Updated JULY 2023

Three Ground Rules:

  1. DO NOT buy poor quality gear that will fail

  2. If your images are poor, DO NOT believe this is because you don't have the latest and most expensive gear

    • Bad photographer + inexpensive gear = bad pictures

    • Bad photographer + expensive gear = bad pictures + broke photographer + angry spouse

  3. Before you buy, know WHY. If you don't know why you need a $6k Sony a1 vs an entry level camera at $499…

If you are a hobbyist or aspiring professional, the 90/50 rule usually applies:  gear that gets 90% of the quality and functionality for half the price of the top of the range is often the best purchase.  If you are a full time pro, the cost-benefit decisions are not as easy.  Regardless of skill and aspiration level, shooting on manual, shooting RAW files, a 6-in-1 reflector-diffusor kit, and a $10/month Photoshop-Lightroom CC subscription will get you going in the right direction.

There is so much info available online for either free or for a minimal monthly fee which is far better than blowing $50k or more at photography school for a degree nobody will ever ask to see and one which won’t get you a job.

If you’re hell bent on parting with $50k, Venmo me $10k and I’ll let you follow me around for six months. You’ll save 3 1/2 years of your life, and have an extra $40k in your wallet. Spend $10k of it on gear and put the remaining $30k left over to put toward a house… seriously.

 

CAMERAS

Sony a1 - (2x) The flagship Sony mirrorless full frame and it’s spectacular. This is one of the only five cameras currently manufactured with an electronic shutter usable for moving subjects. At 50 Mp, it does hi-resolution, and with 30 fps, it shoots very fast. Do you need 50Mp for sports? Sort of... having this amount of resolution is that you can throw it into APS-C mode and your 400 2.8 becomes a 600 on the fly. No teleconverter, just a button push on the lens. Yes, you lose resolution but you go from 50Mp to 22Mp, which is the same as the Sony a9/a9ii, Nikon D6, Canon R3 - so you essentially lose nothing. On the 70-200, it becomes a 70-300, which eliminates the need for a 300 when shooting indoor sports like volleyball and basketball. When you shoot with strobes, the sync speed on electronic shutter is 1/200 and 1/400 with mechanical.

Sony a9 - I still have one of the original a9’s as my third body.

Sony Imaging Edge Mobile - Quick version: Imaging Edge is great will transmit a full sized JPEG to either your mobile phone or an FTP server. It's not intended to take the place of a USB or Ethernet cable when transferring RAW files to your computer on a shoot so don’t complain about it not doing something it was never intended to do!

 

LENSES

Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS - top class 400 2.8 and weighs just over 6 lbs

Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS - this lens is NOT going to work on Friday nights, but it’s spectacular during the day and in properly lit professional venues (NFL, MLS, MLB, D1 college stadiums). This along with a 70-200 gives you 70-600 with no gaps. Must have lens for $2k.

Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II - the version II is better in every way and far lighter than v I

Sony FE 24-70 f/2.8 GM - same as above - self explanatory and a great lens

Sony FE 85 f/1.8 - great 85mm at 1.8, a steal at around $500

Canon 15mm f/2.8 fisheye - With very few exceptions, all of the wide-angle shots on my site were shot with a 15mm fisheye.  What it does is not always needed, but when you do need one, nothing else does it.  Very pleased with this lens and cannot recommend it enough.  The Sigma 15mm fisheye is great too. Before and after a game, this is usually on one of my a9 bodies to get closeups of pre and post game scenes and when the stars and planets align, something epic happens.

 

LIGHTING

FJ Westcott FJ400 - I have 10 of them and they work great

FJ Westcott FJ200 - 2 extras if I need 2 more or are doing a small location shoot.

 

MODIFIERS - I use all umbrella-style soft boxes, not really interested in spending time with softboxes which have to be assembled and disassembled each time you go somewhere.

Glow - great softboxes from Adroama

Westcott Rapid Box Octa and several other modifiers - great stuff from FJ Westcott

 

HARDWARE / CASES

Think Tank - their cases cost a little more than some of the other brands, but you're not going to have to buy a new one every 12-15 months because these things don't fall apart.  I use the Production Manager 50, Glass Limo, and Airport Security v3 which is sized to the exact specifications for a domestic carry-on.

Think Tank Part II - in addition to their cases, I also use their Hydrophobia series when the weather does not cooperate.  Both their 70-200 and 300-600 are great and provide everything needed to shoot in extreme weather conditions.

Impact C-stands - great and less expensive alternative to some of the other more expensive brands out there, OEM versions of Kupo.  Whatever brand you go with, make sure to get something with a Turtle base that breaks down with twist and release locking legs.  Needing a monkey wrench, pliers, and tools to assemble C-stands is so 10 years ago.

Manfrotto - I use Manfrotto tripods, heads, as well as several pieces of hardware-grip, none of which have ever failed. Their 1004 stackable stands are fantastic, I have about half a dozen of these... light weight, take up minimal space in transport, and solid construction.

Tamrac - I have their Anvil 27 and Adventure 75 (5375) backpacks. The 75 and I've taken it literally everywhere and it's in almost the same condition as it was when I got it close to 10 years ago. The Anvil 27 is bigger and holds more stuff and it gets too heavy!

SKB Double Wide Golf Travel Case - a great way to put a whole lot of extra items needed for a shoot into a single, rolling case for transport.  Along with my Think Tank bases, I'm able to fit multiple softboxes and stands, along with backdrops and everything else I may need for a day into this.

 

SOFTWARE/COMPUTER/SERVICES

Adobe Photoshop CC - it is what it is. You might be able to get away with Photoshop Elements but at $9.99 a month for Photoshop AND Lightroom Classic CC why bother.

Adobe Lightroom Classic CC - excellent way to organize and quickly process large quantities of photos for the above mentioned $10 a month for both Ps and Lr.

Photo Mechanic - the ONLY way to go for sorting through hundreds of images in the field at a sporting event or any event where you have shot a large number of images. Wedding and event shooters, you need this too.

On1 Photo RAW - essential software package with 7 apps for under $125 

DxO Nik Collection - same deal as On1 Photo RAW. Great that DxO has picked it up and is now selling and offering support for this.

SmugMug - this is what I use to get photos to clients and serves as an offsite backup of everything I’ve ever shot. Includes a free app which works great. They really need to add FTP capabilities so we can upload directly from a camera during a game/event.

PicDrop - with SmugMug not having FTP, this is what I use to do this during a game.

Squarespace - this is what you are looking at right now - around $100 annually.

Apple - MBP 2021 M1 Max, MPB 2013, Mini i5 - I own three Macs, I think they are numbers 35, 36 and 37 going back to 1994.  The Mini i5 has an external BluRay-DVD-CD burner and it's only purpose is for burning archive safety copies. The 2021 MPB M1 Max is my primary Pro Tools and photo editing workstation which I also use for shooting tethered. I keep my 2013 MBP around if I need another computer but mostly because it’s not really worth selling.

BenQ monitor - Don't get caught up with the size of the monitor.  Using a 60" 1080p HD TV may impress your clients for a few minutes because it's big, but your images will look poor and your edits will look even worse.  You're going to need at least a 2560x1440 and preferably a 4k monitor to make proper edits.

 

OTHER

Sony Tough SD cards - always have several cards and get the fastest cards you can afford.  The great thing about these Sony cards is they don’t have that STUPID protect switch which is a holdover from 10 years ago and at some point will either get bumped or broken off. I have about a dozen Sony SD cards, and none have ever failed me. Used to use SanDisk and Lexar. Had several SanDisk 128 GB SD cards which fell apart and with Lexar being sold and resold several times, I’ve moved on to Sony. For SD, I use both the 300MB (G) and 150MB (M) cards for RAW and JPEG respectivelyly.

ProGrade - These are great. There are only two options for these 160MB cards: Sony for $400 or ProGrade for $365 ($650 for two). What is not great is the piss-poor decision on the part of Sony to put CF Express Type-A in their a1, a7S3, etc., rather than the industry standard CF Express Type-B where a 128GB card runs about half the price as the ProGrade.

BlackRapid Double Breathe - gunslinger style, double holster - holds two bodies, great at events or on the sidelines of any game, and can also be easily worn as a single like Chewbacca’s bandolier strap .  They have several styles and sizes.

Westcott reflectors and diffusion - Both Basics and Illuminator series offer several sizes in their 6-in-1 reflectors.

Monster 360 Bluetooth portable music system - get something easy to use that had bluetooth and requires no external power so clients can easily connect their iPhone and you'll get better pictures with them enjoying their music.  If their musical tastes are crap, deal with it as they're paying you so let them play DJ for aa few hours.