I sometimes get emails from people asking me for a detailed break down of the equipment I use. Not sure if they’re planning a shopping list or if it’d penis envy or what to be honest. I work hard, I play hard. I am fortunate enough to make reasonable money doing what i love, and I write off my equipment as business expense because, well, it is.

I started with a small hand held camera. It doesn’t matter what you have or where you start, JUST START. Don’t let anyone stand in the way of what you dream.

So, what do I use?

Cameras

Camera: Nikon D4 (used D700 from 2009-2012, then jumped to D4 when it was released)

My lenses (in order of how much I love them)

Nikkor 70mm-200mm 2.8G.

Nikkor 24mm-70mm f2.8G

Nikkor 135mm 1.2D

Nikkor 85mm 1.8G

Nikkor 50mm 1.4G

I shoot exclusively with Nikon equipment. It’s not a Nikon versus Canon argument. Both are amazing rigs. I have owned both, shot with both, both are great. I myself prefer Nikon’s glass I suppose. In most cases, if you spend the right amounts on your equipment, there is no way you’ll out shoot the limits of the equipment.

The secret to shooting isn’t what this person uses or what that person uses. The secret is what works for you.

It’s like the old Mac versus Windows debate. Both are great machines if configured properly. There are arguments for/against both but what it comes down to, is what works for you, personally. Make sense? Most Mac haters have zero real time experience in OS-X and most windows haters, well, were past windows users. ha!

.::Pro Tip::.

If I were you, I’d consider the Nikon D7000. It is without a doubt the best consumer DLSR on the market right now, in the DX category. It also shoots auto focus HD video.

I don’t shoot DX, I shoot everything FX. Shooting DX is like entering your Honda Civic into a race against a Ferrari. Sure you’ll get around the track but not anywhere near at the speed of the others you’re competing against. Try both and you’ll never shoot DX again. Sadly, FX costs more then I care to admit.

The Office

I wrote a blog a while back called Geek Cave, found here. This details the evolution of my office.

I use OS-X and Windows 7. I have two computers. I am not going to get into which is better and why, that’s personal preference. I prefer OS-X to Windows, just makes more sense to me I guess. That said, most of my adult life was spent making custom Windows boxes. I do like Windows, I just like OS-X more is all.

inventory…

Aeron chair – best chair you will ever own. Period. No exceptions. Worth every damn penny. I have owned mine for 3 years and it feels identical to the day I bought it. If you watch tv and movies, you’ll see these chairs almost always in offices and board rooms. These suckers are the Rolls Royce for your ass. Well worth it.

On desk…

Three Apple Cinema 30” screens. Best 30″ screen on the market.

Two apple keyboards. Easily the best keyboard I have ever used.. small, flat, streamlined if you will.

Two Logitech G9 mice. – Amazing mouse. *HIGHLY* recommend. You can switch sensitivity on the fly so for gaming if you game, this rocks.

Apple 15” Mac Book Pro 2011 edition - Thunderbolt + Quad processor (geek bench 9742) best laptop I have ever owned, always the fastest. The system currently has a OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 480 gig SSD as it’s only drive, I removed the DVD to shave weight (and because I don’t use stinkin DVD/CD’s). I upgraded the ram to 16 gigs.

edit – the laptop listed above is now Bryci’s laptop after she accidentally fried her laptop. Read about it here

She needs more power then I do, she uses Photoshop, Lightroom, does editing and what not.. so this laptop suits her perfectly. I removed my old SSD and added her old HD from her laptop so she didn’t miss a beat. Just increased in speed a little.

Apple 13” Mac Book Air 2011 edition - Thunderbolt + i7 goodness. 1.8 Ghz with 256gig flash drive, 4 gig ram. Being that I am a writer when I am not shooting boobies, this is the ideal companion. Light and fast.

Under desk…

Two Mac Pros

system 1 – Mac Pro 2008 edition – 2 x 2.8 Xeon processors, 8 cores. 32 gigs of ram. Geek bench score of 11191. 4 Seagate 1tb hard drives. CRAZY fast system. This machine I leave in Windows 7 for when I need Windows. (geekbench 11178)

system 2 – Mac Pro 2010 edition – 2 x 2.66 Xeon processors. 12 cores. 64 gigs of ram. Geek bench score of 23573. 3 2tb Seagate drives. Insane speed. I use this for HD video editing. (geekbench 23573) The system currently has a OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 480 gig SSD as it’s primary drive.

Under the desk, hidden by the chair… 9 Seagate 1tb hard drives in hot swappable caddies, all daisy chained via firewire 800. On top of the Mac Pro’s… 3 2tb drives that are scratch disks for video editing.

Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 4 2 tb drives in RAID 5 for video editing back up/scratch

My Geekbench profile can be snooped here. I highly recommend GeekBench to test your system’s speed.