Those who know me and have been a part of my journey this last decade or so on social media and in my photography meets will know that as well as everything else I do with photography (working or for fun), I also help people out buy helping them creating bespoke kits.
I’ve helped people from all over the world, many as far away as the USA who have contacted me, as well as India, Mainland Europe and most recently Hong Kong. I’m called upon for my knowledge and experience with multiple camera types, plus I genuinely listen to what the people want to do with their gear.
I’ve put kits together for people wanting to get the best out of film simulations in the Fujifilm ecosystem, people wanting the best for street photography, general photography, wildlife photography and of course for people wanting to get into working photography with people.
Recent kits I’ve put together for photographers who have gone on to buy them (based on their needs) and be happy with them are;
• Panasonic GH5 with various lenses.
• Fujifilm X-T5 with XF16-80 F/4
• Nikon Z50ii with Z16-50mm & Z50-250mm
• Nikon Z5ii with Z24-200mm
This last month though I’ve been working with someone who is heavily invested in photographing wildlife. So, I just wanted to share with you the steps I take before recommending the system.
• First of all, and most importantly, I ask them what camera system they are using, what is their history with buying equipment and I ask you see their work. It is ALWAYS at this point that I try and talk them out of changing ecosystems. More often than not, they are creating great work and more than anything I want them to not waste their money.
• If they are adamant that they want to still upgrade or change systems etc, I’ll ask them for a budget, and check out how much they will get for their old system (they usually want to part-exchange).
• I’ll ask them for what they are looking for in a new camera, and they’ll tell me (usually better autofocus, better lens choice, better low light performance, always less noise etc).
• I’ll then usually have an idea, but I’ll also do a bit more research and pass on the information to them.
• Finally I’ll talk to them once again and give them ideas on what I think would suit them and where the best place is to buy or trade equipment.
The latest person I’ve been helping is Arthur who contacted me through a friend of mine. As mentioned, they currently generally photograph wildlife, birds and the like with little much else. They often sit in a hide in the early hours or evenings, they are lucky enough to be able to travel and go on occasional wildlife safaris, and for once I had no budget constraints. They wanted results, they wanted a change and they wanted the best.
All this taken into consideration, they were waiting to charge from an OM Systems OM-1 Mk I, back to a modern day full frame camera. Of course, the OM-1 mk I is an excellent camera (and I tried to explain that the Mkii was a great camera as an upgrade), but Arthur missed all the benefits from his previous full frame cameras.
I wrote him up a list of equipment he could use to replace the OM-1 mk II as follows.
• Nikon Z8
• Nikkor Z 180-600mm F/5.6-6.3 and/or
• Nikkor Z 400mm F/4
• Nikkor 2x Teleconverter
The benefits of this system over his previous kit are important to note.
• Class leading bird and animal autofocus.
• 45.7mp stacked sensor for huge cropability if needed.
• 20FPS raw shooting and 120FPS in jpeg (although he rarely shoots at those speeds).
• Blackout free large and bright EVF.
• Using DX Crop mode which adds 1.5x to the zoom (effectively turning 600mm into 900mm) you still get files roughly 20mp in size.
• Superior low light performance.
• Superior dynamic range.
The downside is though that the system is bigger than his previous system, however, as Arthur spends most of his him on a tripod or resting the camera in various animal hides, it doesn’t bother him.
As a note, Arthur was a Nikon user before moving to Olympus/OM Systems for around 6 years, hence the choice of Nikon over Canon or Sony. He received his kit recently and he has promised me some photos to share with you all.
Many people reading this of course know me in person, but even if you don’t, please feel free to contact me to help you decide your next upgrade.
My name is Mark G Adams and I run Photography By Mark G Adams. I am a professional photographer from South Wales, shooting weddings, events and portraits as well as running meets and workshops. For fun I like to shoot landscapes, wildlife and occasionally do street photography. Enjoy my website as I share my knowledge learned over decades of working and having fun in photography – This Is My Personal Website
You can find all the latest articles and blogs on my homepage here.
My main photography social media page is my Photography By Mark G Adams page.
Nikon Recipes for the Z system can be found here.
You can find a complete list of my gear here.
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