534 - Bear Creek
Today I’m going to dip into the alluring world of photography gear.
If you know me, this isn’t normally my cup of tea. Honestly, I’d rather talk about acid-spraying ants (one of my next shoots,) but since all my gear was stolen, I simply don’t have a choice.
Now, I should warn you that this is a fairly technical write-up. If you’re not into discussing the “magic machines” that make photography happen, you should probably just skip this one and scroll down to the pretty pictures.
Let’s dive in.
Personally, I’ve always looked at buying photography gear as the equivalent of hooking up. You meet someone beautiful, hit it off, and let your mind run away with fantasies of the future. But if you haven’t put in the time and energy to truly build a connection, the reality isn’t quite as great as you’d hoped.
Casual gear is easy. Long-term gear is difficult. Therefore, like any new relationship, I knew I had to put in the time with a new honey boo.
I spent about a month researching every possible Sony configuration. Every single lens. Every single camera. Nothing was left out.
For me it’s Sony or nothing, for no logical reason other than the fact that I grew up playing Playstation.
The crazy thing was that a chance to start clean doesn’t come along too often, so I had to make sure this setup was perfect.
For context, my previous setup was as follows:
Sony a7rIII Camera (23oz)
Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Lens (18oz)
Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Lens (15oz)
Zeiss 24-70mm f/4 Lens (15oz)
Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM Lens (53oz)
Sony 50mm f/1.8 Lens (7oz)
It got the job done. It shot high-quality photos. And the configuration covered the full spectrum of 10mm-200mm, plus it had room for low-aperture portraits.
But it had its faults. For one, this setup was fat as hell. 6.75lbs of lenses, to be exact. More often than not not, I was limited to carrying 2-3 lenses on a single adventure, so at least two lenses were always getting left behind. In addition, I rarely used apertures below f/4, and three out of five lenses featured apertures f/2.8 or below. AKA, I was constantly carrying around dead weight, and leaving even more dead weight behind.
Therefore, the ultimate mission was to reduce my setup to the highest quality of minimalism possible. And after spending countless hours surfing on the world-wide-web, I crafted the perfect configuration:
Sony a7rIV Camera (23oz)
Sony 12-24mm f/4 G Lens (20oz)
Sony 24-105mm f/4 G Lens (23oz)
Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 Lens (40oz)
Sony 50mm f/1.8 Lens (7oz)
This effectively reduces the setup from five to four lenses, increases the spectrum max from 200mm to 400mm, and reduces the lens weight from 6.75lbs to 5.1lbs. You could say I like my chicks tall and skinny.
All the while, this increases the glass quality (with Sony G lenses) on my most used focal lengths (12-24mm and 24-105mm.)
The idea is that I could carry the Sony a7rIV and Sony 24-105mm f/4 in my hand on hikes, then have the Sony 12-24mm f/4 G and Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 in the bag for niche shots. Optionally, I could throw the Sony 50mm f/1.8 in (which is ridiculously small and lightweight) if I’m planning on doing portraits or in a low-light setting.
Throw in the Peak Design Carbon Fiber Tripod, and boom. The perfect relationship is born.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. What do you have against f/2.8 lenses? And my answer is everything. That aperture is rarely used in landscape photography, so there’s no use carrying that extra weight around all the time. f/2.8 lenses could fall off the face of the Earth for all I care.
The genius behind this setup is that if I really want to get into low aperture photography (AKA portraits, products, events,) I could always get a side chick situation going that's all primes. For now, a single 50mm f/1.8 will do.
Oh, and I almost forgot the drone. I decided to get the DJI Mavic Mini Pro 3, which is a step up from the DJI Mavic Mini in my old setup.
I stand behind the mindset that unless your specialty is drone photography, having the smallest, cheapest drone possible is the best choice. Every ounce of space counts, and knowing that the drone is cheap allows you to do all sorts of risky stuff Mavic Pro owners couldn’t even dream of.
Anyway, that’s my setup.
Let's get into the actual photography from this adventure, eh?
It just so happened that the moment I got back to Colorado from California, my dad wanted to send a 3 day trip to Telluride. Now, he’s more of a biker than a hiker, so I didn’t expect to get many shots. And I didn’t.
But, it was a great opportunity to test out the new gear and get all my settings dialed in correctly before the real adventures started kicking in again.
The following shots were taken on a short hike up Bear Creek, where there was a absurdly wide abundance of aspen trees:
“Tree Whip”
Taken with Sony a7rIV + Sony 24-105 f/4 G
[ISO 2000 ~ 65mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/640s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Those curves got me. Maybe it’s all that camera talk.
“Roots from Below”
Taken with Sony a7rIV + Sony 24-105 f/4 G
[ISO 200 ~ 30mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/400s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
This second photo reminds me of something out of the Blair Witch Project. We were on the downclimb, and the forest had gotten dark and spooky from the sun setting...
I can’t help but feel like this shot is creepy for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe it’s the fact that looking into those trees almost hurts your eyes. But that’s why it’s magic.
ANYWAY. Thats my update on gear. If you're looking for a new setup, seriously just copy this one and save yourself a month of headaches. Trust me.
Toodles.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
*Please note this page contains affiliate links.
