in my camera bag, it remains an indispensable piece of gear that I aim to carry with me whenever possible. Photographing landscapes using a telephoto lens presents limitless opportunities and I strongly advise giving it a try!

SONY FE 200-600 MM F/5.6-6.3

This extensive telephoto lens is aimed particularly at photographing wildlife. The added distance of this focal length allows us to take pictures of very remote subjects with excellent quality. It’s a heavy and bulky lens, so we just take it for precise trips where we know that we’ll be photographing wildlife.

SONY FE 1.4 X TELECONVERTER

We utilize this teleconverter when we require some additional reach. There are many downsides to utilizing teleconverters, such as having a narrower aperture, reducing the focus speed, or sacrificing some image quality, so we only use it when it is completely necessary.

Tripods

Regarding tripods, we utilize carbon fiber tripods that are light, compact, and sturdy. Throughout the years, I’ve used several tripods and these provide excellent quality for a fair price:

SUNWAYFOTO T3640CM

This tripod is perfectly suited for all of our activities. It is extremely lightweight and compact given its weight capacity payload, and after prolonged usage, it remains in like-new condition.

You can view a full assessment of this tripod in the video below:

SUNWAYFOTO T2840CK

Sunwayfoto T2840CK

LUCROIT HQ ND 10 STOPS

We utilize this filter generally for daytime long term exposures.

LUCROIT CIRCULAR POLARIZER

The key reason why I employ the polarizer is to do away with reflections when photographing forests, lakes, waterfalls, and any landscape where there are undesirable reflections.

LUCROIT NIGHT FILTER

This night filter created by Lucroit helps reduce light pollution, allowing clearer photos with more detail in the sky.

OTHER FILTERS

As I stated before, I don’t utilize any slope channel or exceptional impacts channels since I can recreate the impacts through various systems in Photoshop.

This article I wrote about lens filters in photography, provides more information on the different types of lens filters and their use in landscape photography. You can also check our article on filters for special lenses if you have any ultra-wide angle lenses requiring special filters.

Camera BAGs

F-Stop Tilopa V3 50L

Among the various camera bags I`ve used, this particular model has been my favorite so far.

It has the flawless design to shield the equipment, but particularly to safeguard your back when transporting the gear for various hours.

As for the internal padded segment, I employ the ICU moderate angle, which allows me to have extra space to take apparel and nourishment.

I use the backpack with these straps to add the sleeping bag and mat on multi-day hikes, and this rain cover for wet days.

F-STOP KASHMIR UL 30L 

This bag from Ascen has comparable utilities to the Tilopa model. It provides less capacity but is more compact and lightweight.

Star-TrackING

IOPTRON SKYGUIDER PRO

This is an essential item to create spectacular Astrophotos. It’s not for all, but if you’re involved in photographing the night sky and want to take your photography to the next level, this is an indispensable tool.

This model is affordable, moveable, and not extremely heavy or expensive compared to other top professional celestial mounts. Using this tracker, you are able to photograph both Astrolandscapes and Deep-sky Astrophotography. This was a game-changing element in my Milky Way photography and it helps capture an incredible amount of detail without any digital noise.

After utilizing many star trackers over the years, the iOptron Skyguider Pro is my preferred tracker.

SKYWATCHER STAR ADVENTURER PRO

This was my initial tracker and, even though I captured quality images with it, there were some aspects I didn’t favor such as the battery system and the external scope illuminator.

Presently, this is my second tracker unit, and only use it if I need another standard tracker in the field.

MSM ROTATOR

This is a lightweight device that I employ when undertaking extended hikes to photograph the Milky Way or other night sky images.

It’s not as sturdy and trustworthy as the iOptron or the skywatcher, but you can track for a few minutes using shorter focal lengths with no problems.

You can obtain a discounted price on this tracker using the code CTA when obtaining the tracker on the official MSM website.

Other pieces of gear that I use for tracking with more stability are:

• A portable solar charger
• Sunwayfoto IRC-64 lens
• Sunwayfoto DPL-08 universal L-bracket

You can see how I utilize all this camera equipment in this video clip:

Other must-have gear

HEADLAMP

This is fundamental for capturing photos at nighttime. I’ve used many terrible headlamps in the past until I found this model, which is lightweight and very effective. It can also be charged via USB using a power bank.

Minimaglite

This inexpensive flashlight has proven useful. I employ it to illuminate elements when engaging in night photography and want to include myself in the scene.

Batteries

We consistently bring three official Sony batteries for each camera on our trips. Over the years I`ve tested different third-party batteries which are more affordable, but their lifespan is much shorter as they tend to stop working after just a few months.

Memory cards

I use a Sony memory card with a large storage capacity and high read and write speeds. These cards are very expensive but necessary if you’re taking numerous photos in quick succession or filming video in high definition. All our other cards are manufactured by Lexar and Sandisk and have 64 GB of storage.

Heat Smart 3 GloVes

When snow and freezing temperatures are present I consistently utilize gloves from The Heat Company. These gloves permit me to utilize the camera agreeably while keeping up the temperature of my hands.

In this photographic tour, we obtained some of the best shots of our gallery. However, only by having the ability to spend 15 days in contact with pure nature, would have already made it worthwhile.

Drone

DJI MAVIC AIR 2S

If you enjoy comedy and satire, or you’re acquainted with the work of the playwrights of South Park, then you’ll thoroughly appreciate The Book of Mormon.

This drone is much more compact for traveling yet continues to offer remarkable quality.

I use this drone along with 5 official external battery packs for those trips where obtaining power is difficult.

Equipment for editing and storing

MACBOOK PR0 2021 M1 MAX 64 GB RAM

Powerful laptop with top-tier processing capabilities to handle my images both in Lightroom and Photoshop as well as other dedicated astrophotography software.

WACOM INTUOS DRAWING TABLET

It is used to paint details in Adobe Photoshop. It certainly aids in making a difference in that step of the processing.

WD 256GB My Passport SSD Portable Storage

This solid hard drive is a dedicated SSD for Photoshop, improving the speed and keeping the Ram memory free while processing.

WD 4TB Elements Portable External Hard Drive

I utilize several 4 TB external hard drives to save my Raw files, final images, and videos, as well as to generate backups of all the images.

Where We buy our gear

We obtain all our camera gear on Amazon, B&H, and Adorama. Amazon usually offers the best price, but I always recommend checking other stores like B&H or Adorama since they usually offer the product at the same price and include free gifts like tripods, SD cards, camera bags, etc.

Photography gear Rental

Regarding specific optics and accessories I utilize for certain trips, we usually elect to rent them. This way, if we’re participating in a wildlife safari to photograph animals, we don’t have to invest $4000 in a lens we might employ only 4 times a year.

In our case, we rent those lenses that we don’t use often. A good example is the Sigma 14mm 1.8 to photograph Northern Lights.

Additionally, we enjoy renting camera equipment prior to deciding on an important purchase. No matter how many reviews you see online, you don`t know how comfortable you feel with a camera or lens until testing it. In my opinion, it`s worth always giving it a try before finalizing the purchase.

While Outdoorsy solely offers round-trip Las Vegas campervan rentals, some owners are willing to deliver the vehicle to your campsite. Plus, the nightly rates are highly competitive, especially when using our coupon code CAPTURETHEATLAS for $50 off your rental, which also includes free roadside assistance.

No matter where you are located, if you have an interest in this, you can review our Camera Rental article where we feature the top rental companies worldwide. You can also get a 15% discount at LensRentals when booking through our connection and using our code:

Electronics insurance

As gear and activities become more sophisticated and costly, visitors will likely (and reasonably) start considering obtaining some insurance that can cover them in case any accident occurs.

The extent of coverage varies based on location. In our specific case, we have an inland marine policy from State Farm protecting our electronics (Camera, lenses, laptops, etc.) against accidents, theft, or similar incidents both domestically and abroad. This was determined to be the optimal insurance found, requiring only purchasing a home/renters policy through State Farm and adding this supplementary coverage. We currently pay approximately $240 annually for this additional protection.

And with that, the equipment we employ to generate our photographs has been outlined. Please note that we are utilizing this gear professionally and it’s sometimes meant for very specific needs since we necessitate the highest-quality images. As I stated in the introduction, most photographers don’t require high-end camera gear or the latest models, just the basic tools to produce the images that you desire.

My advice is to invest not only in camera gear but also in those encounters that will also help you become a better photographer, like participating in photography tours, reading books, or taking specific photography classes that can assist you in capturing better shots with your current gear.

If you want more information about photography gear according to your abilities and goals, I recommend checking our article on Photography equipment for traveling.

Additionally, if you have any inquiries, please do not hesitate to post them in the comments below!

Notice of affiliation hyperlinks: if you purchase any item through some of the hyperlinks that you can find in this post, we may take a small commission without influencing the final price that you’ll pay. Buying through these hyperlinks helps us to continue with this project.