The gear I use

I always enjoy reading what people depend on to get the job done - from NASA to NASACAR and photographers alkike. Listed below is what I use, It might not work for everyone but for me it's what I depend on.

Camera: Only Nikon's will do, I find the layout of the controls and the easy to navigate menus a must for my camera body of choice.

Lens: All Nikkor all the way, In my oppion the lens are more important than what camera body your using. They are always coming out with the latest and greatest but great lens stand the test of time, For me it's all Fast Glass.

Lens of choice: Nikkor 70-200mm VR, Hands down the best lens I have ever shot. It's the perfect portrait lens, at 70mm its a great 3/4 portrait lens and at 200mm the background looks amazing.

Small Camera Flash: SB-800's, I may go a little over board and use anywhere form 2 to 5 small flashes at one and most of the time with big flash. I think I have read a too many McNally Books. 

About SB-900: I think that the new SB-900s are wonderful and the 200mm zoom is great but at the cost of $500 per unit there are a little pricey for me, espically when I will be usesing so many of them, also my SB-800 still work great. However if I had to by some today it wouldn't be a thought to pay the preium for the SB-900 over the SB-600's they just do so much more.

Large Light(strobes): Elencrome all the way- I Love the way they work and how they create such great light. In a lot of switations I am shooting outdoors and either competing with the sun or need to light up a large are and they are the only way to go. I prefer the Ranger A system and for anyone who needs this type of light I think they are the only way togo. 

Radio Trigers: Pocket Wizards are all I use, I am looking into using the Enlcrome Skyport system for several reasons but with pocket wizards I know they will always fire even at long distances. There are much cheaper options but I don't want to be wondering if they are going to fire every time. 

Computer: MAC all the way I switched from PC about a year ago and I won't ever go back. While I know mac is not for everyone for what I do it's perfect. I use the latest Mac Book Pro with all the upgrades, I find it worth it's weight in platum. I have it on location and shoot directly to it. Everyone loves being able to see the phots on the 15" screen as soon as they are captured. I do use a larger montor and bluetooth keyboard and mouse at my desk but it's grat to have everything in one place and always with me.  

Camera Cases / Bags: For everyday use it's only Pellican, the Pellican case are designed for heavy duty use in the toughtest envermitent on the plante. I love how well they are made and the fact I don't have to worry about any of my epquipment once they are inside. The last thing I want to think about when onlocation is my eqpuipment safe. When I travle and only want to take a few items and a laptop I use the Think Tank - - it holds my basic kit, one camera body with 2 lens and 2 flashes and pocket wizzards.

Stands / Grip Gear: I use a mix of lighting stand and grips, it's a given that I use Justin clamps from bogan imaging and I coundn't live without the Avenger stands, Trust me it's worth buying the best stands you can afford. Nothings is worse than have a stand you are always fussing with and never does excatly what you want it to do. 

Batteries: Sanyo - eneloop, they are great they will hold a charge up to 1 year with out loss of charge and they are one of the only battries that really wont' build up a memory. It's only the nature of my system that I use a ton of battries, One huge advantate using all battrie flashes, strobes has is there are never any wires, Also Nikon make great small flashes they even have built in optical slaves. 

Chargers: I try to use the factory charges for all the battires I can, for my camrea and the Ranger Pack, for the AA's and I use a lot between 30 - 50 per shoot, It's a must they be rechargable I use an 8 battire chargert with Led display. It does everything all in one, charge fast, slow deep cycle and it shows every battery status so I can change each one out as it fills up. They type is a Mana and if you have more than 8 AA at any time it's a must.

Other items I alwys take on shoots:

A health kit with bandaids, advill, bug spay and such, it raly gets used but when it does it's worth it's weight in gold. Stored in a small pelican 1040 case - red for easy to find.

My iphone: I use it for everything from locaino notes to weather and maps to capturing the behind the seens shots, it even does video. 

A complet utily kit, it contains everything I could need on location from gaffer tape, the swiss tool by swiss army, screwdrives, kinfe, bungie cords, all types of tape, extra camra parts, grip parts, and other odd's and ends that can be really handy in a pinch.