The Camera Gear I use:
I do a lot of on-location landscape photography. Sometimes I will hike really far and other times, I will literally take the photos from the seat of my car … with the heater on to keep warm when in the depths of winter … but this is the essential kit that I take with me pretty much every time I go out. I do have more kit than this, but this is what I try to keep it down to.
If you are hiking long distances, your camera gear can get really heavy, really quickly. I have had this happen to me on several occasions and it is not nice, so make sure you keep the amount of gear you carry to a minimum … but still have enough gear to take some amazing photographs!
Sony A7iv
The Sony A7iv is a fantastic allround camera for the hybrid shooter. I picked one up recently and love it for both photography and videography. This has now replaced my A7iii.
If you are a landscape photographer and want something cheaper, look for a second hand A7rii or A7riii. These have great sensors and you can find absolute bargains on ebay if you look hard enough.
But if you fancy the A7iv, click on the link below.
Sony A7C
The sony A7iii has been my main camera since it came out in 2018. This is a fantastic camera and if there was one camera that really changed what constitutes an entry level camera, this is it.
The A7C is a scaled down version of the A7iii, with better focusing and video functionality.
I now use this camera to shoot all of my YouTube videos and it gives me great quality, even in low light!
Tamron 17-28mm
The Tamron 17-28mm is my go to wide angle lens for landscape photography and when filming my youtube videos, this is on my camera 90% of the time.
This has a shorter focal length than the sony equivalent 16-35mm, but is over half the price so an absolute bargain for the image quality you can get from it.
Having a prime lens is great, but having the ability to zoom in or out to quickly change your composition is fantastic.
Whenever I use this lens, I want to sell all of my prime lenses and just buy a set of zooms.
If I wasn’t a videographer as well, I probably would just own this, the 35-150mm and the 200-600mm.
Nisi 15mm f4 - Sony FE mount
This is a lens I am growing to love the more I use it. For landscape photography, if you like the foreground, midground, background composition, this is fantastic for getting it all in.
At f4, it isn’t a great lens for astrophotography, but for everything else it does have a lot of character.
It is a manual lens but this forces you to slow down and think about what you are shooting … this might not help if you are chasing the light and arrived late, but if you give yourself time, you can get some great images with this lens!
Tamron 28-200mm
The Tamron 28-200mm is a lens I have bought recently and have really started to get to know it. If you want to see me use it, click on any of my videos over the past few months. It is an absolute game changer and if you just want one lens to use, this is the one to get.
It produces sharp images, it is light so when you are hiking doesn’t weigh you down, and with the 28-200mm range, you rarely need to change it out for a wider or longer lens.
The aperture isn’t the fastest, but if you are a landscape photographer, the aperture range should be perfectly fine.
Sony RX10iii - Bridge camera
I use my RX10iii as a telephoto lens I find it is fantastic for getting a ridiculously long reach and picking out those small details in a huge landscape.
If I could only have one camera, I think this would be it…although I would get the Mark 4 version as that has a better focussing system.
It also doubles as a great walk around lens in the day time, when I might not need the specs of a more professional camera system. Having this on my hip gives me so many options when we travel.
This gives me a 24-600mm range all in one system, which means I can get a wide shot, right through to a super closeup all within a few seconds of each other.
Sirui ST-124 Tripod
This is a fantastic lightweight and compact tripod. I’ve been using this for a while now and it is now my go-to tripod for everything photography where I am not shooting handheld.
Having a tripod really helps open up the possibilities of what you can take, for using much slower shutter speeds, doing long exposures and shooting astrophotography.
If you want to take some great landscape photography photos and develop your photography, whether it is this tripod or not … just do yourself a favour and get one…
Sony z-series battery
Having a good power source is essential so you can keep shooting.
There are third party batteries out there, but I only really recommend the genuine Sony batteries with the Z series.
No warnings on the back of the camera like with third party batteries and lots of cycle times to get a lot of use out of your camera
Prograde SD cards
Having fast SD cards are a good way to capture data and offload it to the card quickly … this is the first one I have bought in a long time and I really notice the speed difference.
This is great for 4K timelapses in the Sony A7iv through the S&Q mode and will give you great quality in the interval mode without any dropped frames.
This is expensive at £140 so if you want something cheaper and don’t need the faster cards, go for the Sandisk Extreme which is only about £20 … give or take a few quid.