My camera gear

Main gear

(Generally always in my camera bag)

Nikon Z 7II.  Full-frame sensor recording 45.7 million pixels (8256 x 5504) and 4K Ultra HD video at 6o fps.

Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S. An ultra wide angle zoom lens producing incredibly sharp images, I love this lens!

Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S. A super versatile zoom lens which stays on my camera a lot of the time.

Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S. Built like a tank, this is a masterclass of a lens with outstanding image quality.

Shimoda Action X30 V2.  Bag for carting around all this main gear, with the medium core unit. Sometimes my camera and attached lens is carried around in a Lowepro Toploader 55AW.

DJI Osmo Pocket 4. Mainly used for recording vlog and b-roll.

Sunwayfoto L Bracket. Customised aluminum bracket for the Z7II, allowing me to switch super quick between landscape and portrait orientation when on a tripod.

Memory Cards. I have a large assortment of SD and CF Express cards, ranging from 32Gb up to 512Gb.

Spare batteries (and chargers).  x5 spare EN-EL15 batteries.

Peak Design Travel Tripod.  A lightweight (1.3kg) carbon-fibre tripod, especially useful for tramping.

Surui N-2204-X and Surui K-30X ball head. A great lightweight carbon-fibre setup (1.8kg). Used as a backup to the Peak Design tripod or when I need a slightly sturdier setup.

Kase Wolverine 112mm Magnetic Circular Filters. An amazingly versatile system which, when paired with the NiSi filter holder, works with the 14-24mm and 70-200mm.  Includes a circular polariser, 3-stop ND, 6-stop ND, and 10-stop ND.

NiSi Lens Hood / Filter Holder. This hood holds the 112mm Kase filters and fits on the front of both the Z 14-24mm and Z 70-200mm. The NiSi hood fixes the issue of the native 14-24mm Nikon hood, which has tiny gaps which let in light and cause problems on long exposures.

Accessories

DJI Mavic 2 Pro.  I love aerial photography and the different perspectives a drone offers. I have the Fly More kit with x2 spare batteries.

Apple Macbook Pro (M5 Pro).  Used on the road for editing and file backup.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro.  All of my Stories on Instagram, and some of my video footage on Youtube, is done with my phone.

20,000 mAh power bank.  Backup power for battery charging, phone, etc

Bags.  Lowepro Adventura SH160 and an f-Stop ICU Shallow Medium for other gear.

Manfrotto E-702 PL Elements Cover. Used to cover the camera whenever I’m shooting in the rain.

Peak Design Slide.  Camera strap with quick connect system.

Peak Design Capture Clip.  Used to attach my camera to my hiking pack.

Rode Stereo VideoMic. Dedicated high-quality microphone for video purposes.

Filters. I have a range of NiSi screw-in filters which I sometimes use in preference to the Kase set.

Other bits and pieces. I’m usually carrying around an assortment of filter cloths, allen keys (for tightening camera quick release plates), and camera/lens caps.

Update October 2026

Various updates made to reflect current circumstances (including trading the Z 24-70mm f2.8 with a Z 24-120mm f4). Image removed as it is well and truly out-of-date!

Update November 2023

The image is now out-of-date as I’ve sold the last of my DSLR gear (D850, AF-S Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED VR, and AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/4G ED VR). At some point I hope to buy a second mirrorless body with an emphasis on video features.

I also now own a Peak Design Travel Tripod (Carbon Fibre) as a lightweight option for hiking trips.

Update July 2021 – the transition to mirrorless begins

I’ve been proud to work with Nikon New Zealand over many years, but when they selected me as a Z Creator in July 2021 it was undoubtedly one of the biggest highlights of my photography career.

There are three main reasons I began the shift to mirrorless:

  • Lighter and smaller.  When you’re out tramping long distances in the wilderness as often as me, the less weight the better. The Z7II is one-third lighter than the D850 (615 vs 915 grams) and there are further weight savings across all lenses (the only exception in my case being the 70-200mm, but that’s because it’s an f2.8 rather than an f4).
  • Technology gains. The D850 is an absolute beast, but the Z7II improves on it in across the technology department, including faster processors, better autofocus, and higher video specifications.
  • Better optics. I knew the Nikkor Z lenses and the largest lens mount in the mirrorless industry would be a step-up from the already great F-mount series, but I’ve been absolutely blown away by the corner-to-corner sharpness and all-round image quality.

The D850 and two AF-S lenses remain in my arsenal, because as mentioned in my previous update, it’s useful to have a back-up system and furthermore two cameras come in handy in certain situations.  I was very sad to let go the D810 and AF-S 24-70 f2.8, which have been my workhorses for many years, but needed to make room in my camera bags!

Update June 2018 – why the Nikon D850? 

Some people have asked me why I’ve added the D850 to the arsenal.  The main driver is fairly straight forward: I’ve long been keen to move to a two camera system (I’m keeping the D810).  The reasons for this are twofold.

Firstly, it’ll provide much greater flexibility in certain circumstances.  Such situations include being able to take both short and long exposures in fast-changing light, or to avoid swapping out lenses when hanging out of a helicopter. 🙂

Secondly, a second camera provides a backup / insurance policy of sorts on longer missions.  Having been in situations where my only camera has failed part way through a photography trip (apparently they don’t like being submerged in lakes), the photography part of a trip becomes a little difficult to achieve without a camera.

The D850 also presented the opportunity to upgrade to the latest and greatest tech available.  Without being exhaustive, and without having yet tried some of these features extensively, here are some of the key advancements over the D810 that attracted me to the D850 (in no particular order):

  • 25% bump in sensor resolution.  The D810 admittedly already had a whole lot of pixels, but the D850’s 45.7 megapixels means even more detailed prints as well as greater flexibility for cropping in post-processing.  The back-side illuminated sensor should also also make for better image quality at equivalent ISOs.
  • Improved low light autofocus.  The D850’s ability to autofocus in low light has been vastly improved, which is going to extend the time I can spend with AF before switching to manual.
  • Focus peaking.  An extra layer of visual information to show what’s in sharp focus while in live view is going to come in handy.
  • Focus bracketing.  Letting the camera take care of the multiple shots required to get a ridiculously large depth of field is something I don’t see myself using all the time, but is going make shooting some situations (e.g. lots of foreground detail close to camera) a lot easier.
  • Tilting touch screen.  I have old man’s knees so this screen is going to be great for the low shooting I often do; hopefully my time squatting in the mud has come to an end!  The touch features are a nice, erm, touch (sorry), although not super essential for me.
  • Wireless connectivity.  Remotely controlling the camera via my smartphone and the Snapbridge app will be great for long exposures and situations where I don’t want to be directly behind the camera (seeing live view via the phone will also further assist squatting avoidance!).  Plus the ability to geotag images (via the smartphone’s location services) and download pics to the phone will be awesome.
  • 50% increase in battery life.  Approx 1,800 shots per charge.
  • Stating the obvious.  I can use all my existing Nikkor lenses and other accessories across both cameras.

(The D850 also has some big improvements to shooting speed (frames per second) and video over the D810, but as a landscape photographer those features weren’t big draw cards for me.)

All the above being said, the D810 is still a beast of a camera and I have no doubt will still get plenty of use going forward.