It’s been really cool to see a few of you enjoying my work within interiors- especially the film stuff. This genre of photography is no marathon, it can be technical to some degree and meticulous for sure!
I thought it be fun to show you what goes in my kit bag on an pre interior shoot and why I pack certain gear.
Kit Break Down
My trusty Canon 5d mark III - A fossil in the digital world but I love it. It lives on my tripod 90% of the time, so the bulkiness and the heaviness of it doesn’t affect me too much.
Canon EF 20-35mm F/2.8 L - Incredibly niche focal length, I know! BUT it’s an incredible versatile piece of kit and really sharp for its age. I read a review by the GOAT Ken Rockwell (if you not heard of him, he writes great gear review) pulled the trigger and never looked back.
Filter - I use a Circular Polarised Filter always. It's a brilliant piece of kit, especially when working with shiny, polished surfaces.
Shutter Release Cable x2 - Just takes away the movement of camera shake. Because most of my exposures are long exposures all throughout my bracketing the shutter release cable has become my BFF.
Tripod - Manfrotto with a 3 point head. The one I have isn’t fancy by any stretch, a friend sold me his old tripod many years ago and I haven’t replaced it since. Probably something I should do…
Teether cable - Teether cable has been a game changer for me ever since I started having clients on “set”. Not only does it seem “professional” it allows to fine comb images as they come in from Camera to Laptop.
Software - I tend to use 3 software programs, again it is nothing fancy. I am a bit of a dinosaur as I still use Lightroom Classic ( I just love it ). I have used Capture 1 for a while. I just dig LRC! Soz. Up next is the king of all softwares, your beloved Photoshop and within that I have a program that runs called Lumenzia. Through Photoshop it allows you to have a tone of control over your exposures. You are basically creating a HDR- it’s worth having a look at.
Medium format - a few years ago I began to introduce medium format into my body of work. I bought a Mamiya C33 6x6 which I have found is incredibly reliable. It’s not sexy by any means apart from being a fun conversation starter. I have two lenses one being the 105mm and the 55mm (blue dot). The 55mm doesn’t move. It’s equivalent to a 28mm which is a beautiful focal length for interiors.
Film stock - I have found as of recent that Ektar 100 and Portra 800 have lived and breathed in my camera bag. Portra 800 is a new addition as I started to notice that Ektar 100, especially in low lighting has a colour shift of teal. Deciding to give Portra 800 ago, I have had stunning results.
Diffusers & Blackout - I’ve really enjoyed incorporating diffusers into my “technical” side of my work. Really helps during those days where the daylight isn’t your mate and you just want it to F**K OFF! The Blackout curtain I tend to use as sometimes as a flag or if I need to block out external light that may be bouncing of trees outside. Don’t want random greens bleeding into your shot.
I hope this was helpful. I don’t have a big kit, I love keeping it intentional and mindful when prepping for a shoot.
the Mark iii (in my opinion) Canon's best camera. I recently downgraded from an R6 to a Mark IV and in a few months I'm planning to collect the Mark iii again. They are just the best! Thanks for sharing about what is in your kit!