Included here is a list of recommendations for camera gear that I use. The links are Amazon and Apple affiliate programs, meaning I get paid by those companies to refer buyers. These are all products I currently own and use often, except the 3 Legged Thing which I am committed to buying.
Hardware
- Panasonic Lumix GX1 - The GX1 is the among the most affordable and best auto bracketing cameras in the market.
- Lumix 45mm-200mm telephoto - The 45mm-200mm lens starts where the 14mm-42mm kit lens of the GX1 ends.
- Tiffen Neutral Density Filters - The 45mm-200mm lens and the standard kit lens for the GX1 (not the power zoom) both use 52mm filter threads.
- Remote Intervalometer for GX1 - Surprisingly simple device acts as an intervalometer for timelapses and a remote shutter release.
- Wasabi battery kit - This 3rd party accessory kit comes with 2 GX1 compatible batteries, a charger, and a car outlet adapter all for less than a single Panasonic Lumix branded battery.
- Tripod: 3 Legged Thing, MeFoto - MeFoto is slightly cheaper, but 3LT has the edge in versatility and warranty/repair. Like many beginner photographers, I chose a cheap US$25 tripod from my local big box retailer. It was enough to get me started. Now I’m thinking to buy a several hundred dollar tripod that will last many years and have a much broader range of usefulness.
- SanDisk 32GB Class 10 Memory card - Can hold 1,625 RAW files in the GX1 or 3,631 jpegs.
- Macbook Pro - The hardware is best in class, and OS X is incredibly reliable. I’ve never had issues with reinstalling the OS as I did on Windows.
Books
- A World in HDR by Trey Ratcliff (Affiliate) Print: B&N | Amazon eBook: Nook | Kindle
- (Affiliate) Improve Your Photography by Jim Harmer
iOS Apps
- Pro HDR (Affiliate): An HDR iPhone app that really got me interested in photography while out hiking. It is my go to app for landscape iPhone photography.
- Camera Awesome! (Affiliate) by SmugMug: Shoot, edit, share right in the app. I'm most impressed with its grid overlays. The app has boring old Rule of Thirds like many other photo apps and cameras. This app though, has more composition tools like the Fibonacci Spiral aka Golden Spiral and a horizon level. The editing options have Instagram like filters and the shooting mode has 2 modes of burst, timed and interval timed.
Mac Apps
- Photomatix: Essential HDR program
- Pixelmator (Affiliate): At $30 Pixelmator has much of the graphics editing power of $700 Photoshop without breaking the bank. View the Pixelmator Vs Photoshop comparison.
- Aperture (Affiliate) by Apple: Nearly half the price of Adobe Lightroom.
- Photo Crop (Affiliate): While Aperture is much cheaper than Lightroom, it is lacking some features such as advanced cropping. Photo Crop solves this for $4.99 and has Golden Spiral and Golden Ratio crop guides.
- Google Earth: A great way to find locations to hike and photograph.
Pro HDR in action
A World In HDR By Trey Ratcliff
