EQUIPMENT - ON THE ROAD AND IN THE STUDIO

Dave Sansom's photography studio Great equipment doesn't guarantee great photographs. But great equipment in the hands of an experienced, professional photographer can create opportunities for great photographs. Years ago, when I decided that this work was what I wanted to do, I made a commitment to obtain the best tools available for the kind of work I do. My theory was that I simply did not want to blame my mistakes on having 2nd rate equipment. If I fail to take good photographs, it's on me.

I'm a Nikon guy. Always have been. But this year I made a big change and sold all my DSLR bodies and lenses, and changed over to a fully mirrorless rig. Nikon's mirrorless cameras and lenses are spectacular. There was a learning curve, changing from the knob/button/switch approach of the DSLRs to a menu-based paradigm, but a few weeks of steady shooting enabled me to work out the kinks and I'm a very happy camper.

My camera bodies are Nikon's latest, high-end mirrorless Z7 II's. My glass is also all Nikon... or more correctly, Nikkor. For wide angle shooting I use the NIKKOR Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S. For longer shots, I use the NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S. And my workhorse is the NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S.

Since I'm essentially a landscape shooter, I almost always shoot from a tripod, and again, I have what I consider to be the best on the market, the Really Right Stuff TVC-3X tripod and BH-55 Ball Head. This combo is rock-steady. I have always shot from a tripod, but I was stunned by the difference in sharpness in my images when I changed to my RRS setup.

I also have some specialized accessories for panorama shooting and for long exposure shooting, as well as a cable release, so I can keep my hands off my camera, another necessary technique to ensure maximum sharpness in my images.

For the past couple of years I've resisted moving into drone photography, but I'm now fully engaged in offering aerial stills, shot from my DJI Phantom 4 Pro+ drone. Featuring a 20 megapixel sensor, the Phantom 4 Pro+ can produce excellent images for use on web sites, in newsletters and brochures, and can print wonderfully up to 24X36 inches.

In the studio I currently work on a Mac Studio M1 Ultra with a 4 TB internal SSD, and a 27" Apple Studio Display, Apple's most powerful desktop offering. I have multiple external hard drives in the studio, from a 50 TB OWS Thunderbay NAS to three 2TB Samsung external SSDs. I also maintain a library of portable 2 to 5 GB hard drives for permanent archives of everything I shoot.