My Gear #3 - Jonathan Stewart

My name is Jonathan Stewart of www.jonathanstewartphotos.com.  I primarily shoot travel and wildlife photography, and this bag represents my typical kit for jumping on a plane and heading out.  For the airports, I use a Lowepro notebook and camera backpack.  When I'm on the trail, the Lowepro Toploader 75 is deep enough to handle any of my lenses.   The chest-mount strap system is handy for keeping the camera available at all times, even when hiking with a full backpack, which is where I typically stow my extra lenses.  For around town, the shoulder strap is quite comfy.  The bag does dig a bit into the stomach, and having two sets of straps while also using a backpack can get a bit pesky.

For my camera body, I use the new Sony a99 full frame, having recently upgrade from the a77.   Still quality on the a99 is excellent, a big step up from the cropped camera.  The ISO performance is wonderful and crops come out great.  I love the video controls, including audio levels, ISO, shutter and aperture, adjustable silently while shooting.  But the a99 isn't perfect (no camera body is).  I have issues with the speed of AF, especially when locking on to fast-moving subjects.  Also, review of shots can delay a second or two, which is annoying.  Minor complaints.  I especially like the electronic viewfinder, which is bright and accurate, offers informative overlays, and gives fulltime live-view.  In low-light conditions, it amplifies available light to give you a noisy, but usable, preview of your shot, allowing you to focus and compose.  It's also weather-sealed, which will be nice on my next outing (or it would be, if Sony would ever make some weather-proofed lenses).

My typical lens selection for travel includes my trusty Zeiss 24-70 2.8, which is on the camera 60% of the time.  I also always bring along a wide-angle zoom, and I'm currently using the Sigma 12-24 f/4.5-5.6.  I typically use that lens for environmental portraiture, where I get really close to my subject yet still get a good chunk of the surroundings for context -- all in focus because of the short focal length.  It's a nice lens for landscapes, and the occasional night long exposure.  Next up is the Zeiss 85mm f/1.4, which was the first pro-level lens I bought, while on a trip to Asia.  Next is the Zeiss 135mm f/1.8 which I got a bargain on used.  I finally got my it back from repair after 10 weeks.  It got jostled on the back of a horse in Mongolia. Generally I won't take both portrait lenses unless somebody or some animal is carrying my extra weight (I love horses, great for backcountry photographers).   The 135 is just amazing for portraiture, but along with the 85, they're like my children.  Oftentimes I'm torn about which Zeiss to bring when I really have to cut back on the weight.  Occasionally I'll take the 135mm and a 50mm 1.4, which is very lightweight. 

Next up is the Sony 70-400G f/4-5.6.  I'll take this long zoom whenever I expect to shoot wildlife.  This is a big heavy lens, not too fast, and even with Sony's body-based anti-shake, I have to watch the ISO to make sure my shutter speed doesn't dip too low.  I like this lens, I don't love it.  If it's bright out, it's great from between f/6-11.  At wider apertures, I find the bokeh to be annoying and therefore I tend to avoid using it for portraits, unless I really want that perspective compression.  Sony's supposedly updating this lens soon, and I'll be keen to check it out, hoping for an improvement to the bokeh and weatherproofing.  Ultimately, my decision to bring this lens on a trip, like all the others, depends not only on what I expect to shoot, but by whom and how far it will be carried.

When I travel I also take along my Macbook Air, emptied out before each trip to make room for photos.  It never goes with me on the trails though.  I'll do some light editing, and back up all my memory cards whenever I find myself with electricity.  If there's internet, I might post a couple of low-res shots from the road.  As a failsafe, I also take along a little Panasonic point-and-shoot, which also goes with me on long runs where my buddies expect me to keep up, and not haul 10+ pounds of camera gear.  I used that camera to take this admittedly crappy image of my gear.   I'm awfully tempted to upgrade to the Sony RX100 pocket camera, but if anybody wants to send me their lottery winnings, I'll use it to buy the $2800 Sony RX1 compact full frame.

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