E.V._Exposure

The camera I use since I started this hobby is the Canon 70D. It's a semi-professional aps-c camera with a ton of options. The reason why I preferred this one over other models is the little LCD at the upper side of the camera which gives me the opportunity to play with the settings without looking at the screen all the time. The low-light performance is pretty good and with 7 frames per second, this beast is fast enough for the average passionate photographer. It lets me do everything I expect and has never let me down. I mainly use this body for portraits, long exposure pictures and landscapes.

I bought my DSLR with the 18 - 135mm stm lens which was supplied with the camera itself. This lens is known for its quick autofocus and consistent picture quality. The range is perfect for all-round and travel photography. As a hobbyist photographer, this one is on my body almost 90% of the time. 

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When I got more experienced, I lacked a bit of range, so I decided to buy another lens, which has a wider range. Because I knew lenses can last very long, I considered the 70 - 300 mm L lens as an investment. The picture quality is just mind-blowing, and it's built like a tank. I've never seen such crispy images before. Unfortunately, this range is not that versatile, and the lens does not let in a lot of light with it's F/5.6 aperture. 

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That's the moment where I bought my third (and last) lens: the Canon 50 mm F/1.4 USM lens, also known as the nifty fifty. Because I got more and more interested in portrait photography, I wanted that "dreamy" look in my images. That's where the wide aperture of 1.4 comes in. (For the layman, it's the part of the lens which causes the smooth background blur).

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Now, I own the 3 must have lenses to photograph everything I want. These 3 lenses helped me to step up my photography game, and helped me get to the point where I am now.

Reliable storage is a must-have for everyone who's dealing with important files a lot. Therefore I use a 1tb Samsung T3 SSD which allows me to load all raw-files quickly thanks to super fast read- and write speeds. These types of disks are very reliable compared to a normal HDD. The T3 is mainly being used as a workhorse, while the traditional Lacie 2 tb HDD serves for backup and archive purposes.

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When it comes to storage on the go, I only use Sandisk Extreme Pro sd cards of 32 GB. I have 4 of them and I can say they are the best on the market at the moment. 

Once I had a decent body and the 3 main lenses, it was time to save some money. Because I started to this hobby very seriously I ran into inconveniences. I made some day trips and ran out of battery, the body + the biggest lens weights about 2 kilograms so I got neck pain after a while, and my sensor got dirty while switching lenses. Quick tip for everyone who has a camera: please do yourself a favor and buy a decent camera strap. After having bought one with padding, which you can wear over your shoulder, I never had neck pain again. In addition, using a lens- and sensor cleaning kit can result in sharper images.