Equipment


CAMERA BODIES

Canon EOS1DX Mk2
Canon EOS1DS Mk3
Canon EOS3 (film - just in case)
Canon EOSRebel T3i
Ltl Acorn 5210A Trailcam

LENSES

EF 100-400 f4.5-5.6L IS 11 USM
EF 28-300 f3.5-5.6L IS USM
EF MP-e65 1x-5x
EF 180L f3.5 macro
EF 16-35 f2.8L,
EF 35-70 f3.5 macro (Old but brilliant)
Contax 100mm macro with built-in ring flash
EF 1.4 Mk3 Extender
12, 20 & 36mm extension tubes.

FLASH & LIGHTING

Speedlites 580 EX MKll
Speedlites 550EX
MT-24 macro twin flash
Twin 135x LED Modelling Lights
Various LED flicker-free lights for video
TC-80N3 programmable cable release
Wireless remote trigger

Phototrap trip beam and motion sensor

Gitzo GT 4552TS Carbon Fibre Tripod
Uniloc heavy duty tripod with water-sealed bottom sections for standing in rivers. It's a bit weighty for trekking but always worth the effort for total rigidity in strong winds.
Various Cullman accessories for angle grips, swan neck supports etc.

Lowepro Pro Trekker 600 AW Backpack
Lowepro AW Photo-trekker Backpack (maximum allowable size for air-travel carry-on)
Peli 1535 Air Waterproof Case

Over the years I have worked with large and small set-ups. At one stage I carried around a bag with three bodies and lenses from wide-angle to 600mm. After a while I cut right back as I found myself carrying around at least four lenses which hardly got used. If you are trekking for a few weeks that's a lot of unnecessary weight!

Nature (especially macro)photography demands the crispness of prime lenses but for two reasons I rarely use them for general photography. Firstly because we can now up the ISO with the touch of a button, making heavy fast lenses less critical and therefore, air travel a lot easier. Secondly, the optical quality of Canon's L lenses is so good that my camera bag is now a child's-weight lighter with a few good zooms. To illustrate the point, the shot of the moon was taken at full zoom with the EOS 28-300L. The moon barely fills the spot metering ring of the focusing screen (which also says a lot about the 1DS mk3's sensor).

Equipment