My Camera's I have been taking photo’s for many years starting in the 60’s taking photo’s with my Mom’s Kodak Brownie.  Through the years I have used manual SLR (Single Lens Reflex) 35mm film cameras using film and slide film.  Currently I am using 2 different systems a DSLR system and a Mirrorless Camera system that I use while backpacking and everyday travel.  Both systems have advantages and disadvantages.  Always pick the right tool for the job that your doing.  I love using both of them.  So let me explain my systems to you.

The first system that I use is what I call my “Big Boy Camera”  Is a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) Camera System.  This type of system is the “Industry Standard” for modern professional photography.  My main camera is the Nikon D800 a 36mp full frame sensor professional camera  body.  My backup “Big Boy Camera” is Nikon D7000 a 16mp cropped sensor camera body.  Both Camera body’s are awesome cameras and I love to use them.  I have good “glass” or lenses that I can interchange between both body’s.  My favorite all around lens is the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens.  It falls mostly in the focal range that I shoot in and is on my camera 99.9 % of the time.  I have a Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 which is a great lens for portraits and all around photography.  Its a big heavy lens so toting it around for long peroids of time is a chore but a fantastic lens.  I have a Nikon 18-35mm f3.5-4.5 lens that I don’t use a lot but is a fairly good lens and is inexpensive. I have a Rokinon 14mm f2.8 for fisheye shots nightscapes etc… This is a very sharp lens its manual focus and inexpensive.  For macro photography I have a Nikon 60mm f2.8 macro lens that was inexpensive but very good lens.  

This “Big Boy Camera” System is the system that I take to Portrait photo shoots, Landscapes that I’m going directly to like waterfalls , sunrises , sunsets.  I also use this to do shoot events like birthday parties, retirement parties and the such.  I use it for studio work when I do product or still life work.  

The other system that I use is a Mirrorless system.  One of the major advantage of this type of system is that its smaller , lighter but still has great quality.  It has more bells and whistles than my “Big Boy Camera” and is a real fun camera to shoot with.  The system I use is a Sony A6000 a 24mp Crop sensor camera body.  I have a Sony18-105mm F4 Lens this is a great walk around lens.  I also have the Sony 10-18mm f4 wide angel lens.  This is a super lens sharp and gives a great wide perspective and great for Landscapes.  I have a kit lens that came with the camera a 16-55mm which is a 35mm equivalent to 25-75mm in my favorite focal range.  Another cool thing about this camera is that I can use some of my old film camera lenses and 

some of my nikon lenses like the macro on this body.  When I use these lenses the camera is in full manual mode for some this might be a big deal but I grew up on fully manual cameras so this is really kind of fun.

The mirrorless Camera system is what I use when I do my backpacking because it is lightweight and so versatile .  My “Big Boy Camera” with the 24-70mm lens weighs 7 lbs.  My Mirrorless camera with the 10-18mm and the 18-105mm Filters  and Bag wight 5 lbs.   So Hiking I get more bang for my buck.  This is a fun camera and fits well in my hand and is my carry around with me everywhere camera.  Maybe in a later blog I’ll go over the pro’s and cons between DSLR and Mirrorless systems.  Well that about covers my camera systems of course I didn’t talk about strobes or lighting at all and Tripods !   You know I can do a whole blog on just tripods.  Maybe later.

I have a couple of other camera’s that I use from time to time.  The first one is a point and shoot camera (Lumix) that was converted into a infra-red camera.  Infra-red gives a new perspective or should I say look.  I’ve but an example of what this little camera can do in this post. Notice how all the greens turn white giving a snowy look.  I don’t use this much but when I do Its a real stunning change to a dull scene.

The last camera that I use mainly when Im backpacking is a waterproof point and shoot camera (Fugi XP) that can give a real cool perspective of a waterfall from underwater or very close to the water surface without worrying about the camera getting wet.  Well thats about it maybe Ill do some blogs on these unique camera’s.

Keep Shooting!

Somerset Plantation House

Water1-2

Filters are becoming a thing of the past.  But for a landscape photographer they are one of his best tools.  I am a photographer who started in the film era where there was no "Chimping" or "Photoshop" where things could be corrected after the fact.  You had to get it as right as you could "in camera."  Most filters nowadays can be duplicated in some sort of editing program like Photoshop or Lightroom.  The problem here is the more that you do in post- production, the more the image is damaged.  My goal is to get it as good as I can "in camera"  and then take it to Photoshop or Lightroom to do final touch up.  I consider this to be the best way to get good photographs.

There are all shapes and sizes of filters.  They come in round, square, screw mount, and filter holder systems.  Filters help the photographer let you see what he sees.  When I have unwanted light, like in a sunrise or sunset, I use a graduated neutral density filter to tone down the brighter part of the frame so I can pick up some detail in the foreground.  Without the filter you get the foreground under exposed and the background over exposed.  So we use filters to trick the camera.  There are all types of filters.  I mentioned a neutral density filter, but there are many others from polarizers, UV filters, and colored filters.  The main filters I use are  neutral density filters that darken all or parts of the photo without changing the color.  There are different types of neutral density filters -- plain, graduated, soft graduated, and hard graduated.  These filters help you take photos when the light is very difficult to get the correct exposure, like with sunrises and sunsets.  They can also bring out detail in flat light.  The sunset below was taken with a graduated neutral density filter attached to tone down the bright sky and bring out detail in the foreground. Polarizers are the other type of filters I use.  Polarizers are like sunglasses for your lens.  When you put on a pair of sunglasses, notice how the grass, sky, and things just pop?  The same thing happens with this filter.  It will take the glare off of water and shiny things.  It will also enhance the sky, making it bluer that you normally see it. The polarizer is the only filter that cannot be duplicated in post-production.

I use two different styles of filters -- screw-on filters and ones that require filter holders.  My main filter system is made by Lee Filters.  I use their filter holders and filters.  This type of filter can be very expensive, but it's because they are handmade.  Here is a link to a YouTube video of the Lee Filter Factory --  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMu_m203YaY   It's very cool to see how they are made.  Filters can enhance your photos if you give them a chance.

Keep shooting!!!

Lee Filter Holder Filters Holden Beach Pier SunsetHolden Beach North Carolina.

My View Charles Bunion Hey everyone! I just finished putting together a video of a trip to the Charlies Bunion rock outcropping on the Appalachian Trail. The trip started with a long drive Thursday night to Newfound Gap in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We got there about 12 midnight, slept in the car, and got up to see the sun rise. We hiked the Appalachian Trail northbound until we got to the "jump off," which is about two miles in and one-half mile off of the trail, and it had great views. We then hiked the rest of the way to Charlies Bunion where we ate our lunch and enjoyed the view. After lunch we connected just past Charlies Bunion to Dry Sluice Gap Trail and took it south until meeting the Grassy Branch Trail that we took to Kephart Shelter, all in all about eight miles. The shelter housed about eight campers that night, and when we awoke there was rain and thunder. We waited for an hour for the thunder to stop before we started hiking in the rain. The temp was in the mid to low 50s, and we hiked uphill in the rain for about four miles. Along the way, we came upon three small waterfalls. We made it back to the Appalachian Trail and hiked back to the Newfound Gap parking area that was full of people.  I just put together the video of this trip, and you can go to it with this link.  Please check it out and tell me what you think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq44VvLWsMw