It's me, 123marijn321, a beginner photographer, let me introduce myself.
My name is Marijn Donders, I am a 17 years old Software-Developer student and live in The Netherlands.
I have always been fascinated by photography, and around a year ago I wanted to get into it myself, so I worked for weeks in the holidays and got me enough money to get started in photography, while already watching videos and reading articles, including yours, and also channels like DigitalRevTV, I learned myself all the theory and basics of photography (Shooting manual, understanding ISO, shutter, aperture, whitebalance, rule of thirds, etc.), but I had to wait until I got enough money to start doing it in practice. As soon as I got the money I got myself a Nikon D3100 with the 18-55mm kitlens, not long after that I bought a Nikon 35mm f/1.8 and a while after that the Tamron 70-300 VC USD. So I started shooting and from the beginning I learned myself how to shoot manual and I did the Dutch Nikon Quick Start Workshop, today photography is my favorite hobby, well, playing guitar is also one great hobby!
Now let's talk about my gear, I'm sorry if the picture is a bit blurry, but the only camera I could use besides my D3100 is my phone.
But from top left to bottom right, this is the list:
1. Old simple tripod I got from my dad when he was into photography, it does the job but when I got the money I will upgrade. Do you have any suggestions that will not break the bank? I use this tripod mainly for long exposures at night, video recording and group shots.
2. CaseLogic SLRC-201, a small holster camera bag, that was my first camera bag when I only got the 18-55, now I use it to store my Polaroid 636 CloseUp.
3. Polaroid 636 CloseUp instant film camera. I bought this camera a few months ago, just for the vintage feel, it is very fun to make some special shots with, the only downside is that the instant film is so expensive, €20,- for 8 photo's!
4. Nikon D3100 body, this is my first and only body, it's great! I use this as my main camera when I go out shooting and for now it has all the features I need, except for two things: A top LCD info display and a second wheel to set my aperture, but it isn't a big problem to use an extra button for that.
5. Tamron AF 70-300 / 4-5,6 SP DI VC USD, this is by far my favorite lens! The VC is truly amazing and the autofocus is very quick and quiet, it also has fantastic Bokeh and it is very sharp! I was considering to buy the Nikon 55-200 VR but I am so happy that I invested more and bought this one! It's not the most practical lens for many situations due to the focal length, but it's surely my favorite! I use this mainly for shooting wildlife and some portraiture, shooting birds is wonderful at 300mm!
6. Nikon AF-S DX 35 mm F/1.8G NIKKOR, a lovely small lens! It's so great to use at parties or night photography with the f/1.8 aperture! The Bokeh is very good and the sharpness is very well too! For natural portraits where you really feel close to the subject, this lens is great because of the focal length. I use this lens the most of my three lenses because the focal length is just great for many things, from close ups to street photography.
7. Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S VR DX NIKKOR, the kitlens. This is the lens that I use the least of the 3, but for making nice wide landscapes it's the only way out. I do enjoy using this lens but I don't like the way it zooms, it's got such a little amount of resistance, especially compared to the 70-300, and the way of manual focusing is also not too great. The optical quality of the lens is fine, but not stunning. That's why this lens is in my camera bag for most of the time.
8. CaseLogic SLRC-203, the big brother of the SLRC-201. I bought this bag with my 35mm because I just needed more capacity. With the two lens compartments on the side and a large compartment for the camera and accessories, this makes a great bag that's not too big. The Velcro flap on the front can also hold a tripod and in the front and back are some small compartments for filters or booklets and stuff like that. I always use this bag when I go out shooting, but when I am getting more gear in the future, this might not be big enough for some situations anymore, maybe the slings of Lowepro will be a better choice then.
9. BlackFox URS-3000 basic remote shutter. This is my remote shutter with just a shutter button and shutter lock, I don't use it very much but it is always in my bag. When I use it, it's for long exposures or group shots, I just got it so I had one if I need it.
10. 3 Rings, no they are not filters. It is a 52-58mm, a 58-62mm step up filter ring, and a 62mm-62mm reverse filter ring with threads on both sides, I use these to do extreme-magnification-macro photography, as following: The 70-300mm is on my camera, the 62mm-62mm reverse ring is on the 70-300, the 58-62 and 52-58 are stacked on there, and on the 52-58 I attach my 35mm f/1.8 and i put a little piece of folded paper in the aperture lever slot to keep the aperture wide open. This way I can get magnification up to 8.6:1, but a lot of chromatic abberation shows up and focusing is done by moving the subject. I find this a very fun way to do photography but it costs a lot of time! I love to do this kind of experimenting in photography, I always get very positive feedback on my shots when I post them.
11. SanDisk Extreme 16GB Class 10 SD-card, this is my only SD-card, I know, I need more. I got this one because it's a fast card with enough space so it'll do the job most of the time. I haven't got any trouble with filling it up and I almost never got the buffer full because the SD card is just fast enough compared to the burst speed of the D3100.
12. Vanguard Power Lens Cleaner, this is my tool to clean my lenses and filters. It's a lens pen and lens blower in 1, which makes it very compact and giving me no trouble putting it away in my bag. It's very functional but I don't clean my lenses too often because there is always a risk of scratching the lens when you are cleaning it.
13. Filters. For every lens I buy, I get a UV-filter just for protection, they are all on the lenses in this picture. I want to buy a Cokin P-filter kit in the future so I don't have to mess with filter sizes when buying ND's, polarizers or other effect filters.
So, there you have it, my camera gear and why and how I use it! I hope the image isn't too bad, but I really did my best describing the gear as good as possible, and I am sorry for any grammar mistakes, I'm just a Dutchman. :)
Enjoy shooting, and as you say: GET YOUR GEAR OUT!:)
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