Photography gear can be one confusing market! The sheer amount of different camera, lenses, and accessories are enough to make your head spin. One can find positive and negative reviews for every product out there as most reviews are written with the bias of what the author uses (not to mention reviewers who are paid for their reviews). Would you honestly not expect a positive review from someone if they were paid to write it?
The truth is, ANY modern camera will get you some awesome images. It really comes down to the technique of the photographer rather then the gear they use. You could spend weeks and months reading reviews, watching YouTube reviews, reading spec sheets but at the end of the day these modern cameras are pretty amazing little pieces of machinery that can make magic. My advice would be to find a camera system that has the LENSES you are interested in and go for it. The quality of lenses you choose will be of much more importance that the camera body. There is a saying I came across when I got into photography that I just love, “Marry the lenses and date the body”. Quality lenses will last a long long time and do not get updated nearly as often as a camera body will.
With all that said, I happen to have chosen Nikon as my brand. My first camera was their D3500 which was a DSLR using their F mount. I fell in love with photography pretty quickly and instead of building out a lens collection with their older F mount, I decided to sell that one and jump into their mirrorless Z mount, as that was the future for them. I upgraded to a Z7 and got their 24-70 f/4 right away. It wasn’t long before I added their wide angle 14-30 f/4 lens to my kit. As you can see from the picture, my kit has blossomed quite quickly. While I may upgrade a camera body when some new tech comes out, you can see I followed my own advice and have gotten the best lenses that I could afford. These things can get quite expensive very fast, so I had to use some of my cunning buying skills to make sure I got them at good value. Some were bought new, some refurbished, and some used but all were in fantastic condition. A lot of people are scarred off of buying used gear but for a new professional or hobbyist it can be a way to get higher quality gear at a price you can afford. Just make sure you get a chance to handle the item and test it out thoroughly before committing to buying it. I have made a list of the gear I have below and some relevant notes about each one.
Cameras:
Nikon Z7: This is my main camera that I use for almost everything. The 45mp’s are great for landscape photos to catch all the small details.
Nikon Z6: This is my astrophotography camera (due to it’s better high ISO images) and general back up camera.
Lenses:
Zooms:
Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4: An amazing LITTLE wide angle lens. I love shooting wide angle and this lens has been a treat to use with its size and ability to take regular 82mm filters. Fantastic image quality (corners can get a bit soft sometimes though especially at its widest focal lengths) makes this one a keeper and keeps it on my camera almost as much as the next one.
Nikon Z 24-70mm f/2.8: My most used lens. I love this focal length and combined with the 14-30 is pretty much what I shoot with. Yes its decently big, heavy, and expensive but it takes the best images I have ever seen. Online reviews will point to the much cheaper 24-70 f/4 (and now the 24-120 f/4) and say its ALMOST as sharp as the 2.8 I can not disagree with that regarding the sharpness, but there is an indescribable trait to this lens that just makes the images stand out. Whether its the way it renders the colors, or maybe the micro contrast, but it is just fantastic. I can not say enough good things about this beauty, I HIGHLY recommend this one.
Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4: Great option if you are looking for a bit more range than the 24-70 offers. Fantastic image quality, although it doesn’t reach the heights of the 24-70 f2.8. This is a great option for hiking or if you just want to head out of the house with a simple kit that day.
Nikon Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6: I don’t often make use of the 100mm+ range but did want a telephoto for landscapes and/or wildlife. This lens is a fantastic option if you think a 70-200 might be a bit limiting for you (and it certainly will be if you want to shoot wildlife). Its the biggest and heaviest lens I own, with that said its light and small for what it is. This replaced an F mount 200-500 which was much larger and much heavier (about 2lbs heavier). I find I can handhold the 100-400 whereas I had great trouble doing that with the 200-500.
Primes:
Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8: I use this lens mainly for Astrophotography and sometimes for landscapes if I am looking to get the ultimate image quality for the shot. It is not a small prime lens by any means, but it gives me images with amazing detail and clarity. Since I enjoy shooting wide angle, I also like to put this lens on the camera and challenge myself to look for images with this focal length only. Sometimes we can get lazy with our zooms!
Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8: Absolutely fantastic little prime lens. I do not use this one too often but when I do I can tell why it is such a universally loved lens. I picked it up used for crazy cheap which is why I have it in my kit. With the quality the 24-70 gives me, this one is pretty redundant but since I got it so cheap I am going to hold onto it.
Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8: One of the best portrait lens around. It will also give you sweet looking landscape photos. This is probably my least used lens despite the fantastic quality it can produce.