When it comes to travel photography, readers here know that I love to share lots of information on the gear we take with us when traveling - especially when it comes to camera equipment.
Good photos tell a story in a way words will never do, so whether we are raving or ranting about the gear we take with us, or just sharing beautiful photos on Facebook or Instagram, it is very important to us to share our opinions so you can make an informed decision when buying gear of your own.
Ever since having my primary camera stolen in Peru, and our point and shoots breaking at around the same time, we've been playing catch-up in replacing our gear. We bought a new Sony a6000 mirrorless ( full review here) and have been in love with it ever since, but even with our kit lens and 20mm prime f/2.8, we're not getting anywhere close to where we'd like to be.
As a compulsive researcher and perfectionist when it comes to buying expensive electronics, over the past several months I've made a list of the dream items I'm looking at purchasing in 2016. Whether or not Angie lets me is one thing, but the following items are on my must haves for 2016 if I can swing it. But rather than just listing off what I want to buy next year, I'm going to go into the why I want to buy them.
Improving Our Lens Arsenal
If there is one thing I always dream of having more of, it is lenses for my camera. I'm addicted to them.
For what we are doing right now, which is primarily city, landscape, and food photography, our 20mm prime f/2.8 lens for our mirrorless camera does the trick. The wide angle and large aperture makes for great light control and produces some pretty stellar final products. That being said, the 20mm focal length doesn't work for everything, and our kit lens doesn't do some scenes as much justice as we would like.
My lens goals involve improving my capabilities at longer focal lengths as well as moving into the super-wide angle territory. This can be accomplished with a few of the following lenses we're looking at:
- Sony 10-18mm, f/4 - One of our project goals in the future involves moving to interior building/residential photography services, and having ultra-wide angle capabilities would do just that.
- Sony 70-200mm, f/3.5 - On the other side of the spectrum is a nice telephoto lens to capture some of the activities we hope to enjoy in the coming years like more African safaris and other unique experiences. We may not monetize these as we are with the photo sets above, but it is good to have zoom lenses, right?
There is unfortunately a reason as to why I do not have any of the above lenses at this time, and it is because the total value of those two items nearly $2,000. I'll get there, I'm sure, but it is going to take a while. To make matters worst, my 2016 list doesn't even include the other prime lenses I'd like to add on to my collection too, but those may have to be a 2017 item.
HD Webcam
For those who follow our city blog, Discover the Burgh, you likely know that our house has a pretty incredible view of the city. We love sharing photos from our view because it is at a unique angle that most never see thanks to no public lookout existing.
To share this, and to further grow our site, we're in the process of looking at an IP Webcam and hosting service to produce a 24/7 live stream for anyone and everyone wanting to look at the city be it to check the weather, watch the numerous fireworks shows, or just to stare at one of the most gorgeous cities in the country.
Personally I'm not sure if webcam pages are even popular anymore, but even if the webcam is there just for me to enjoy when I'm not around, I'll take it. If I can find a model and service that allows me to record and play back HD footage from sunrises, sunsets, and firework shows, or to run timelapse videos, I won't complain and will likely make it my first purchase off this list in 2016.
Drone
Yes, we're going to get on the drone bandwagon, and for good reason: the photography can be brilliant. Although the market is saturated with would-be drone pilots, there is still great potential out there for photography services at the hands of a skilled pilot who knows both what they are doing, how to get good photos, and most importantly, how to market their services.
I do not think owning a drone is right for everyone, and honestly I'm still hesitant on buying one myself. But with the beauty of the locations we've been to and the gorgeous scenery we enjoy on a daily basis in Pittsburgh, having a drone isn't a bad idea at all in a business sense.
GoPro
Gasp! We must be the only travel bloggers in the world without a GoPro. I know, I know, we're slacking. In all honesty buying a GoPro and associated kits has been on my list for a very long time, but is one item I keep having to delay thanks mostly due to the theft and camera breaks that I mentioned at the start of this article.
One of the features I really enjoy with GoPro technology, other than its size, is its ability to produce unique time-lapse movies when docked for extended periods of time. This opens up a lot of new video ideas for us both when we travel and at home. If our recent Pittsburgh video upload to Facebook is any indication (which had incredible performance of several hundred thousand views and over half a million organic reach), we have both a lot of potential and room for improvement on the video front.
Photography Studio
A final project we are planning to work on in the coming months (and years) has nothing to do with travel writing, and everything to do with food photography as we work on improving our contribution to our International Food Project recipe series.
As far as a photography studio goes for food photos, although the lighting in our house is pretty good, having a dedicated photography station would improve our photos immensely. Between a lighting kit, a staging area, and associated accessories, we're really looking forward to getting into a photography style we haven't done much of in the past to get this project off the ground.
Will we end up buying all of the above items in 2016? I certainly hope so, but you'll just have to stick around to find out! What else would you recommend we add onto our 2016 Wishlist? Comment below to let us know! External links in this post contain affiliate link information. By purchasing through our links we'll receive a small commission at no cost change to you.
