Just about every photographer I know has heard this one way too many times to count, and it annoys them to no end knowing that no witty comeback (my favorite is 'aww, you have a nice mouth, it makes great compliments') will change the mind of the
I'm lucky enough to have the best comeback of all though, and that's by simply telling the truth. My camera isn't fancy... I mean yes, I do have a decent investment in my gear, but overall, quite the bargain, and nothing really that fancy, new, or special. (photos below aren't mine, they're from each product's site)
Camera:
A hand-me-down from my mother, she upgraded and I took her 'old' camera. It has its quirks, and has more grain than a silo on a working farm, but it suits my needs just fine. I know how to work around the difficulties that using an older model presents, and since I'm not offering high-res prints of any of my work, 8megapixels is just fine for my needs. I'm still hoping to upgrade soon though, I take way too many low light shots that would just be so much easier with a camera that handles high ISO's better.
Lenses:
I mostly use a canon 18-200mm lens, for the convenience of it. Sure, the f-stop only goes to 3.5 (sometimes 5.6, depending on the zoom and other settings) but for flexibility's sake, I like to keep it on my camera in case I want a wide range of shots.
I also have a 50mm f1.8, which is fantastic for getting lower light shots, as well as that gorgeous low depth of field. Great for portraits, but it requires more effort to compose and shoot self-portraits with the wider angle and shallower focus area, but for real portraits (not of myself) it's gorgeous!
Although I haven't used it on a regular basis since I moved out of my apartment 2 years ago, I have an amazing light kit that I use for studio lighting on backdrops, and as a nice, powerful off camera flash as well. It's an InterFit kit that came with 2 lights, stands, and umbrellas and a softbox. The flashes can be used as slaves as well, so I don't have to have any fancy connectors to make both flashes fire at once, just a cheap connector for my hot shoe to connect the pc cord (canon xt's don't have a plug in for pc connection.
I don't have a hot-shoe flash, but I have a cute little trick for using my built-in flash. The Gary Fong 'Puffer'... It fits over the pop-up flash on most SLR cameras, and is cheap enough that I just keep it in my purse so I have it whenever I need it, and if it breaks I can buy a new one. It really works magic for turning the pop up flash into a somewhat viable option for when I need a little extra help from a flash.
As for the backdrop itself, my 'seamless white' background is actually an oversized vinyl movie poster, the kind you see on the walls at the theaters... It was the largest one I'd come across, and was free to me when the theater was getting rid of it... Sure, there's a movie poster on the back of it, which means I can never sell it, even as a studio backdrop, but hey, it was FREE!
Useless Cool Stuff:
I have a set of these 'macro' adapter rings, they are basically little magnifying filters you put on the end of your lens to let your camera take close-up images. I don't use it that often, but for flowers it's amazing!
My Favorite Accessory:
Hands down though, my favorite and most used piece of equipment has got to be my clicky!! I use a canon RC-1 remote for all my daily self portrait shots, and when this thing breaks I think I'm going to cry, they don't make it anymore (I had several back-ups, but I'm on my last one now!) There are other types of remotes that work with my camera, but this one is perfectly sized, and it fits on my camera strap.
And that's it!
Portfolio:
project27photography
