Upgrade Ingredient List

So here’s what it took to upgrade my working camera system (in chronological order):

  • Computer: A new camera will produce larger files.  To move all that extra data around effectively I needed more processing power and more memory.  Otherwise there’s going to be a lot of waiting around.  Now this was actually forced on me with my old one dying but in fact doing this first makes a lot of sense so you’re ready for the files when the new camera comes.
  • Lightroom Upgrade.  I was getting by with an older version with one-off purchase.  I need an upgrade for a newer camera RAW files.
  • New Main Body – obviously. I chose a Nikon D850.  Second hand from a large dealer in the UK.  Reasonably low shutter actuations and 12 month warranty.
  • XQD and SD cards.  New camera takes different cards.  And bigger, faster cards to manage those larger files.
  • XQD card reader.  I prefer to download cards from a reader rather than connecting the camera to the PC every time.
  • Spare cards.  So having got one to start off with, I shopped around for spare cards.  With the costs of the XQD cards I’m only carrying limited spares.  With the D700 I had a bank of CFs available.
  • Screen protector for the LCD.  I use the thin ground glass, stick-on ones.
  • Spare Battery.  I bought a third party spare which came with a USB charger which allows me to charge at home and at work as a bonus.
  • L-Bracket for the tripod.  The ability to mount the camera vertically on the Tripod is really useful.  L-Brackets are fitted to each body so you need a new one for a new body.
  • Upgrade my 50mm. So this was always my weakest lens (although not a bad one) and the higher resolution and faster focusing of the new camera has shown it up to the point where I can justify the upgrade.  The others look good for now but the 50 needed to be changed.  Again, take advantage of a good second hand market across the EU.  Lots of people buy these lenses and end up not using them much (unless they take portraits professionally).
  • Battery / Vertical Grip.  I used the vertical grip the whole time on the D700 but I am enjoying the reduction in weight not using it on the D850.  I rarely needed the extra battery.  So I wasn’t going to bother.  But for jobs when I’m shooting a lot of head shots the vertical grip is useful.  Then I got a deal on a third party grip in the US so I got it just for those jobs where it helps, rather than to be permanently attached.
  • File Backup / Archive.  Those larger files are now eating disc space as well.  I Archive all the original RAW files as well as maintaining an archive of the finished client files.  I made some changes to the way that works to make it more cost effective per GB and bought more disc space.
  • Backup / Second body upgrade.  Initially I just used the D700 but it’s very different to the D850 (and uses different cards and batteries).  As I get more used to the new camera, the D700 is a less effectively back-up / second camera.  Ideally you’d buy an identical body as backup but that’s a lot of cash.  In the end I bought a D500 second hand.  Same cards, same charger, very similar functional layout, same focusing system.  Crop sensor!
  • More cards.  My two bodies now use the same cards and batteries so I need another spare.
  • Another screen protector for the D500.

I think that’s it.  For now!

Do I need a couple of DX lenses (including a standard zoom) for the D500?  Maybe but I’m not yet convinced.  I have an old 17-70 DX which will do and the 17-35f2.8 sits quite well on it too – for the uses I have for it.

Otherwise my existing lenses cover me and are all good.  Most have a replacement which is ‘better’ but also is going to cost me considerably to upgrade – even if I sell the old one – and realistically the benefits are pretty marginal.  The most obvious is my 85f1.4D which is a little battered and not optimised for modern high res digital but it’s not a main lens (I use the 105f2.8 a lot).

Essential Camera Gear

After a couple of years of missing out, we finally got to go back to Courtmacsherry this year for the horse riding on the Strand.

The View from the Stands

It’s a great event and there are loads of great photos waiting there for anyone who is bold enough to take on covering it: horses galloping at full speed through sand & water; riders covered in muck; the odd horse loosing the steering on the corners; even a serious looking spill and of course the spectators make it too!

But you either have to commit to covering it or not.  The view from the stands just doesn’t cut it (as you can see from my pic).  And I was there for a family day out, not to disappear off on to the beach on my own for the afternoon.

There were a few photographers who did commit to the sands: definately a few press-pros amongst them. I reckon they got some great pics.

But all of them lacked one essential bit of kit for an event like this: wellies.

In fairness one guy had a high-vis vest and good walking boots but all the horse-people (who had been here before) had wellies.  Another guy got inventive with plastic bags but that just didn’t work out and he got mucky in the end.

So what’s my point?  Good preparation, research and planning are an important part of a successful photography assignment.  You might get lucky and get something wonderfully spontaneous but your chances of good photographs improve on an regular basis if you do your homework and get in the right spot and have a good idea what might happen next (preferably with good light).

Of course you need the skills to capture it once you’re there too.

And some camera gear – but too often the attention is on the camera gear and not the things that let you get in the right spot – in this case it was simply a pair of wellies!

And how do I know?  I did a session by a stream in Glengarriff with a small fella who loved to throw stones.  The place to be was in the water just beyond where he was throwing so that he faced me.  But I brought my walking boots – great for mud (which is what I predicted) but not great for wading out into the stream.  That day I needed my wellies and I missed a couple of shots I would have liked to get because I didn’t have them.